It Was Closer Than It Looked   The Democrats are crowing after their triumph over General Assembly Republicans. But their margin of victory was a lot closer than the newspaper headlines let on.   This year's election is over. Now the pundits are unraveling the meaning of a Republican rout by voters who once embraced that "party of change." Let's look at some simple politics and then consider ideas on where the General Assembly might go from here. This year's campaigns showed that the party that played political chess won while the party that played checkers lost. Control of the Senate slipped through the Republicans' fingers by one race. One more victory and Lt. Governor Bill Bolling would exercise the tie-casting vote and the GOP would still be "top dog" in the General Assembly. Sure, the "Bush Factor" played a big role in the voters' mood, as did the war, the avoidable abuser fee issue and Gov. Timothy M. Kaine's strong fundraising capability. But notwithstanding all of this, the Republicans came very close to winning. Had Marty Williams of Newport News not been defeated in the primary, that seat would have stayed Republican by default since no Democrat was planning to file. And the Democrats won that seat with a man who had served former conservative Republican United States Senator Paul Trible as press secretary for ten years - a man recruited because he could win that district and the Democrats did not ask him to support every piece of their political agenda.   In another instance the incumbent Democrat made it known he would retire unless the Republicans nominated a specific person that the incumbent simply could not allow to succeed him. The GOP nominated that person, and the incumbent ran again, winning the Republican district by 54 percent.   A change of only 424 votes in another Northern Virginia district would have re-elected yet another Republican state senator. Three weeks before this critical election, the Republican State Central Committee voted to "stiff arm" Tom Davis by choosing a convention over a primary for nominating the Senate challenger to former Gov. Mark R. Warner next year. Many Republicans in Northern Virginia took that to mean that the Republican Party was not only out of touch with reality, but really didn't want Northern Virginians as a significant part of the statewide party. Some of these NOVA voters took a walk on Election Day. Had the Republican Party's leaders held that convention-or-primary vote after November 6th, the GOP might well have re-elected one more state senator. Had the Republicans won any of these three districts the headlines and political dynamics would be different today - the GOP would still be in control of the State Senate. So with the electorate so clearly split down the middle, can the newly restructured General Assembly find common ground in the months ahead to bring about better government? The balance of power in the Senate still rests with pro-business senators of both parties. They should be able to develop an alliance with the pro-business Republican leadership in the House, including a number of pro-business Democratic delegates, to promote a more efficient, effective, transparent and accountable state government. Speaker William J. Howell certainly is an advocate of a better managed state government. The new Democratic Senate Majority Leader, Dick Saslaw, is a practical pro-business Democrat who understands the bottom line. Sure, he is a liberal in many ways, but when it comes to better business management he will likely agree to reforms. And Gov. Kaine continues to promote "good government" ideas started under George Allen and continued by Mark Warner and his recently retired chief of staff, Bill Leighty. The group in a position to really move ahead on this front aggressively and creatively is the Cost Cutting Caucus, chaired by Del. Chris Saxman. This bi-partisan group of legislators has an opening right now to become the key advocate for better managed government.  Managing state government in a more business-like fashion is a goal that appeals to many Republicans and Democrats. Will the Republicans and Democrats unite to bring better business practices to state government? A large of number of skeptical voters will be watching. -- November 12, 2007