joining us now is al jazeera's political contributor dave leventhal. he's the senior political reporter at the center for public integrity. dave, good to see you. >> good to be with you. >> give me your reaction to the race in virginia tonight and terry mcauliffe's sort of razor-thin victory. >> certainly in virginia it's an absolutely huge victory for terry mcauliffe in part because not only is he a democrat in a state leaning relatively republican. it's a very purple state. but also, too, because he had a huge cash advantage. about $15 million at the end of the day that he could raise more than ken cuccinelli. ken cuccinelli gave it a very game run, but in the end terry mcauliffe is definitely going to prevail here. >> we had a republican strategist on a little while ago who suggested had this election been two weeks down the road or three weeks down the road that cuccinelli probably would have won. what do you think? >> it's entirely possible, but there are so many implications beyond the 2013 here and now race here. he had a variable parade of pote