Tim Kaine Wins Virginia Senate Race

Former Democratic Gov. Tim Kaine  has won the U.S. Senate race in Virginia,  defeating Republican George Allen, who conceded after CBS News and other news organizations called the race.

Allen, also a former Virginia governor, held the Senate seat before he was narrowly defeated by Sen. James Webb in 2006.

Social Security and Medicare figured prominently in the Virginia Senate race. As the Washington Post reported in October, Kaine  attacked Allen for voting in 2006 to support a plan that would have partially privatized Social Security and for broadly praising the House budget blueprints of Rep. Paul Ryan, the Republican vice presidential nominee, who proposed converting Medicare into a defined benefits program. Allen, in turn, was critical of Kaine for supporting the Affordable Care Act, which Republicans claim took funding away from Medicare, a charge disputed by media fact checkers.