Richmond itself is fairly small. Generally, when people talk about Richmond they also mean Henrico, Chippenham, Chesterfield and Midlothian counties which are usually solidly GOP.
Norfolk and Portsmouth will go to the 'Rats, but Virginia Beach, Chesapeake and Suffolk generally go GOP.
Even in NoVA I've noticed that it get's considerably less liberal outside Fairfax, Loudon, Arlington and Alexandria.
I think the recent elections in Virginia have been quirks rather than an indication of what's to come:
1. Kilgore's campaign SUCKED and he really miscalculated when he decided to make the death penalty an issue.
2. Webb didn't win so much as Allen screwed-up and the media turned it into something it wasn't.
3. Gilmore NEVER had a chance against Mark Warner and neither did anyone else.
I have been a resident of VA since 1979. Richmond went for Obama 73,623 to 18,649.
Norfolk and Portsmouth will go to the 'Rats, but Virginia Beach, Chesapeake and Suffolk generally go GOP.
Norfolk went for Obama 62,819 to 24,814. Portsmouth went for Obama 32,327 to 13,984. Va Beach went for McCain 100,319 to 98,885. Chesapeake went for Obama 53,994 to 52,625. Suffolk went for Obama 22,446 to 17,165.
Even in NoVA I've noticed that it get's considerably less liberal outside Fairfax, Loudon, Arlington and Alexandria
Fairfax County went for Obama 310,359 to 200,994. Alexandria went for Obama 50,473 to 19,181.
Obama won VA by about 235,000 votes. It is obvious that Obama piled up a huge amount of votes in the cities and NoVA, which makes it very difficult to overcome in the rest of the state.
I think the recent elections in Virginia have been quirks rather than an indication of what's to come:
The demographics of VA are rapidly changing due to migration and immigration, legal and illegal. In 1990 the population was 6,187,358. Whites totaled 4,791,739 Blacks totaled 1,162,994 and Asians 159,053. Hispanics were 160,288.
In 2000, the population was 7,078,515. Whites totaled 5,120,110. Blacks totaled 1,390,293. And Asians 261,025. Hispanics were 329,540.
As of July 2008, the estimated population was 7,769,089. Whites totaled 5,673,913. Blacks totaled 1,546,444. And Asians 378,226. Hispanics were 531,396.
Note that Hispanics can be of any race. If you look at these figures you will see that minorities are becoming a larger percentage of the population. Combine that with the white liberals who are moving into NoVA as part of a growing federal government and lobbies and you have a large Dem constituency.
These figures come from the Bureau of the Census.