The GOP in Virginia is broken. Both Allen this year and Kilgore last year had the worst campaigns. I thought it was a fluke with Kilgore (and a weak candidate) but this makes me think there's bigger issues.
There are definitely some dufuses in charge of the GOP in Virginia right now. Two consecutive horrible campaigns. Turnout in the Republican counties in VA was fantastic, but not enough to overcome the loss of Republican support in Fairfax and Loudoun Counties. Allen really didn't deseve to win this election. Consolation is that Jim Webb is a putz and will not be reelected.
On the other hand, I was pleasantly suprised with Drake's win in the 2nd dist. Moveon.org started running ads on TV trashing her back in March, and all the local media was on the Kellam bandwagon.