Fox News commentator Karl Rove says Virginia’s last-minute decision on Tuesday to keep polling places open later, in order to accommodate voters who are waiting in long lines, should work to Mitt Romney’s advantage.
Two of the counties in the all-important swing state, Fairfax and Norfolk, are in heavily Democratic areas. One, in Tidewater’s Virginia Beach region, is a GOP stronghold.
But three other counties where polls are remaining open longer are swing districts: Henrico, near Richmond; and Loudoun and Prince William counties in Northern Virginia.
Rove believes voters in those three counties are swing back to the GOP column, after flirting with the Democratic side of the aisle in 2008.
“All three of these are swing counties,” Rove tells Fox. “I think that this is a good sign for Romney. In Henrico, Obama got 58 percent after Republicans got 58 percent four years before. [In] Loudoun, [Obama] got 54 percent after Republicans got 58 four years before, and Prince William he got 58 after Republicans got 53 percent before.
“I think these are counties that are now swing back. And I say that because we do have results in two counties.”
Those two counties: In Culpeper, located in Northern Virginia, Romney is getting 61 percent of the vote — 6 percent better than McCain won in 2008. And in Rockingham County, Romney is getting a whopping 74 percent of the vote. That’s 7 points better than McCain’s 67 percent four years ago.
“We’re going to see not only is Romney doing much better percentage wise than McCain, but he’s getting a better chunk of votes,” Rove predicts.
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