In a way, this isn't terribly newsworthy in the man-bites-dog rather than dog-bites-man sense, but I think it's worth mentioning here nonetheless. We're less than two months into the campaign to replace retiring GOP Senator John Warner, and former Democratic Governor Mark Warner continues to hold a significant lead over his likely Republican challenger, former Governor Jim Gilmore.

Gilmore (R)Warner (D)Rasmussen Reports
10/24/073753Washington Post
10/4-8/073161CNU
9/27/07-10/1/072751SurveyUSA
9/14-16/072762Rasmussen Reports
9/5/0734542-Month Ave.
9/5/07-10/24/0731.256.2

The problem here for Gilmore is not just that he doesn't come close to touching Warner in a head-to-head matchup or that, according to the Washington Post poll linked above, his favorable rating is just 40 percent compared to Warner's 67 percent. As I've noted before, while Warner is a truly prolific fundraiser, bringing in more than $1.1 million in less than three weeks in September, Gilmore is a terrible fundraiser, bringing in relatively little money to his abortive presidential bid, for which he still owes debts (and the donors to which he cannot turn to fund a Senate bid, at least until after he is officially nominated). As such, this race remains a real nightmare for the GOP, which runs a real risk of seeing a state that for years was fairly red (as recently as 2001 the state had a Republican Governor and two Republican Senators) turning at least slightly blue (with a Democratic Governor, potentially two Democratic Senators and even possibly a Democratic victory in the state on the presidential level, as well).