Virginia could have been a very interesting primary contest. Virginia has been a state that had voted for the Republican candidate in every election from 1964 until 2008. It is expected to be an important swing state in the general election. Much of this is due to the demographic shift where Northern Virginia and the suburbs around Washington, D.C. are starting to resemble the rest of the Mid-Atlantic politically. A primary contest in Virginia could have been an interesting way to see how this played out in the Republican Party, whether the suburban voters or the rural voters would be the dominant voice.
But Virginia has stringent requirements for getting on the primary ballot. Only Mitt Romney and Ron Paul managed to get on the ballot, leading Virginia's rural, religious and conservative voters without much of a voice. Since Ron Paul doesn't have a wide following, the race was expected to go overwhelmingly to Mitt Romney. And it did. As of the current time, with 97.4% percent of the precincts in, Romney is winning with a shade under 60% of the vote.
Although a win is a win, and getting his name on the ballot shows the strength of Romney's organization, this race, the first of Super Tuesday to be completed, sadly does not give us any indication of deeper political trends in Virginia. It is one of the least significant results of the night.