West Virginia daily

Del. Bradley P. Marrs, R-Chesterfield, said yesterday that he will ask for a recount in the close race he apparently lost to independent Katherine B. Waddell of Richmond, if the official certification does not change the results.

The latest totals posted on the State Board of Elections' Web site show that Waddell won by 42 votes out of 26,886 votes cast in the Richmond area's 68th House district. The margin of 0.16 percent is well within the margin that allows a recount, with the state bearing the costs. The tally stands at 13,424 votes for Waddell and 13,382 for Marrs. Eighty write-in votes were cast.

Meanwhile, the razor-thin contest for attorney general between Republican Del. Robert F. McDonnell of Virginia Beach and Democratic state Sen. R. Creigh Deeds of Bath County tightened even more. McDonnell led by 347 votes late yesterday out of 1.94 million cast. He began the day with a 446-vote lead.

The State Board of Elections will certify the election results Nov. 28. Marrs said he is prepared to ask for a preliminary hearing the next day before the Richmond judges to determine ground rules for a recount.

Marrs, seeking election to a third term in the House of Delegates, was an odds-on favorite until he wrote a fundraising letter describing one of Waddell's backers as "a wealthy homosexual businessman." This drew criticism from fellow Republicans and energized the Waddell campaign, which attracted many Democrats and independents.

Election officials in all localities have completed a retabulation of the election results and sent abstracts of the results to the State Board of Elections. The elections board is going through the abstracts to determine their accuracy.

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