George Allen, a Republican, and Tim Kaine, a Democrat, are in a tight race for a seat both sides see as potentially decisive when it comes to party control of the Senate.

From The New York Times:

[N]o other race appears to be quite so evenly matched, featuring two former governors with near-universal name recognition, rich campaign war chests and national patrons. It is seen by those on both sides as potentially decisive when it comes to party control of the Senate. 

Mr. Kaine, then the national Democratic Party chairman, was dragged into the race reluctantly after the current Democratic senator, Jim Webb, announced his retirement after a single term. During six agonizing weeks, Mr. Kaine was pressed hard by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee to drop his chairmanship and re-enter electoral politics. He consulted former and current Virginia senators, including John W. Warner, a Republican, and Mark Warner, a Democrat. Finally he talked it over at length with President Obama before announcing last April that he had changed his mind and would run.

For Mr. Allen, 2012 is about redemption. He was once considered a leading presidential prospect and a rising Republican star. Then came 2006 and his stumbling, bumbling campaign for re-election, followed by defeat at the hands of Mr. Webb, a political neophyte. The fatal hiccup may have come when he introduced a dark-skinned Democratic Party “tracker” filming his every move as “macaca.” The incident quickly escalated into a racial controversy.

The contest will play out in a state as purple as any in the nation, divided by race and geography, prosperity and poverty — and critical to the balance of power in Washington, both on Capitol Hill and the White House. And the winner may be determined as much by the larger forces of presidential politics as by the two candidates’ rich histories in Virginia, for better or for worse.