Though Virginia has been considered a mean-nothing state in the eyes of the national media since the state entered the presidential primary process in 1988, many are saying that this year's race has finally put it on the political map.

As much of the country has already cast votes in the past month, Virginia voters have been patiently waiting for their day in the limelight. Everyone kept asking the question: Will Virginia matter on Feb. 12? The answer, quite simply, was yes. Here's how it all played out (see the end of the story for vote totals in Virginia, Richmond and surrounding counties):

Republicans

Just as U.S. Sen. John McCain (Arizona) started the day in first place among the other Republican presidential candidates, he left Virginia's polls Tuesday with 63 more delegates to add to his first place tally.

At the beginning of Tuesday's primary, before the first Virginian vote was cast when polls opened at 6 a.m., McCain had 723 delegates under his belt. Shortly after the polls closed at 7 p.m. many of the major networks made the call that McCain had also taken Virginia's delegates, though the race was much closer than many expected.

While pundits predicted early on that McCain would do well in Virginia due to his military-laden biography and the senator's stronghold in Northern Virginia, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee hit the commonwealth's campaign trail quite hard over the past week, especially in southern and southwestern Virginia.

"It was neck and neck for a while," said Josh Noland, director of communications for the Republican Party of Virginia. "After reading a lot of the media reports last week, I was expecting it to not be this close, but there were a lot of outside factors like Governor Huckabee running a good campaign in Virginia and the weather wreaking havoc on the afternoon commute in Northern Virginia, which was Senator McCain's stronghold. It really made for a close race."

McCain carried Richmond, Chesterfield County and Henrico County.

Though Huckabee beat McCain in two of three primaries last weekend, his momentum couldn't carry him through to win Virginia. He started the day with 217 delegates, but because Virginia is an all-or-nothing state for the Republican primary, that number will remain the same after all the votes are tallied.

U.S. Rep. Ron Paul (Texas), who started the day with a mere 16 delegates in the bag, also wasn't able to add to his total Tuesday as he finished the day with less than 5 percent of the total Republican vote.

"This year's primary definitely showed that Virginia is very much a microcosm of the country," said Noland. "It has traditionally, well, for at least the last 20 years, been a Republican state, but as we all know the Democrats are having more success here and it is becoming a little bit more of a battleground state."

Democrats

Democrats turned out in force across the state, but especially in Richmond where U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (Illinois) defeated U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton (New York) by nearly 20,000 votes. The same was true in both Chesterfield and Henrico counties where Obama votes outnumbered Clinton votes by a nearly 2-1 margin.

In a packed venue at The Camel on West Broad Street, Obama faithful, including Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, Richmond Mayor L. Douglas Wilder and several other state and local officials, gathered to gleefully rejoice in his Virginia victory.            

Kaine and Wilder both noted the high number of registered voters who turned out, especially young people, as well as what the results say about Virginia.

"It says what I thought 19 years ago," Wilder said, "that Virginia has changed. Virginia is ready. Virginia is a place that people need to take seriously. It's a vanguard state, a leadership state."

Kaine, who endorsed Obama a year ago, said the increased numbers of Democrats who voted shows that people need to pay attention to Virginia.

He predicted the number of voters would likely be historic and said it was a great sign because people are energized.

"It bodes well that so many want to be involved," he said.

Kaine told the diverse crowd gathered at The Camel that the media's conceptions about who's voting for Obama -- blacks, young people, white people -- were "blown out the door" by the shift from Virginia's historic red to blue state swing.

"We've known it's not just about this group or that group. It's about everybody," he said.

Wilder agreed, saying the votes have nothing to do with race.          

"It has to do with bringing people together and unity," he said. "This guy's got it and people see it. Skin color doesn't matter."

Richmond City Council member Chris Hilbert (3rd), who also attended the Obama party, joked that if anyone doubted Obama's ability to bring people together, he need look no further than Hilbert and Wilder.

"The mayor and I are totally in sync on this one," he said with a laugh.

Obama supporter Kathryn Rogge, 23, a Virginia Commonwealth University graduate student, said she voted for Obama because she wants to teach and cares how the future turns out.

"I feel like (Obama) sees what I see for the future," she said.

Her boyfriend, Matt Ference, 21, is one of the leaders of the VCU chapter for Obama. He spent the day handing out buttons, stickers and other information on campus.

"I think it's time for us as a country to focus on our problems right now and what we deal with in the future," he said.

Obama has made the point that current politicians are still arguing and debating over what happened in the 1960s, Ference said, and if Obama's elected, "that's us saying we're ready to look forward rather than back."

Both said they were heartened to see so many people turn out, especially those in college. So many voters turned out in Chesterfield and Henrico counties that the wait at times was nearly 40 minutes. Some precincts ran out of ballots and had to go get more.

Ference said his VCU for Obama group on the social networking site Facebook had more than 400 members at his last count.

"I've always been a follower of politics," he said, "but this is the first time I've gone all out." 

Statewide
Democrats 2,415 of 2,472 precincts reporting
620,126 – Barack Obama
343,534 – Hillary Clinton 
5,119 – John Edwards
2,336 – Dennis Kucinich
1,057 – Bill Richardson
792 – Joe Biden

Republicans 2,416 of 2442 precincts reporting
241,783 – John McCain
188,648 – Mike Huckabee
22,724 – Ron Paul
16,070 – Mitt Romney
4,236 – Fred Thompson
1,881 – Rudy Giuliani

City of Richmond results
65 of 67 precincts reporting
Democrats
27,131 – Barack Obama
7,170 – Hillary Clinton

Republicans 
3,883 – John McCain
1,382 – Mike Huckabee
384 - Ron Paul

Henrico County results
92 of 93 precincts reporting
Democrats
33,834 – Barack Obama
12,510 – Hillary Clinton

Republicans 
12,250 – John McCain
6,714 – Mike Huckabee
768 - Ron Paul

Chesterfield County results
63 of 65 precincts reporting
Democrats
19,975 – Barack Obama
8,402 – Hillary Clinton

Republicans
9,322 - John McCain
664 - Ron Paul
220 - Mike Huckabee

Primary Day Reading Room 

w RBlog: Race for the White House - Our RBlog takes a look at what's been going on so far. 
w Agree to Disagree - Richmond.com's political columnists discuss the race for the White House.
w Campaigns Come to Richmond - Coverage of the Jefferson-Jackson Dinner, which featured Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.
w Faith, Not Politcs - Mike Huckabee comes to a local church to deliver a message that many might not have expected.
w Primed for the Primary - A preview of Virginia's Feb. 12 primary.