Former Senator George Allen will not run for governor in 2009, he told Virginia newspapers this week. Allen, who lost a close re-election race to Jim Webb in 2006, was elected governor in 1993 before winning the Senate seat in 2000. The move leaves the GOP nomination open to either Attorney General Bob McDonnell or Lieutenant Governor Bill Bolling.

On the Democratic side, State Senator Creigh Deeds, who narrowly lost a battle for Attorney General in 2005, and State Delegate Brian Moran, brother of U.S. Rep. Jim Moran, have said they will run. Incumbent Governor Tim Kaine is barred from seeking a second term due to the state's unique one term limit.

Virginia, for decades a solidly red state, has been on an inexorably blue march in recent years, beginning with the 2001 governor's race, in which Mark Warner beat a well-known Republican. Warner helped rebuild the state's Democratic Party, leading to Webb's and Kaine's victories. This year, Democrats even took control of the state senate for the first time in decades. Warner himself is running for the Senate seat being vacated this year by longtime Republican Senator John Warner.

His likely opponent, former Governor Jim Gilmore, begins the race as a big underdog. A poll a few months ago showed Warner up by 30 points.