POLLSTERS understate matters when they say the U.S. Senate race in Virginia between Tim Kaine (D) and George Allen (R) is a "tossup." The contest appears to be so close that a tossed coin would land on its edge: Eight of nine summertime surveys compiled by Real Clear Politics put the two former Old Dominion governors within 2 points of each other, while the last three of those polls say "tied."

But the most interesting polling result will be the next one--the first one after Mr. Kaine bathed in seven free minutes of TV time, interrupted only by applause, with a Tuesday speech at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte. In a confident, bluff-calling gambit, the Democrat effectively sneered at GOP attempts to tie him to Barack Obama, instead taking a prominent role in the president's four-day re-coronation ceremony and praising the prez as a leader "who put results ahead of ideology."

Many Americans would not readily praise those results or certify the mildness of that ideology. No matter. The speaker's boldness in butting heads with the chief Republican line of attack on him, to the cheers of thousands of partisans, can hardly fail to give Mr. Kaine, a former Democratic National Committee chairman during much of Mr. Obama's presidency, a boost. George Allen, after all, had no equivalent limelight in which to perform.

So where was Mr. Allen at last week's Republican convention in Tampa? Nowhere near a camera. For while it is obvious that national Democrats thought Mr. Kaine's seven minutes would do no harm to the president, Republican leaders seem to have deemed Mr. Allen radioactive to Mitt Romney. After all, the GOP spent a good deal of time in Tampa parading out blacks and Hispanics to sing the praises of Republicanism. The last thing they needed was a guest appearance by Mr. Macaca.