The Purr-fect Candidate: Cat Comes in Third in Virginia Senate Race

Patriotic CatIt was a hard-fought campaign, but ultimately former Virginia Governor Timothy Kaine was elected as Virginia's newest Senator, narrowly beating out the Republican candidate, George Allen, and also a cat named Hank.

According to the Virginia Board of Election's still unofficial 2012 tally, Tim Kaine won with 52.45% of the vote, whereas George Allen had 47.35% of the vote.

The remaining 0.20% of voters - 7,319, to be exact - entered a write-in candidate. It appears that write-in candidate is Hank the Cat.

It may seem like a small percentage, keep in mind that this race was won by a margin of just over 188,000 votes. Another important thing to note is that over 7,000 people in the fair state of Virginia are so disgusted with the state of politics that they voted for a cat.

Related: 20 reasons why everyone should own a cat

According to his hilarious and incredibly well-designed campaign website, Hank, a Maine Coon cat, was "born to a single mother living on the streets." The website also notes that "although only 9 in human years, Hank has 52 cat years of life experience. Enthusiastic and energetic enough to chase the bouncy ball, he has the wisdom to understand that it is almost impossible to catch."

Hank's campaign included a very strong social media presence, at one point overtaking George Allen in "likes" on Facebook. He also had possibly the best political ads ever, on YouTube:

All contributions to Hank's campaign were donated to no-kill animal shelters and rescue centers such as Animal Allies, the rescue organization that saved Hank. You can still buy campaign memorabilia (proceeds from sales are donated) at Hank for Senate.

-By Joslyn Gray
Follow Joslyn on Babble

For 15 hilarious photos of pets thrilled about the election results, visit Babble!

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