JERRY KILGORE lacked the three things needed for a Republican to be elected governor in Virginia. In order of importance, they are: a dynamic campaign, an issue, and a president who's not a burden. So he lost to Democratic Tim Kaine yesterday in an election that Democrats will claim is more meaningful that it really is. Democrats captured the governor's office in New Jersey, too, but that barely rises to the level of talking point.

Kilgore, the ex-state attorney general, is a nice man with deeply conservative views. He is a protégé of Republican Senator George Allen. But his campaign, except for two ads denouncing Kaine for opposing the death penalty, was "nasty and dull." That's how Larry Sabato, the University of Virginia professor and expert on Virginia politics, described both the Kilgore and Kaine campaigns. Sabato was quite right.

Abortion wasn't a big issue, but Kilgore insisted he was pro-life. From time to time, Kaine said he was too. But Kaine said he would fight to protect a woman's right to have an abortion even if the U.S. Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that legalized abortion nationally. Kilgore wouldn't say what he'd do if Roe were overturned, irritating many conservatives.

To win the Virginia governorship, a Republican usually needs an issue that rallies conservatives. In 1993, Allen was elected by promising to end the frequently abused system of parole. Four years later, Jim Gilmore won by vowing to eliminate the regressive car tax. Kilgore tried to make the death

It was an election without a paramount issue. This helped Kaine, who spent most of his time denying that he is a liberal. He was, though, as Richmond mayor. He was less liberal as lieutenant governor to outgoing Democratic Gov. Mark Warner. In his campaign, Kaine had no issues worth mentioning. He simply declared himself a clone of Warner, who is enormously popular, despite the fact that he promised never to raise taxes--and then raised them.

All of which leads to the Bush factor. There was one. For the past seven elections in Virginia, voters have elected a governor from the party that doesn't hold the White House. Even if the president is popular, as Ronald Reagan was in 1981, he can't help his party's candidate much. But he can hurt the candidate if he's even slightly unpopular, as Bush is today in Virginia. Bush was a mild drag on the Republican ticket, especially in populous northern Virginia, where Kilgore did poorly.

Was Bush a huge factor in the race? Not at all. The election wasn't a referendum on his presidency. But Bush's current troubles meant that Republicans weren't in a good mood. One Republican official said the floor dropped out of the party's conservative base when Bush nominated Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court.

Had the election been held six months ago, Bush wouldn't have hurt Kilgore. And Kaine probably would have won anyway. Nonetheless, national Democrats are bound to insist that Bush was decisively rejected in Virginia. Not true. He was only gently rebuked.