Former Gov. Jim Gilmore barely won the Republican nomination today for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by retiring Republican John Warner, emerging from a sharply divided state convention with a narrow victory over state Del. Bob Marshall of Prince William County.

Gilmore won a razor-thin majority of delegate votes to hold off the feverish insurgent campaign by Marshall, whose boisterous supporters provided much of the drama and most of the noise at today's convention. Gilmore's victory margin was less than 1 percent of the delegate votes cast under an arcane, weighted voting system.

Gilmore will face former Gov. Mark Warner in a Nov. 4 election that will provide clear contrasts for voters. Warner, a Democrat who succeeded Gilmore as governor in 2002, holds a significant funding advantage over his Republican rival and will debut his first television ad on Monday night.

Republicans also elected a new state party chairman. Del. Jeff Frederick of Price William County defeated former Lt. Gov. John Hager, the incumbent party chairman, in a bitterly contested race.