Say hello to my enlarged friend

I've been trying to figure out how big I can blow-up the pictures I take with my camera. Popular Photography does a good job of testing that sort of thing but my lenses are so antiquated and/or small (as in production run) that I can't get the info I want. I guess it's trial and error time.
Tim Kaine won the Virginia governor's race by a fairly slim margin. By in large, our area is fairly conservative so it was suprising to me that the D picked it up. As it stands it looks like Lt Gov might go to the R. I don't really understand the system here. The Lt Gov, as far as I have encountered, doesn't do shit. Why bother to seperate the two? Crazy VA.