Posted on 11/05/2008 6:24:38 PM PST by Chet 99
Democrat Jeff Merkley has ousted Republican Gordon Smith from his U.S. Senate seat, The Oregonian projects.
Merkley, a five-term state lawmaker and former Habitat for Humanity director, took advantage of a surge of Democratic support to win a close, bitterly fought battle with Smith, who has served 12 years in Washington.
Despite the closeness of the count, expert number crunchers said they expect Merkley to win. Portland pollster Tim Hibbitts, appearing as an analyst on Fox News(12), outright called the race for Merkley, based primarily on how many votes remain uncounted in Democrat-rich Multnomah County. He stuck by that call this morning.
Neither candidate, however was willing to rule the race over until more votes are tallied.
"More good news," said Matt Canter, spokesman for Merkley, "but we'll just continue to watch the ballots come in and wait to claim victory."
Smith's campaign argued vigorously that the race isn't over. The projection is based on a mathematical analysis of the remaining 340,000 votes still being counted out of a total 1.8 million vote cast statewide.
With GA back into a runoff, 60 is possible.
But notice something: Almost EVERY VERY CLOSELY contested Senate election since 1992 has gone (by a few hundred votes each time) to democrats.
Slow and steady.
Chambliss would easily win the runoff. The BO souffle won’t rise twice. Same thing happened in 92 after Clinton was elected. The Republican won the runoff. That said, would rather avoid it.
Coleman has expert legal talent.
Alaska votes still to be counted include thousands of military absentees. Stevens should be safe.
And I am expecting Lieberman to remain I but caucus with the GOP.
Still praying Smith can pull this off. If anyone has more conclusive info - either way - please advise.
The decision to allow that dead indian vote fraud to stand in 2002 was atrocious. Now Johnson is senator for life.
You are very wrong about party support for procedural votes within your caucus, such as a cloture vote to kill a filibuster.
Your ignorance of the legislative realities and procedure is absolutely stunning.
And that would be the final kick in the nuts for Pacifist Northwest Republicans...
The filibuster is “saved” until 51 Democrats decide to get rid of it.
Leftists don’t really care about either rules, laws, the U.S. Constitution, or the Bill of Rights, especially after they officially become the long-term dominant force in politics.
katu is still not calling the race. Has the SOS called it yet?
UPDATE | Nov-05-2008 10:04 PM Pacific Standard Time |
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U.S. Senator Oregon |
Winner | Candidate | Incumbent | Votes | Vote % |
Jeff Merkley | 714,597 | 48% | ||
Gordon Smith | X | 710,216 | 47% | |
Dave Brownlow | 81,187 | 5% |
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no. lots of votes to count.. but they all from Portland.
True, but you're not going to have anywhere near the AA turnout for the runoff that you did yesterday.
As of 5:55am this morning Merkley has a 23K vote lead.
The only remaining votes to be counted are in Multinomah County, a liberal stronghold. Smith is gone.
BLOAT
Thank you Constipation party.
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