It can be spun by Daschle as a technical "win" since there is a tiny restriction on one action in one county. You were right. The AP played up Daschle's "win" and made it sound like his charges of intimidation were true. ONly down in the body of the stories do you see the Daschle/Piersol connection, and never do you get the full meaning of the story. This is SD Tom Daschle fan club media at its worst.
It really was flawlessly executed: a big lawsuit threatening the removal of all poll-watchers, so the Republicans had to fight it hard, a hand-picked judge who gave a win for Daschle that was too trivial for the Republicans to challenge without looking bad, a decision held just late enough for the Argus to get into the paper so they could spin the story hard, but with no time for rebuttal before people cast their votes.
You've got to hand it to Daschle, he is one slick, smart SOB politician...