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At 4:45 a.m. today, after 21-hours of non-stop ballot copying and counting, Democratic candidate Patrick Murphy defeated Republican U.S. Rep. Allen West for the District 18 congressional seat. The final tally — still considered unofficial — put Murphy ahead of West by 2,429 votes. Overall, Murphy captured 166,799 votes to West’s 164,370 in District 18, which spans portions of Martin, St. Lucie and Palm Beach counties. An automatic recount is triggered by a margin of 0.5 percent. Murphy’s lead gives him a .7 percent advantage. All ballots in Martin and St. Lucie counties have been counted.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.(AP) — Firebrand GOP Rep. Allen West, whose made-for-TV rhetoric made him a prized voice of extreme conservatives, has been ousted by political newcomer Patrick Murphy, according to the state's vote count Saturday, but the incumbent was not planning to concede. In complete but unofficial numbers, Murphy held a 2,442-vote lead in the District 18 race. His 50.4 percent of the vote was above the threshold for a recount, but West's campaign said they would press forward. "We're simply not going to just walk away from the race until we see that the numbers add up," West...

On Tuesday only one precinct had less than 113% turnout. “The Unofficial vote count is 175,554 registered voters 247,713 vote cards cast (141.10% ). The National SEAL Museum, a St. Lucie county polling place, had 158.85% voter turn out, the highest in the county.” The Supervisor of Elections, Gertrude Walker, had this to say concerning the 141% voter turnout: “They may have had something like that in Palm Beach County, but we’ve never seen that here.” So maybe Allen West wasn’t crazy to ask for a lock-down on the ballot boxes and machines in this county. According to the report...

.Allen West's new ad: The most brutal clip of 2012? The video: The campaign season has seen its share of vicious attack ads, but freshman Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) has just released what might be the most brutal campaign commercial of the year. (Take a look at the 30-second video below.) The spot begins with a montage spotlighting the controversial, blunt-spoken Tea Party favorite's military career, saying that on Feb. 16, 2003, West, then an Army colonel, was at Fort Hood, Texas, where he had just received deployment orders, and was preparing his men to go to war. Then it...

Patrick Murphy is running a nasty, negative campaign against Allen West.......West responds with a punch 'in the face'.

Congressman Allen West has "easily" won his Florida primary today for District 18 over fellow Republican Robert Crowder. In the November General Election, West will face Democrat Patrick Murphy who has launched the WhatWestSaid.com website "dedicated to collecting outrageous comments made by the Tea Party freshman [Allen West]." What you will NOT see is West's most famous quote while a U.S. Army Colonel: I will walk through hell with a gas can for my men." Nope. Won't see that one on Murphy's site. Photo: Allen West Family, daughters Aubrey (L) and Austen, and wife Angela Congressman West opened up large...

*** The punches land as the narrator lists the groups of people West has supposedly wronged. *** West said the ad reflects a "sad state of politics" in the country. "The ad being run against me by my opponent's family depicting violence against women and senior citizens is reprehensible," West said. "It plays on stereotypes and fear to divide Americans, and it cheapens the very real and tragic occurrences of violence against women and seniors. The American people are suffering from crushing debt, horrific tax and regulatory policies, and epic unemployment. This classless ad shows a lack of regard for...

Democratic congressional candidate Patrick Murphy announced today that he will follow Allen West to the newly proposed District 18 to continue his campaign against him. The move comes after publically calling West a coward for leaving the district to run in a more favorable one. It seems that Murphy will be doing exactly that, with the blessing of popular Democratic leaders. He has yet to apologize to West for his remark.

Democratic congressional candidate Patrick Murphy announced today that he will follow Allen West to the newly proposed District 18 to continue his campaign against him. The move comes after publically calling West a coward for leaving the district to run in a more favorable one. It seems that Murphy will be doing exactly that, with the blessing of popular Democratic leaders. He has yet to apologize to West for his remark.

Today, Patrick Murphy, the underdog in the Democratic primary for Congressional District 22, called incumbent U.S. Rep. Allen West -- a retired lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army, and a combat veteran, mind you -- "a coward." Responding to West’s decision to run in a newly drawn district further north, Murphy posted the following statement on his website: Allen West went from talking tough this weekend and telling progressives to "get the hell out of this country" to abandoning the people who elected him. There is no other way to interpret this: Allen West is a coward. The truth is...

Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) has another Democratic challenger: a 28-year-old accountant who is making his first run for public office. Patrick Murphy started a campaign site this week and put out a video welcome message, outlining his case for election. "I love my country. I love South Florida, and I'm not going to stand by while right-wing extremists like Allen West continue to divide us," he said. Murphy is considered a dark-horse candidate in the race. A handful of other Democrats are considering getting into the race against West — one of two black Republican members of Congress elected in...

MORRISVILLE, Pa.-Allegations of absentee ballot fraud are marring the final days of a competitive congressional rematch here, raising the possibility that the outcome in this suburban Philadelphia seat might be decided in a courtroom after Election Day. The accusations coming from both Democrats and Republicans in Pennsylvania's 8th District have come to define the closing days of the contest between Democratic Rep. Patrick Murphy and former congressman he defeated in 2006, Republican Mike Fizpatrick. Both camps say the other is guilty of wrongdoing tantamount to stealing an election. For the moment, 8,000 absentee ballots have been sequestered in a Bucks...

Earlier today, Battle ‘10 reported on the continuing absentee ballot scandal in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, home to the 8th district congressional race. The race is widely seen as a bellwether, with Rep. Patrick Murphy a member of the appropriations committee. New reports are emerging that could spell trouble for Patrick Murphy’s campaign after it was revealed that his campaign manager controlled a post office box where voters were being instructed to send their absentee ballots. The ballots were then re-mailed to the county Board of Elections. A letter from a fictitious agency, the “Pennsylvania Voter Assistance Office,” was sent to...

LANGHORNE, Pa. -- From the 1930s through the 1950s, Bucks County northeast of Philadelphia acquired a glamorous reputation as a retreat for Manhattan celebrities, including Oscar Hammerstein, who, according to local legend, was inspired by the view from his Doylestown front porch to write “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’,” the opening song of “Oklahoma!” Today the county, which is 93 percent of Pennsylvania’s 8th Congressional District, figures in Republicans’ plans to sing that song on the morning of Nov. 3. The district has about 209,000 Democrats, 189,000 Republicans and 66,000 independents. The seat is held by a Democrat, Patrick Murphy,...

The conventional wisdom is Tom Lingenfelter will pull votes from Republican Mike Fitzpatrick. Two former interns for Congressman Patrick Murphy, now working for the state Democratic Party, have turned in nominating petitions to get a third-party candidate on the ballot. The interns - Brian Caplan of Northampton and Jessica Milinichik of Bristol Township - submitted 148 signatures on the notarized papers for Tom Lingenfelter, a Doylestown historian. The addition of Lingenfelter to the 8th District ballot is significant as his presence in a rematch between Murphy, a Democrat, and former Congressman Mike Fitzpatrick, a Republican, could tilt the outcome. Back...

Another Democrat coward exposed for hiding from constituents. Patrick Murphy confronted by his constituents AND Mike Fitzpatrick

According to a map of congressional districts, Paul Kanjorski (D), the 13-term Congressional incumbent, officially represents the people of northeast Pennsylvania's 11th congressional district. But Mr. Kanjorski's campaign wallet tells a different story, with 57 percent of personal contributions toward his re-election campaign coming from outside the state. Though Mr. Kanjorski's high percentage of donations from beyond state lines is not typical, he is hardly the only incumbent representative in the state with a large slice of campaign cash from non-Pennsylvanians during this election cycle. And it's not only long-time incumbents who are benefitting. Patrick Murphy - who was first...

U.S. Rep. Chris Carney wants to know why fellow Democrat U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski didn’t support his quest to sit on the U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Committee. “I would really like to understand Mr. Kanjorski’s vote,” Carney said. “I was surprised that the delegation didn’t honor the regional diversity that they are supposed to have on the committee by having two Philadelphia area Congressmen on the committee.” Carney won’t say much more. He just doesn’t understand why the Congressman for a neighboring district — a 13-term Congressman at that and the “dean” of the Pennsylvania Delegation — would not...

I just called my Congressman's office and found out that this Blue Dog Democrat is voting for the healthcare bill. Patrick Murphy of PA district 8 is going along with the White House. His office says that Murphy believes we need healthcare and we need it now. I told her that if he votes for this he will see the door in Nov. I told her I will work night and day to make sure he is removed and I am not the only one who feels that way. I hope he gets defeated in Nov.

House Democrats passed the 2,032-page Pelosicare bill on a near party-line vote Saturday night 220-215 (roll call here). The only Republican voting in favor of the measure was New Orleans-based Joseph Cao who has long ago proven to be a tax and spend (and spend and spend) liberal. After a week of intense arm twisting, threats and promises from party leaders, more than half of the 52 so-called conservative Blue Dog Democrats voted in favor of the over $1.3 trillion measure. These are the 28 Blue Dogs voting in favor of Pelosicare (who apparently fear the wrath of House Speaker...