Monday, December 01, 2008
Coleman’s lead widens to 292
Wait, that has been updated to 340 votes.
With all results required to be in by Friday, December 5th, incumbent Republican Senator Norm Coleman has widened his lead to almost more than 300 votes, with almost 90% of the votes recounted. Further, Franken’s team has announced that it will not appeal the elimination of several thousand absentee ballots, and will withdraw the challenge to dozens of votes (although considering the thousands of challenges still outstanding, this doesn’t put a dent in the total number). The runoff election in Georgia is scheduled for tomorrow, with Saxby Chambliss up in the polls by a handful of points, and low “early voting” turnout among the demographics that the Democratic challenger needs.
As for the other four outstanding House races I’ve been keeping track of, the California race is supposed to be finalized tomorrow, the Ohio contest still has several thousand provisional ballots under consideration, and the Virginia seat has been called for the Democrat. There is also the Louisiana runoff scheduled for Saturday, the 6th.
So, it looks like both of the “open” Senate seats will go to Republicans, and the House is currently at 257-175, with CA, OH and LA contests still undecided. The Republican incumbents are still leading in both of those races, and CQ Politics has the Louisiana race on Saturday listed as ‘No Clear Favorite’, despite the District’s heavily conservative tendencies (such as the 59-40 results on November 4th in favor of McCain). Republican John Fleming has a 47-45 lead in the polls, but the MoE is approximately 3.9%, so it’s still (technically) a tossup.
Just to reiterate:
- The winner of the Electoral Vote contest is John Cross. (I have selfishly waited to pay him, because of the possibilities in the other contests. See below.)
- If the Republicans win both of the remaining Senate seats, John Cross wins. If the Dems win only one, then oneisnotprime wins. In the unlikely event that the Dems win both of them, then Justin wins.
- Because the House is currently at 257-175, if the Republicans lose ANY of the three remaining races, INCITEMarsh wins. If they do manage to pull out both of the recounting races (California and Ohio), AND the Louisiana runoff on the 6th, John Cross wins.
Any questions?