Senate Races

Al Franken is now down to a mere 237 votes from his rival, incumbent Republican senator Norm Coleman:

The margin in the tightest Senate race in the country bounced like the stock market throughout the day, with the difference between Coleman and Franken dropping, then rising briefly to 590 votes before shooting down to a razor-thin 237 as of 9:27 a.m.

In a reversal of the previous day, when Coleman had declared victory and suggested that Franken should waive a recount, Coleman kept to himself on Thursday, while Franken called reporters to talk about the prospects for a continued narrowing of the count.

Since the ballots are of the optical scan variety, all kinds shenanigans could take place regardless of a paper trail. But thank God a paper trail exists.
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Now that the count has narrowed in Georgia, the chances incumbent Saxby Chambliss will NOT face a runoff against Jim Martin are probably zilch:

By percentage, the race stands at Chambliss, 49.8 percent; Democrat Jim Martin, 46.8 percent; and Libertarian Allen Buckley, 3.4 percent.

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Ted Stevens continues to hold a narrow lead against Mark Begich, and if he returns to the U.S. Senate only to be forced out, there is speculation galore as to the possibility Sarah Palin could appoint herself to replace him.
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Oregon's Gordon Smith was defeated in a bruising, close election against challenger Jeff Markley.

It was the first time in 40 years an incubent Oregon senator had been thrown out of office.

With the above three contests yet to be decided, Democrats will have 57 senators come January.
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Senate Races

It's still too close to call in the Oregon Senate race:

Late Wednesday, only about three-fourths of the expected vote had been counted, and the two candidates had swapped narrow leads. That raised the possibility the outcome of one of the nation's most-watched Senate races might not be known until today.

The counting in Multnomah County was going particularly slow.

Merkley, the Oregon House speaker, is a Democrat. He was expected to pick up strength as the returns came in from Multnomah, which includes Portland. It is the state's most populous county and a liberal bastion.

The McMinnville News-Register and The Oregonian newspapers projected Merkley the winner Wednesday, but neither Merkley nor Smith was ready to say the race is over.

Smith, though, is one of the better Republicans in the Senate. He is also a member of the Udall family, as his mother was a cousin of Mo Udall and Stewart Udall. Smith's second cousins are congressmen Mark Udall and Tom Udall, both of whom were elected to the Senate this year from their states.

Oregon has vote-by-mail, by the way.
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Campaign 2008.

It appears Oregon's Gordon Smith will have a Democratic challenger who might actually have a chance next year.

There are a couple of them at least who will do battle in the primary.

Smith is considered one of the most vulnerable Republican incumbents.

This is interesting:

In recent weeks, Smith has sided with Democrats on a variety of issues, including an expansion of federal funding for the state Children's Health Insurance Program. He co-sponsored legislation with Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy that would allow the federal government to help states prosecute attacks on homosexuals.

His office even sent out a press release touting Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's kind words about Smith in a recent interview with Newsweek magazine, though Clinton's politics are disliked among die-hard Republicans.

It sounds like he isn't hard right enough.
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Gonzalesgate.

As everybody in the world knows, but I was too tired last night to post, Turd was linked to early queries about axing the 93 attorneys.

As we know, most of them were "loyal" enough to the sociopath, so he decided to just get rid of the eight who were causing the most trouble.
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Like Sununu, Oregon's Gordon Smith realizes the Republicans are in deep shit if they keep supporting every action of the administration.
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This editorial by the NYT is unusual in that it doesn't mince words as to what Gonzalesgate is really about:

In partisan Republican circles, the pursuit of voter fraud is code for suppressing the votes of minorities and poor people. By resisting pressure to crack down on “fraud,” the fired United States attorneys actually appear to have been standing up for the integrity of the election system.

John McKay, one of the fired attorneys, says he was pressured by Republicans to bring voter fraud charges after the 2004 Washington governor’s race, which a Democrat, Christine Gregoire, won after two recounts. Republicans were trying to overturn an election result they did not like, but Mr. McKay refused to go along. “There was no evidence,” he said, “and I am not going to drag innocent people in front of a grand jury.”

It was merely Act whatever in the seemingly neverending saga of the administration once again indulging in fraud for political ends. And Karl Rove is right at the center of it, as always.
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