Election Aftermath [Updated]

Mark Begich widens his lead over incumbent Alaska senator and crook Ted Stevens:

Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich's lead over Sen. Ted Stevens is growing in today's ballot count in the race for U.S. Senate. The latest numbers, issued just before 1 p.m., show Begich up by 2,374 votes.

The Division of Elections expects to release more numbers between 4 and 5 p.m.

Today's count of about 24,000 absentee and questioned ballots should pretty much decide the race, although there will be a few more overseas absentees to count over the next couple days and a likely recount in early December.

Update: Democrats have picked up yet another Senate seat. Mark Begich has won the seat over incumbent crook Ted Stevens by 3,724 votes, and it is an unsurmountable lead.
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Over in Minnesota, the state canvassing board says incumbent senator Norm Coleman is 215 votes ahead of challenger Al Franken, which means a recount will happen tomorrow.

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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Senate Races

The four outstanding races in Georgia, Oregon, Alaska, and Minnesota have not been decided, but from this report it appears only Oregon may flip to Democratic.

Alaska is simply unreal. I can't believe voters have re-elected the scoundrel Stevens.

Political News.

Senator John Ensign says he believes the GOP will lose Senate seats this fall.

That may still be true despite Democrats having a death wish in putting forth Obama. It may be enough people aren't so mad at the choice at the top of the ticket they will still vote Democratic downticket.

One of the biggest fears I have is Obama will drag down the ballot in all fifty states.