Four Senate Seats Still Hang In Balance

Razor-Thin Margins Keep Races For GOP Seats In Doubt; Recount, Runoff Possible

(CBS/AP)  While the 2008 presidential election came to a decisive conclusion on Election Day, four Senate race outcomes remained murky.

On Tuesday, Democrats coupled gains of at least 17 seats in the House with pickups of five Senate seats to bolster their existing congressional majorities.

But close results in Minnesota, Alaska, Georgia and Oregon - all seats Republicans hope to successfully defend - will likely require a combination of recounts and run-offs.

Minnesota

A slugfest for nearly two years, Minnesota's U.S. Senate race headed into a new round Wednesday as the campaigns girded for an automatic statewide recount to determine whether Republican Sen. Norm Coleman's bare lead over Democratic challenger Al Franken would stand. (Click here for complete Minnesota coverage)

Coleman declared himself the winner of Tuesday's election, but Franken said he would let the recount play out, hoping it would erase the incumbent's 475-vote lead out of nearly 2.9 million ballots. State officials said the recount wouldn't start until mid-November and would probably take weeks.

"Yesterday the voters spoke. We prevailed," Coleman said Wednesday at a news conference. He noted Franken could opt to waive the recount.

"It's up to him whether such a step is worth the tax dollars it will take to conduct," Coleman said, telling reporters he would "step back" if he were in Franken's position. Secretary of State Mark Ritchie said the recount would cost 3 cents per ballot, or almost $90,000.

As counties and Ritchie's office reconciled their unofficial vote totals Wednesday, Coleman's margin fluctuated but was at 475 votes Wednesday afternoon: Coleman had 1,211,642 votes, or 41.99 percent of the total votes cast, while Franken had 1,211,167 votes, or 41.98 percent.

Dean Barkley of the Independence Party was third with 15.16 percent.

State law provides for automatic recounts in races decided by a half-percentage point or less.

"We won't know for a little while who won the race, but at the end of the day we will know the voice of the electorate is clearly heard," Franken said Wednesday. "This has been a long campaign, but it is going to be a little longer before we have a winner."

Alaska

If Sen. Ted Stevens prevails in his tight re-election bid, he might be able to thank his reputation for bringing home the bacon. (Click here for complete Alaska coverage)

Stevens had appeared to be trailing before Tuesday, but with nearly all precincts reporting, he held a razor-thin lead Wednesday over Democrat Mark Begich, a popular two-term Anchorage mayor.

With 99 percent of precincts reporting Wednesday, Stevens led with 48 percent of the vote, compared with 47 percent for Begich - with only about 3,500 votes separating the two.

Stevens' political future hangs in the balance with the counting of roughly 60,000 absentee ballots, as well as 9,000 early votes and questioned ballots. Those votes won't be counted for days.

Stevens was convicted last week of seven felonies for failing to disclose more than $250,000 in gifts and services from Bill Allen, a former friend and oil services company executive.

He would be the first convicted felon re-elected to the U.S. Senate. But his colleagues also could expel him, putting an end to the longest run by a Republican in the history of the Senate.

Georgia

The last seat of the new Senate will likely be determined by a runoff in Georgia, where Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss apparently came just short of winning enough votes to send him to a second term. (Click here for complete Georgia coverage)

With 99 percent of precincts reporting Wednesday, Chambliss had 49.8 percent of the vote, shy of the 50 percent plus one required under state law to avoid a runoff. The mild-mannered Democrat Jim Martin, a former Georgia legislator and once-reluctant Senate candidate, won 46.8 percent of the vote. Libertarian Allen Buckley pulled 3.4 percent.

Some absentee votes were still being counted late Wednesday. However, if the current results hold, Chambliss would face Martin on Dec. 2.

"We're prepared for a runoff. We have already hit the ground," said Chambliss, who was expected to coast to re-election in reliably GOP Georgia before the nation's economy faltered, fueling a wave of anti-incumbent frustration. Some conservatives were angered that Chambliss backed the $700 billion bailout.

Martin said he had already been in touch with Barack Obama's campaign, but there were no immediate plans for the president-elect to visit Georgia. "The runoff race begins right now," Martin said.

It would be the first test of whether Obama can mobilize voters when he is not on the ballot. On Tuesday, Democrats added three seats to their Senate majority, but even if they swept the remaining still undecided races, they would fall short of the filibuster-proof, 60-vote majority.

Oregon

Republican Sen. Gordon Smith and Democratic challenger Jeff Merkley remain in a close race, with the largest block of votes yet to be counted in Oregon's most populous county, Multnomah. (Click here for complete Oregon coverage)

At midmorning Wednesday, Smith held a lead of about 7,000 votes with about two-thirds of the estimated vote tallied.

Merkley is likely to have strong support in Multnomah County, a liberal stronghold.

The race is one of four U.S. Senate seats that are still too close to call.

Smith is a two-term incumbent, and Merkley is speaker of the Oregon House.

[thelastvoter]

A Message to Governor Palin: As a Conservative Republican, I do not like the way you were treated by both the media and those bums inside the Republican Committee and McCain Campaign -- no reflection on Senator McCain himself -- and when those bums are identified publicly, and they will be identified, I can guarantee you that they will no longer have a place in the Republican Party. Why? Because those bums, along with that corrupt crowd on Capiol Hill and Wall Street, have sold out America, and they have no business advising any candidate, period. I hope that once they are identified publicly, Americans give them the same treatment that they gave Governor Palin. She has thick skin -- they don''''t. This is a message from a Republican who in hindsight thanks the Democrats for helping clean out those Washington politicians who have strayed from Republican principles, and this includes most of the Bush Administration.

[credibility2]

What''s with MN? Franken possibly elected? Go figure, Ventura was. Must be something in all of the thousand lakes.

[lochlan-2009]

What bothers me is that Obama offers Rahm Emmanual the job of Chief of Staff.

Rahm Emmanuel was the only Illinois Democrat who voted for the Iraq War and who represents AIPAC and the same neocon faction that got us into Iraq....for the security of Israel.


Posted by cbsblogger


Exactly right. They are setting up an informant right at Obama''s arm. How did they force him to swallow this pill?

[pandamonium6]

The election in MN keeps getting stranger. There are allegations right now that a worker for Norm Colman might have committed election fraud.

According to the local news in the Twin Cities, if true: "The issue could end up being the basis of a legal challenge. According to Prof. Joe Daly of Hamline University, state election law has a provision that if there is a deliberate, serious or material violation of state election law, a district court judge must gather the evidence and present it to the presiding officer of the U.S. Senate, who would then decide the merits of the allegations.

The Senate could even revoke the results of the election and decide who would be seated as senator."

That means that Harry Reid could be called on to appoint the next senator from MN! Very strange!

[peter776-2009]

It''s "waive" not "wave." I guess Democrats are better educated than Republicans.

See libs? Franken could wave the recount and save taxpayers money but he wont. Coleman said he would wave the recount if he were in his position. Thats because we republicans have more class than the libs.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by gop_will_Win at 08:49 AM : Nov 06, 2008

Rightttttttttttttttttttt!

[cbsblogger]

What bothers me is that Obama offers Rahm Emmanual the job of Chief of Staff.

Rahm Emmanuel was the only Illinois Democrat who voted for the Iraq War and who represents AIPAC and the same neocon faction that got us into Iraq....for the security of Israel.

[popstom12]

I will be trailer trash my home is paid for and I am
not black 5th.generation public houseing trash

[blitzder]

All four seats belong to the Democrats, what will it take for the Republicans to read the writing on the wall. The American people have spoken clearly, 53% to 46%.

Its bedtime for you republicans, its over, after the long nightmare of destruction of the last 8 years. GW, Cheney, Rove, Rumsfeld, Gonzales etc are now reduced to a mere footnote in American history. Its where they really belong.

[gop_will_win]

See libs? Franken could wave the recount and save taxpayers money but he wont. Coleman said he would wave the recount if he were in his position. Thats because we republicans have more class than the libs.

[antoniof123]

We don''''t need to talk this way anymore. The American people have spoken and have concurred. Now let''''s bring in a new day of justice, decency and democracy. For those on the other side we welcome you as we rebuild a great nation. Love to all!
Posted by fsw3 at 08:18 AM : Nov 06, 2008

I agree write your congress and tell them to work with the Republicans that is moderation and it will make certain that all the things we want for America will happen.

[pony1225]

IMPEACH OBAMA!!
IMPEACH OBAMA!!
IMPEACH OBAMA!!
IMPEACH OBAMA!!
IMPEACH OBAMA!!
IMPEACH OBAMA!!
IMPEACH OBAMA!!
IMPEACH OBAMA!!
IMPEACH OBAMA!!
IMPEACH OBAMA!!
IMPEACH OBAMA!!
IMPEACH OBAMA!!