What's Left: The Races That Haven't Been Called

A look at the uncalled races and ballot measure from Election Day, including those states yet to be called in the presidential race between Democrat Barack Obama, the president-elect, and Republican John McCain:

PRESIDENTIAL RACE

Missouri

North Carolina

___

SENATE

Alaska:

_Republican Sen. Ted Stevens, Democrat Mark Begich

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Georgia:

_Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss, Democrat Jim Martin are forced into a Dec. 2 runoff.

Minnesota:

_Republican Sen. Norm Coleman, Democrat Al Franken

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HOUSE:

Alaska, District 1:

_Republican Rep. Don Young, Democrat Ethan Berkowitz

California, District 4:

_Republican Tom McClintock, Democrat Charlie Brown

Maryland, District 1

_Democrat Frank Kratovil, Republican Andy Harris

Ohio, District 15

_Republican Steve Stivers, Democrat Mary Jo Kilroy

Virginia, District 5

_Democrat Tom Perriello, Republican Virgil Goode

Washington, District 8

_Republican Rep. Dave Reichert, Democrat Darcy Burner

___

BALLOT MEASURE:

_A measure to outlaw affirmative action in Colorado.

Comments

[OutsiderSA]

Just a general question:

With absentee ballots, is there a general rule of thumb in that if cast votes say split 60-40 the postal/provisional votes are not counted or do they eventually count all votes regardless?

[huffyjive]

bubbye Al, bubbye

[midwesthousewife]

There may be one more electoral vote coming Obama's way. The 2nd congressional district in nebraska is too close to call. McCain has a 569 vote lead, with 9000 provision ballots to be counted. If Obama wins it, he will be awarded one of Nebraska's five electoral votes.

[KQuarksSuperKollider]

I'm officially calling North Carolina for Obama. About 12,000 votes ahead with 50,000 provisional ballots to count. About a third of the provisional ballots will be tossed and face it probably a disproportionate number of those provisional ballots were caste by minorities due to voter suppression so the official EC tally is Obama 364 to McCain 174.

[T Pol]

I have a stupid question re: Franken's race, which is going into automatic recount:

How the heck could they have counted all the absentee ballots already? I don't know of any other place where the absentees have been counted and certified. While absentees often reflect the general poll vote, they have made a difference in races this tight. Wouldn't they want to wait until every vote is counted before initiating a recount?

What am I missing here?

[violetlightning]

This is just a guess, but I'm thinking that they know the number of absentee ballots that are still uncounted and whatever that number is would not be enough to give either candidate a decisive victory, so calling for a recount now makes sense, especially considering the amount of time one of those takes - better to start it sooner rather than later.

Also I'd like to say that I went to elementary school with one of Franken's campaign managers/spokespeople, and I can tell you that even at the age of six, this kid was clearly headed for a life in politics. Nothing about Franken's race surprises me, least of all that they would want a recount. Trust me when I say that they will not be conceding any time soon.

[rcpmac]

T-Pol - If you are from washington state your absentee ballot needed to be postmarked Nov 4th. Many ballots are probably arriving at the elections board today. Most other states require that the absentees be in hand by election day. It's just a matter of running them through the optical scanner.

[darthdarcy]

We need Al Franken in The U.S. Senate...!

What is wrong with these people in Minnesota, they elect someone like Bachmann that shrew bi-polar witch, and don't overwhelmingly elect a brilliant guy like Al Franken..?

[IndependenceDame]

Virginia District 5 still shows a 31 vote difference with Perriello in the lead as of 3:37 PM 11/5/2008. There were 174 write-ins. (Wonder for whom?) Definitely recount time. I'm hopeful the vote stands even though I don't vote in that District. Fingers crossed. Knock on wood.

[proreality]

Get DIEBOLD out of Georgia!

[soljifire]

omg plz let stop the gop it time for us poeple who is far left coem out and happy that we far left and be as one we shouldnt follow teh gop you see were they take us and is time to change bush and put him in jail for goign to a fack war for oil come on you american need to put him in jail cuz no one in london like him

[gcallaghan]

repeat after me, "My meds ARE my friends."

[NoSillyName]

Oh, my....

[FaceYourFears]

What's up with NC?

[unknowncraftsman]

local npr says obama up by 12, 000 votes....unofficially. Looks like he'll take it.

[ProPsych]

The race was close, there are about 50,000 provisional ballots that need to be dealt with and there was one country with a glitch in the counting machine. The latter has been resolved. Obama is leading by about 14,000 votes. Historically, the provisional ballots favor the leading candidate. However, the vote will not settled until mid-November and not made official until December 1. Nonetheless, most people are calling NC for Obama unofficially. We have also unseated the awful Liddy Dole. This is a great day for the voters of North Carolina (of which I am one). We worked very hard for Obama - we had an increase of 700,000 voters over the 2004 election.

[JBS]

As of 7:44 pm on Nov 5, Obama has a lead of 14,053 votes with approximately 40,000 provisional ballots to be considered. They have to be validated before being counted. In the past about 60% of provisional ballots were accepted and counted.

It is literally still too close to call. Obama 49.7% vs. McCain 49.3%

The state board of elections says if it goes the way it usually does with the provisional ballots they will likely split the same way the regular voting split, so Obama will probably win NC by slightly less than 15,000 votes.

But until all the votes ARE officially counted, the state board of elections ain't gonna call it for either candidate.

UNofficially, we're a blue state.

[LadyMing]

Go Al Franken! You can pull this out!

[2grainsofsalt]

no innuendo, please. let's keep it civil

[Sug]

I live in Portland and I am a very left leaning indy. I voted for Obama and dem on the whol ticket except for this race. Gordon Smith has not been a terrible rep of Oregon. I understand the tidal wave, but now you have a rookie taking the place of a fairly senior member of the Republican side. You need folks on the other side of the aisle, and in that caucus because they can help you get the votes you need in tough fights. While getting more seats is nice, it does not always lead to the best result.

[foreignsand]

Gordon Smith may have been a decent rep at one time, but under Bush he never did anything to go against what were clearly bad policies, and he was representing a state where there were many people who wanted him to just that. I called his office twice to ask that he take a stand in opposition to the Republicans on two different votes, once, his minion lied to me about Smith's stand on the issue, and the other time I was treated with complete disdain as if I, an Oregonian represented by Smith, was being a nuisance for voicing my opinion. And I was always very polite and did nothing to provoke this treatment.

He may have been a powerful asset, and had he been a Republican of the Chuck Hagel type, I would have had a lot of trouble voting against him despite the fact that I'm so liberal that I voted for Nader in 2000. Unfortunately for Gordon Smith, he did nothing to appropriately represent our state and stand up to the Republican power structure in DC.

It didn't have to be this way. He made his bed.

Apart from all that, Jeff Merkley is extremely competent and very progressive. He will be a fantastic addition to the Senate and I am beyond excited to have him representing our state.

[SharonE]

Sorry, I'm an Indy too and I've got to disagree w/ you here. Smith was a snake. Were you here in Oregon when he ran the first time? That was the real Gordon Smith - Nasty as Hell!!! He only cleaned up his act after he lost and realized it wouldn't win in his next try. You'll notice that after he gained office, he was Right Wing down the line. Had he won again, he would have continued to do so. He only distanced himself from Bush after Bush became toxic in Oregon.

[KarlaElisa]

The Oregonian has declared a winner in the U.S. Senate election: Your new Senator-elect is Jeff Merkley.

The latest numbers - both here at BlueOregon and at the Oregonian:

691,501 Jeff Merkley
691,119 Gordon Smith
79,004 David Brownlow

[foreignsand]

Jeff Merkley is a progressive man with an impressive resume. I am so proud that my adopted state, Oregon, has elected this man to represent us in the Senate. He will be a wonderful addition to that august body.

As the results continue to be updated, Merkley's lead should widen, right now the count is:

Merkley 704,874
Smith 702,327
Brownlow 80,130

[lastone]

http://www.blueoregon.com/2008/11/waiting-on-mult.html

Update, 5:32 p.m.: Oh, dammit. I found a stupid spreadsheet glitch in my estimate, which explains why it seemed so high. OK, my new-and-improved and up-to-date estimate is that Merkley will win by 54,256 votes. Also, I had a typo in my latest Smith numbers for Multnomah. Merkley now leads by 382 votes, a count that agrees with the Oregonian.

[notb observer]

The main reason I'd like the Dems to reach the magic 60 mark in the Senate would be for the complete satisfaction of seeing them unceremoniously strip Lieberman of his chairmanship and boot his a$$ out of the caucus. Of course it would also be a bonus for the Dems to control both Houses, particularly in the next few years, if they are expected to bring about the changes the People have asked of them.

Lieberman went from Democrat, to Independent, and now apparently hardcore Neo-Con. If his shifts were based on getting things done in the Senate, rather than "business as usual" or stalemate, I would understand, but this is not the case.

I have no idea how a person can make such a complete ideological 180 and end up bad mouthing Obama at the RNC. Yesterday he said that a veto proof Dem majority in the Senate would be a disaster for the country ! I can only assume that his definition of panacea would be John and Sarah running the country into oblivion...

Let's hope the nice folks in Connecticut throw his meagre carcass out to the wild animals in the next election. I'd rather see a real Republican, Democrat, or Independent than put up with more of his unpredictable multiple personality disorder.