Continued from The tide is turning, part one.
12:45 AM: The local CBS affiliate was on the verge of calling the Minnesota gubernatorial race in favor of Republican candidate Tim Pawlenty. Then they started looking at the actual precinct returns, and have decided to hold off because the DFL stronghold precinct returns—including my home county of Ramsey—have yet to be reported.
In another really ugly campaign, Republican John Kline has been projected by the local media outlets as having defeated incumbent Democrat Bill Luther for the District 2 U.S. House seat with 60% of the precincts reporting. The Luther campaign was accused of, and eventually admitted, that Sam Garst, a candidate from the unknown No New Taxes party was actually a Luther contributor.
1:05 AM: The Associated Press is reporting that the Republicans have regained control of the U.S. Senate.
1:15 AM: One bright spot for the Green Party is Dwayne Voegeli’s campaign for Winona County Commissioner; he’s currently leading with 57% of the vote.
1:20 AM: The Associated Press is projecting that Republican Tim Pawlenty is the winner of the Minnesota gubernatorial contest. With 60% of the state’s precincts reporting, Pawlenty is leading DFL candidate Roger Moe 46% - 35%. Pawlenty is addressing his supporters but is not declaring victory.
2:00 AM: DFL gubernatorial candidate Roger Moe has conceded defeat to his Republican opponent, Tim Pawlenty. “I wish I could be here and talk about something other than what I’m going to talk about.” This will probably end the more than 30-year political career of Roger Moe.
It’s clear that the Minnesota senatorial race isn’t going to be decided before dawn and it now has virtually no impact on the national political scene, so I’m going to nap for a while and consider the likely impact of what looks to be a Republican sweep locally and nationally.
3:30 AM: Unbelievable. The Saint Paul Radisson, serving as campaign night headquarters for the DFL is empty, save for the electronic journalists. Even more perplexing is that all of the local broadcast affiliates have abandoned the campaign coverage. Word is that there are more than a million senatorial ballots left to count by hand, so I guess Mondale’s numbers were far more accurate than those of the mainstream media.
Here’s how the Senate race currently breaks down with 78% of the state’s precincts reporting. Republican Norm Coleman leads with 50%, followed by Democrat Walter Mondale with 47%, Independence Party candidate Jim Moore with 2%, and Green Ray Tricomo with 0%. In the last few hours, Coleman’s lead has narrowed by almost 3% and there are several DFL stronghold counties with ballots remaining to be counted. Fewer than 40,000 votes currently separate the two leading candidates. I can’t believe everyone has gone home. Call it the Lake Wobegone blues….
4:00 AM: What’s especially disheartening as a member of the Green Party of Minnesota is that it currently looks as if the party will not retain its major party status in Minnesota. In order to do so, a Green candidate must receive at least 5% of the vote in at least one state-wide race and at least one vote in each county. Currently, Green gubernatorial candidate Ken Pentel has received 2% of the vote, Green auditor candidate Dave Berger has received 4% of the vote, and Green secretary of state candidate Andrew Koebrick is running at 3%.
I really thought this was going to be the start of a progressive groundswell. Boy-howdy was I wrong; it’s exactly the opposite.
9:00 AM: The local media outlets are declaring Republican senatorial candidate Norm Coleman the winner. The final margin appears to be about 3% with 85 percent of the state’s precincts reporting.
Final voter turnout figures appear to be about 60% or 2.2 million of Minnesota’s 4 million citizens.
9:45 AM: Former Vice President and DFL senatorial candidate Walter Mondale has conceded the election to Republican Norm Coleman.
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