Decision 2008: Still Not Over

It's been over two weeks since Election Day. Here are the latest developments in the Battle for Congress.

Alaska

In Alaska, Mark Begich, the Democratic Mayor of Anchorage, topped incumbent Republican Senator Ted Stevens. With just about all of the ballots counted, Begich leads Stevens by just over 3,000 votes. However, Stevens might call for a recount.

The Democrats appear to be one seat closer to having a filibuster-proof majority of 60 for the 111th Congress due to the current corruption scandal surrounding Stevens. The Alaska lawmaker, who was recently convicted on corruption charges, says he will not ask for a pardon from President Bush. Of course, that may be because he still claims innocence.

Minnesota

The Minnesota race between GOP incumbent Senator Norm Coleman and Democrat Al Franken will be decided by a recount that started today. The state Canvassing Board has decided to do a statewide hand recount of 2.9 million ballots. The status of previously rejected absentee ballots is still unknown - the Canvassing Board said they needed more time to consider the arguments, but will have a decision within the week.

Under Minnesota law, the voter's intent is what determines how they voted when recounting ballots. Because intent is sometimes debatable, both campaigns have already been challenging ballots today to try to throw out votes against them. Overall, Coleman has between 107 and 155 lawyers on top of the recount, Franken has about 250.

Virginia

Although Democrat Tom Perriello has been the declared winner of the race for the 5th Congressional District for some time now, incumbent Rep. Virgil Goode has not conceded. He explains why in a telephone interview.

Goode won't concede because one precinct (which he won't identify) just didn't have the results he expected. He has still not ruled out a recount.

As mentioned in the video, Perriello was in Washington for freshmen orientation this week, despite GOP uncertainty about the race. But what if the state of Virginia had not declared a winner yet? Better yet, what if they hadn't declared a winner AND Goode would have been a freshman?

California

Because those are the exact circumstances in California's 4th Congressional District where the race between Republican Tom McClintock and Democrat Charlie Brown is so close, there is still no clear winner.

As a result, they both went to freshman orientation.

As of yesterday, McClintock leads by 562 votes, but both campaigns are confident that they will come out victorious after thousands of ballots are finished being counted in the more Brown-leaning counties.


As always, WAYLA will keep you up-to-speed with the latest developments in the undecided House and Senate races.