Ted Stevens’ Lead Disappears In Alaska
By Doug Mataconis | Related entries in 2008 Election, Alaska, Democrats, Republicans
What was once a 3,200 vote margin has disappeared, and Sen. Ted Stevens (R., Federal Prison) now trails in his re-election bid:
The elections division still has over 10,000 ballots left to count today and thousands more through next week, but the latest numbers show Mark Begich leading Sen. Ted Stevens 125,019 to 125,016.
The new numbers, reflecting nearly 43,000 absentee ballots counted today, are from all over the state. Election night, Ted Stevens led the Democratic Begich by about 3,000 votes.
(…)
The state today is counting a total of about 60,000 absentee and questioned ballots.
The Division of Elections said it expects to count roughly 35,000 additional absentee and questioned ballots over the next week.
If today’s result is any indication of how the absentee ballots are going to break, Stevens is toast.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 12th, 2008 and is filed under 2008 Election, Alaska, Democrats, Republicans. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
November 12th, 2008 at 8:19 pm
Well, pretty soon Ted can go back to his cabin and enjoy the panoramic view from his wrap-around deck, while sitting in his massage chair and smelling that oh-so-good barbequed Moose.
November 12th, 2008 at 9:35 pm
Any idea why the huge (D) break from absetee ballots? Seems like a substantial bias!
November 12th, 2008 at 11:15 pm
I have more respect for the people of Alaska than to believe they would vote for and retain a convicted felon. (an inadequate former beauty queen, I can see, but not a convicted felon). I’m sure the early count was an abberation and the absentee ballots will set the record straight.
November 13th, 2008 at 4:40 am
The beauty is that the people who voted early(prior to the conviction) wanted Stevens less than the people who voted on election day(post conviction). Nothing like a post conviction bump!
The early voting favored Democratic candidates in much of the country so it isn’t a big surprise that the same is true in Alaska. I don’t think there is anything funny going on.
November 13th, 2008 at 10:55 am
There was a suggestion that a lot of the absentee and provisional ballots might be from the Anchorage area. As the former mayor of Anchorage this would reasonably break in Begich’s favor. No word on whether or not that was confirmed though.
November 13th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
#blackoutyears - that’s an interesting suggestion. Also perhaps the Democrat’s greater efforts at GOTV, trying to get as many early voters to put in an absentee ballot?