Four Senate Races Unlikely to be Resolved Soon, Dems Pickup at Least Five Seats (CQ)

[struggle4progress]

CQ TODAY ONLINE NEWS
Updated Nov. 5, 2008 – 6:04 p.m.
By Rachel Kapochunas and Marie Horrigan, CQ Staff

...Democrats toppled two Republican incumbents — North Carolina state Sen. Kay Hagan scored a come-from-behind win over Republican Sen. Elizabeth Dole , and former New Hampshire Gov. Jeanne Shaheen defeated Sen. John E. Sununu in a rematch of their closely contested 2002 race — and easily picked up seats left open by retiring Republican incumbents in Colorado, New Mexico and Virginia.

There is a very realistic possibility that the Democratic gain may grow to six as Oregon moves to complete its slow-moving canvass of tens of thousands of ballots not yet counted under the state’s mail-in voting system. The vote count as of 3 pm Oregon time on Wednesday showed two-term Republican Sen. Gordon Smith with a lead of just over 5,000 votes over Democratic challenger Jeff Merkley, the state’s House Speaker. But most of the votes remaining to be counted were in Democratic strongholds, which include the population center of Portland.

Contests in Minnesota and Georgia also are hanging in the balance. The final but unofficial count in Minnesota showed first-term Republican Sen. Norm Coleman with a 571-vote lead over the Democratic nominee, well-known entertainer Al Franken. But that razor-thin margin out of more than 2.4 million votes cast triggers an automatic recount under state elections law ...

In Georgia, with several precincts still to report and additional ballots remaining to be counter, first-term Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss had received less than 50 percent of the vote in his race with former state Rep Jim Martin, according to the Associated Press, and under state law the contest would have to be decided in a runoff ...

http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?parm1=2&docID=news-000002983043

[Cha]

1. Come on close

calls! And, thankfully there is now a Senator Kay Hagan from North Carolina and a Senator Jean Shaheen from New Hampshire!

[Stellabella]

2. Smith just lost.

Which means we picked up six Senate seats!