Oregonian projection: Merkley(D) defeats Smith to take U.S. Senate seat

[lame54]

http://blog.oregonlive.com/elections/2008/11/ussenate.html

Merkley, a five-term state lawmaker and former Habitat for Humanity director, took advantage of a surge of Democratic support to win the bitterly fought battle with Smith, a Pendleton frozen food magnate who also rose from the Oregon Legislature.

Neither candidate was willing to rule the race over until more votes are counted...

...With more than 80 percent of the vote tallied late Wednesday, Merkley held a lead of more than 4,000 votes. Most of the uncounted votes were cast in counties where voters lean heavily toward Merkley, such as Multnomah and Lane counties.

Merkley's victory capped not only a long, expensive campaign but also an emotional and tense day for both candidates, who were forced to wait out an agonizingly slow vote-counting process.

[malaise]

1. Make that #57

Sweet!
http://www.electoral-vote.com/evp2008/Senate/Maps/Nov06-s.html

[harun]

2. Great news !