And with good reason, Mitchell has not declared victory.
Many of you have been trumpeting our success in the Arizona 5th as part of our defeat of some of the most vile Republicans in congress and as a sign of the sensibilities of voters. Unfortuntately, we haven't won yet.
The full story on the flip.
I can only assume that most of you are going off of the AP, CNN and national numbers that called the race for Harry on Tuesday night. Unfortunately what none of those numbers have taken into account is that there were somewhere between 55 and 90 thousand uncounted early and absentee ballots that were not included in any of the estimates or polls. Since then, the AZ Secretary of State and election workers have been counting those ballots.
Right now, according to the last figures, Mitchell led Hayworth by the same margin he did in precinct figures, around 6,000 votes, but no one knows for sure. Neither side has admitted defeat or declared victory, so it's too early for kossacks to do so. I don't mean to be rude or tell you off, but I don't want anyone to have a violent let down.
I can offer you this one ray of hope: Mitchell is planning on attending orienation sessions for new members of congress, and has appointed a former congressman to search for suitable sites for offices. But we're not using the v-word yet. Not yet.