WA-08, Darcy says it won't be called til morning

I was at the Darcy Burner celebration tonight and after hearing speeches from Governor Gregoire, Senator Murray (interrupted by cheers for Webb), and Congressman Dicks, we were finally treated to Darcy coming down and talking to the troops.  Good speech, and her 3 year old son did a great job of warming up the crowd initially.

But she had to repeat it twice that the race was too close to be determined by midnight Pacific time.  That we wouldn't know until long into the morning the next day, if then.  She sounded cautiously optimistic but very gracious no matter what the outcome.  And judging by the slow rate of returns, it would seem that this race will be counted last in the entire nation.

•  i'll be watching

  from Chelan Co. and holding my breath you.

  by zedaker on Wed Nov 08, 2006 at 12:27:09 AM PDT

•  She Joked 'Next 6 Months' Didn't She?

  Something like quarter million absentee ballots or am I hallucinating?

  by Gooserock on Wed Nov 08, 2006 at 12:59:16 AM PDT

•  thanks for the update on this.

  Seems like the slowest vote counting district in the country right now...

  by scardanelli on Wed Nov 08, 2006 at 01:10:39 AM PDT

•  new numbers from King County

  as of just a couple minutes ago.
  With 422 of 745 precincts counted
  Burner 36,200
  Reichert 36,021

  I don't have new numbers from Pierce.

  by Cherisse on Wed Nov 08, 2006 at 01:15:59 AM PDT

•  (yawn) pardon me

  her 3 year old son did a great job of warming up the crowd initially.

  He's up at midnight?

  by homerun on Wed Nov 08, 2006 at 01:21:23 AM PDT

  •  She spoke around 10.

    Henry's a night owl. :-) he's on Microsoft time perhaps. If you are questioning anything related to this decision and her mothering skills, please don't go there.

    by LokiMom on Wed Nov 08, 2006 at 01:23:09 AM PDT

•  As of this morning

  Darcy Burner

  Democrat 59,268 48.9054%
  Dave Reichert
  Republican 61,921 51.0946%

  this sucks.

  But I can't tell how much more there is to count and where they are from.

  by fblau on Wed Nov 08, 2006 at 05:15:45 AM PDT

•  Man...

  ...I'm really hoping she pulls it through.

  She down about ~ 2,700 as of 8:10am PST.  There will be between 130,000 - 170,000 more votes to count (my guess about 150,000 left).

  She's going to need between 51.0%-52.5% of the remaining votes to win.

  It's certainly conceivable since we don't know precinct and method (absentee/poll) breakdown of the currently counted votes.  Although not likely.  :(

  Either way it's going to be close.

  COME ON DARCY AND 8th DISTRICT VOTERS!  Let's win this one!

  by WhiteCenterLib on Wed Nov 08, 2006 at 08:14:07 AM PDT

•  Duvall and Carnation?

  Does anyone know the current demographic of these towns? Both of them had their ballot boxes locked in at the police stations last night. On the other hand, an some people were stranded on the west side of the valley and may have gone provisional.

  If Duvall in-person votes aren't counted yet, that would be good for Possinger in the 45th LD, unfortunately.

  I'm clutching at straws, maybe, and I'm going to be on edge (and refreshing this page) for hours.

  by UncleDavid on Wed Nov 08, 2006 at 09:56:01 AM PDT

•  Any explanation of the holdup?

  As of 12:30 p.m. PST Wednesday, the numbers on the SOS site and the AP numbers are the same:

  Darcy Burner (D)  59,268 48.9054%
  Dave Reichert (R) 61,921 51.0946%

  I think these were the same numbers I saw just before going to bed last night, almost 12 hours ago.  AP says only 31% of the precincts reporting.  The SOS site makes no such reference, and the only further breakdown they provide is by the two counties.

  I'm in Oregon so have little access to Seattle area media outlets except through their websites.  Has anyone nearer the epicenter (I know, that's an unfortunate choice of terms anywhere near the Cascades) heard why the tally is stuck at 31% of precincts?  Did local flooding wash away some voting machines?

  J-M

  by jgilhousen on Wed Nov 08, 2006 at 12:32:50 PM PDT

  •  50%

    According to KING-5, it's 50% of the votes counted. But, other than what I reported upthread, I've seen no convincing explanation of why it's stalled. I could try my contacts in the campaign but I expect something will have moved before I get a reply.

    by UncleDavid on Wed Nov 08, 2006 at 12:47:36 PM PDT

    •  Ah.... KING-5

      Didn't get enough sleep last night, so it took your reference to Channel 5 to jog my memory that I have the Northwest Cable News Channel they run available here... I'll check there, thank you.

      And as for the percentage discrepancy, it could be that 50% of the votes counted and 30% of precincts reporting could be different ways of looking at the same thing... no way to tell since SOS doesn't break down their numbers on their website by precinct.

      Anyway, thanks.

      J-M

      P.S. -- This is making me feel better about our VBM system here in Oregon.

      by jgilhousen on Wed Nov 08, 2006 at 01:02:05 PM PDT