Time to put a shiny bow on a night that, one has to believe, has buoyed the spirits of Democrats a great deal.
The night is not quite over, with results now rolling in from Oregon, while we also continue to await the final trickle of precincts from some races that Kossacks have had an eye on the whole evening.
- It was down to the wire in suburban Philly, but it looks like Orange to Blue candidate Manan Trivedi has held on and claimed the Democratic nomination in Pennsylvania's 6th district. Right now, Trivedi holds the lead by a shade under 700 votes. AP is reporting that all precincts have reported in. Congratulations to Trivedi, who now goes on to face perennially vulnerable GOP incumbent Jim Gerlach.
- In Oregon, the vote-by-mail system means that initial results come in swiftly. Therefore, we already know for sure who the statewide nominees will be for the Democrats. Former Governor John Kitzhaber has defeated former Sec. of State Bill Bradbury by a surprisingly wide margin (66-29). Meanwhile, Ron Wyden has been re-nominated in an utter landslide (90% of the vote). On the GOP side, the outcome is a little less certain. Despite a huge funding edge, former NBA basketball player Chris Dudley only has a modest lead over 2008 state Treasurer candidate Allen Alley (40-32). On the Senate side, law professor Jim Huffman has claimed the GOP nomination with just 42% in a split field.
- The GOP is keeping one eye on a pair of House seats in Oregon, and they look like they'll get at least one of their preferred nominees in both races. Scott Bruun survived a challenge to his right in OR-05, defeating Fred Thompson with 63% of the vote. Meanwhile, in suburban OR-01, party favorite Rob Cornilles leads with 39% of the vote, but he has two GOP rivals hanging around about ten points point. That one is not locked down, at least not yet.
- One that is locked down, and this is one of the few niblets of bad news for the Democrats, is the Republican Primary for the US Senate in Arkansas. AP has now called the race, projecting that Congressman John Boozman will receive over 50% of the vote, and will win the race outright.
- Just because I feel like piling on, the final margin of victory in tonight's special election to replace John Murtha in southwestern Pennsylvania's 12th district looks like it will be a shade over 12,000 votes, or roughly 9.1%. The most optimistic public poll for the Dems gave Critz a six-point advantage. There might be a lesson there for the pollsters: the electorate might not be as Republican-leaning as you once thought.
UPDATE (9:45 PM PT): The AP has now declared for Chris Dudley. So it will be Kitzhaber-Dudley in November.