One more for the Democrats
The Billings Gazette in Montana says Democratic candidate Jon Tester will declare victory in the U.S. Senate race in Montana at 11 a.m. Mountain time, meaning 1 p.m. in the East. Tester leads incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Conrad Burns by 3,128 votes out of a total vote of 403,239 in the large, but sparsely populated state with only one precinct still out. That brings the Senate tally to 50 for the Democrats, 49 for the Republicans, with only the Webb-Allen race in Virginia left to go.
Burns was hurt by ties to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff and a persistent tendency to shoot himself in the foot with dumb comments about groups ranging from firefighters to Guatemalans. He also may have been hurt by the presence on the ballot of a Libertarian candidate, Stan Jones, who drew 10,303 votes. Most of those were probably at Burns' expense, protest votes by former supporters who couldn't bring themselves to vote for the Democrat.