Posted on 11/08/2006 3:01:35 PM PST by george76
Defeated U.S. Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., refused to concede Wednesday saying there remain votes yet to be counted in his tight race against the declared winner, Democrat Jon Tester.
Burns, who has not commented to reporters on the race since the votes were counted Tuesday night, released a statement at 1:47 p.m.
“Jon Tester ran a good race and has the lead right now, but it is extremely close,” Burns said. “The state of Montana has a process in place, and it is our obligation to see it through. There are still votes out there that deserve to be counted.
“I believe we need to continue to let that process play itself out, and there is no need to rush to a conclusion when votes are this close.”
As of mid-afternoon Wednesday, the unofficial vote count showed Tester with a 2,847-vote lead, with all 867 precincts reporting. Here were the totals:
- Tester, 198,302 votes, for 49.1 percent.
- Burns, 195,455 votes for 48.4 percent.
- Stan Jones, Libertarian, 10,324 votes for 2.6 percent.
Only two kinds of ballots had yet to be counted Wednesday afternoon, said Bowen Greenwood, a spokesman for Secretary of State Brad Johnson.
People who went to the polls Tuesday, but forgot to bring some kind of identification, were able to cast provisional ballots.
Those ballots will only be counted if the voter returns today with proper identification by 5 p.m. Wednesday. Greenwood estimated that about 1,000 provisional ballots were cast Tuesday.
Also, the office will continue to count ballots coming in from Montanans serving in the military overseas for a few days after the election.
Greenwood said it was impossible to know how many of those may come in.
(Excerpt) Read more at missoulian.com ...
If the article is correct, Burns is toast. There is no way to sugar coat it. 1000 provisional ballots and an unknown number of late-arriving military ballots simply isn't enough.
"Special thanks to the Libertarians there - dyfunctional and destructive as ever."
I've noticed the (L) candidates in several close races around the nation that went to the Democrats.
Reminds me of Perot giving the election to Bill Clinton.
" Which was mentioned by me for months here to all the third party types."
Me too.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1735088/posts?page=77#77
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1735088/posts?page=82#82
Also, the office will continue to count ballots coming in from Montanans serving in the military overseas for a few days after the election.
According to The Boston Globe, there were 1539 Montana National Guard in Iraq in 2005.
According to About.com, courtesy of American Forces News Service , there are 3,663 Active Duty Military personnel from Montana in the ranks.
The libertarian candidate polled 10,000 votes. Great stuff. Conservatives invent new ways to lose. We must file for a patent so that we can collect royalty from future losers.
I will vote Libertarian until they get the message.
I remember when Republicans stood for smaller budgets, cutting the size of government. Gosh, here we are, more than 14 years later, and we still have bloated budgets and the government is incredibly huge.
Got a better thing for you to blame - Democrats who seemed to be the only ones who claimed to be out to cut the budget. Do not blame a third party for losses that should never have happened in the first place. If you want their votes, campaign for them, rather than expecting them. Take up their issues, or shut up when you lose.
Umm, then why did you answer?
That was suppose to be a joke. After reading it, I figure some won't get it.
That was suppose to be a joke. After reading it, I figure some won't get it.
"I will vote Libertarian until they get the message."
I will too if the GOP keeps moving to the left.
...(though I'll never vote for a pro-choice candidate-- "L" or otherwise)...
REPUBLICANS simply failed to sell their product.
Do you think having more than TWO choices of house,future spouse,job,newspaper,tv program,radio station,automobile is somehow wrong and evil?
"- Tester, 198,302 votes...
- Burns, 195,455 votes...
- Stan Jones, Libertarian, 10,324 votes.."
For the libertarians among us: 195,455 plus 10,324 equals a 7,477 margin (one percent) over the democrat who has already announced victory.
Must be some kind of celebration at libertarian central knowing they've created a socialist landslide in the middle of a war.
I've never gone along with the GOP's spending, lack of border control, and other issues. Have been one here on FR who spoke out against it.
If a third party had a chance right now, I might have voted that way (if I agreed on their moral issues stance).
Thanks for the invitation to "shut up," but I think I'll keep posting.
Look. I'm not happy about this either but yall don't own the Independents. If Republicans want their vote , stop threatening and campaign for them. I looked at the "others" that were running around here. Most stood on issues that Democrats did. No conservative , that knows, would vote for them.
Yeah, it's a shame that Burns didn't run a competent campaign and attract some of those votes.
Count every Damn vote in both undecided senate races. If we lose so be it. But please not that hanging chad fiasco. Let us be gracious in Defeat because with their victory comes great responsibility. Did they perform will be a big factor in two years.
Someone recently posted Conservatism is not about religon its about common sense. Lets use it and put our country first.
We live in a great country lets not make our elections a joke to the rest of the world.
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