Democrats win majority in PA state House!!!

[Lexingtonian]

from Steven Singhiser at DailyKos ( http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/11/28/134952/15 )

According to Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Carrie Budoff, Democrat Barbara McIlvaine Smith now leads Republican Shannon Royer by 23 votes in the disputed race in Chester County's 156th legislative district. Prior to the counting of absentee and overseas ballots today in Chester County, the Republican led by 19 votes.

A Smith victory, if the current "landslide margin" holds, would give the Democrats control of the Pennsylvania state House of Representatives by a 102-101 margin. I guess this goes to show that every vote counts.


Link to Budoff's blog dedicated to this race: http://chescocount.blogspot.com/

[skipos]

1. That's why I will always vote in EVERY election. You never know... nt

[aquart]

2. Yes. Every. Vote. Counts.

[hopein08]

3. Awesome! Who one the PA State Senate?

Dems or Repubs?

[Freddie Stubbs]

4. The GOP

[Lexingtonian]

5. we'll get 'em in '08/'10

With only one third of seats up every two years, it can take a while longer to take over Senate chambers than House chambers.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

6. Well I guess those military absentee and overseas ballots

did not favor the GOP. And it would not be a surprise if they didn't.

[Cosmocat]

7. This is pretty big ...

We have to keep building it hear in PA ... This state is in DESPERATE need of proper districting ...

If you aren't familiar, pull up one of those maps online that show congressional districts in states ... Proper districts fall pretty much on county lines if at all possible ... The repugs did some kind of BIZARRE redistricting in PA, and especially in the western part of the state ... It is actually kind of embarrassing ...

[LynneSin]

8. Considering what repukes did to PA in the 2000 redistricting

If we can at least keep half of congress then we can push to move the districts back to some sort of normalcy!

[Robbien]

9. Clicking through to chescocount gives great flavor to the count

We got a winner

Smith just entered the county building to applause and hugs.

She was getting ready for a hair appointment when the call came from her campaign manager, Lani Frank.

"I just went, 'Oh my god!'," said Smith, a 56-year-old grandmother who owns a water-treatment business with her husband.

Minutes earlier, an unidentified man was stomping his feet in joy in the lobby.

Frank fielded congratulatory calls.

Levine did some last-minute strategizing on his cell phone.

And Smith, smiling, held her first official press conference.

So it appears they are running down a GOPer to see if the GOP is going to take any further action.

GO PA!
:yourock:

[NNadir]

10. Believe it or not, I experienced three such situations in 2000.

There was the great irretrievable disaster at the national level.

My Congressman, Rush Holt, won the election by a few hundred votes over Dick Zimmer, who had previously been congressman in this district, ran for Senate, lost, and wanted his old seat back. Initially, Holt was the announced loser but absentee ballots put him over. The sweetest part was that I was overseas for that election and I was one of the absentees.

My heart was breaking when I thought Holt lost, because he is without a doubt the finest congresscritter I have ever had. (Our district lines have been withdrawn to make Rush's seat safe now - and anyway, everybody here loves him anyway.)

My town council seat was determined by one vote, initially. It was so close they did the election again. The Democrat who'd initially held the one vote margin, won.