This late-reporting county that vaulted Johnson into the lead appears to be a heavily Indian one where all the pre-election shenanigans were taking place. Why did this county report so much later than the others? I smell a rat. I really wanted SD because of the Daschle factor.

With the soft money becoming illegal to use after 2002, the RNC should bankroll an examination of SD voter registration which would have made Al Gore proud in Florida two years ago. There is a real problem with state wide law enforcement onto Indian reservations in the West, and while I'd turn a blind eye concerning liquor licensing on the reservations or the like, when they start messing with state wide elections I'd draw the line.

Maybe a bit odd that the Senate race tallied about a thousand more votes than the House race and about 3000 more than the governor's race. In a voting population that small, that seems a lot of blank lines.

Not only a recount but a fraud investigation. Why did the precinct report so late? Maybe they had to wait to see how many votes they needed.

I cannot say I am disgusted, as we've got a Chafee-proof majority. We still need a McCain proof majority, so this makes either this or the Landrieu race key. And, yeah, Thune was hand-chosen by Bush and Daschle is such a dirty crooked snivelling senator that it would have been nice to get this one. Finally, and of course, don't we all know, in our hearts, that the dems stole this one through pure ballot-stuffing. It was interesting to hear how many time Daschle and Johnson said how honest the election was. Of course they need to say that in order to convince us not to demand a recount and an investigation.

I cannot say I am disgusted, as we've got a Chafee-proof majority. We still need a McCain proof majority, so this makes either this or the Landrieu race key. And, yeah, Thune was hand-chosen by Bush and Daschle is such a dirty crooked snivelling senator that it would have been nice to get this one. Finally, and of course, don't we all know, in our hearts, that the dems stole this one through pure ballot-stuffing. It was interesting to hear how many time Daschle and Johnson said how honest the election was. Of course they need to say that in order to convince us not to demand a recount and an investigation.

Interesting tidbit: Go to cnn.com and check out the county by county voting results for SD. Note one Bon Homme County. In the senatorial race, Johnson gets something like 1,500 to Thune's 150. In both the Governor's race and the House race, the Republican and Democrat both get around 1,500 votes.

Scratch that. The SD Sec. of State page seems to indicate that that is a typo at CNN.

Dadgummit, brothers Judd, set up your comments so they run first to last, from top to bottom!



Can't count the number of times I've eagerly started reading comments here, only to get quickly confused, before remembering, oh yeah, this is the one place where you have to scroll all the way down and then read up. Not to mention, if you accidentally read an older comment first, it can steal the thunder of a witty retort or sharp rejoinder.



Come on -- this reverse thing is counterintuitive!

H'mmmmm. Just got home and checked the final tallies at CNN's site, and it seems that Johnson is less than 1,000 votes ahead of Thune, which would definitely indicate a recount is necessary. (Especially given that the margin in question seems to come from that county mentioned elsewhere in these comments that has been the source of all the unseemly shenanigans.) I had an idea it would turn out this way, anyway; once we got to 50 confirmed seats, I knew we only needed one more for an outright majority. Personally, I'm glad it came from Minnesota rather than S.D.; if any Dems needed a good sharp slap in the face, it was the crowd that ran the Wellstone memorial-cum-rally, and I'm inexpressibly pleased to see them get their comeuppance. Not, of course, that I won't be pulling for Thune to win the recount, because I will!



-Joe-

Thomas:



I'll try