| Garland County Election Commission Charles Tapp made a unilateral decision to close 40 polling places and leave only 2 open. This looks like it could end up being decisive.
Garland County results three weeks ago:
Bill Halter - 44%
Blanche Lincoln - 40%
D.C. Morrison - 15%
Tonight (via POLITICO's map):
Blanche Lincoln - 50.3%
Bill Halter - 49.7%
Jed Lewison has more.
UPDATE: Two very big "if"s, but if Lincoln ends up narrowly winning, and there's good reason to believe Garland County was decisive, the Democratic establishment is going to have a huge problem on its hands, to say the least.
The more I read about Garland County the worse the situation looks. Now maybe it just looks that way, but it's hard to see how a reduction in polling places this drastic isn't going to effect the results. Frankly, this episode is strange no matter what the result is. Can we get a clean winner here?
UPDATE #2: Apparently Garland County turnout was down by 40%. The question now is whether Garland is going to be decisive.
UPDATE #3: POLITICO calls it for Lincoln.
UPDATE #4: So does the AP.
If Lincoln won straight up, that's a really bad outcome in my mind, but not a controversy. But if Garland was decisive...
UPDATE #5: With 98% of precincts reporting, Lincoln is ahead by 10,000 votes. Unless there are errors in the count, it was Bill Clinton and Pulaski County (home to Little Rock) that won this for Blanche Lincoln. Political Wire has a good overview of the importance of Pulaski.
(I'd still like to know what Charles Tapp was thinking, though.)
This result is a real disappointment, but primaries still matter, and I still firmly believe this was worth it. K Street Dems like Blanche Lincoln are a real drag on the party. Challenging them is necessary. This was a close race. And Bill Clinton only has one home state.
Ned Lamont beat Joe Lieberman in the 06' CT primary.
Joe Sestak beat Arlen Specter in the 10' PA primary.
Blanche Lincoln beat Bill Halter in the 10' AR primary with a big assist from Bill Clinton and President Obama (plus slimy ads and a lack of polling places in Garland County), but it was close.
This is cause for disappointment, but not cause for despair.
Related: Smart takes from Greg Sargent and Chris Bowers. |
