State Rep. Margaret Donnelly, who came within 786 votes of being the state’s Democratic nominee for attorney general, sent out an update Saturday to supporters.

She noted her bittersweet status of being on the losing end of an historic race — “we ended with the closest statewide vote total in Missouri history….”

Then Donnelly pointed out her roadblocks:

The victor, state Sen. Chris Koster “spent 3 times as much money on TV as I did in the last week of the campaign and that we had a ’stalking horse’ candidate who received 23,000 votes after not campaigning at all….”

(Donnelly was referring to Molly Williams of Kansas City, who did no campaigning but snagged about 23,000 votes. Koster has denied his rivals’ accusations that he engineered Williams’ candidacy.)

After thanking supporters and campaign workers, Donnelly explained the legal nitty-gritty:

Under Missouri law we are entitled to a recount if the vote total is less than 1%. Even though the state pays the cost of the official recount we would still have some expenses if the recount proceeds. We are weighing the costs and practical considerations before deciding the next step to take. The recount cannot begin until the vote totals are certified, approximately 2 weeks after the election.

“I will keep you posted on what we decide to do about the recount,” she continued. “Meanwhile, we can look ahead to the November elections and electing Democrats from the president down to the legislative seats.”