Missouri a squeaker — McCain, for now, may have an edge
+St. Louis County election officials finally released their tally at 1 a.m. Wednesday. Then they issued a new total at 1:32 a.m.
Democrat Barack Obama – 330,157
Republican John McCain – 219,787
Obama’s 110,370 margin is a record-setting lead for a Democrat in the county, the state’s largest bloc of votes.
But it’s unclear if that is enough for Obama to squeak out a victory, thus preserving Missouri’s status as the best bellwether in the country.
A quick addition here of the county’s final, with the existing 1 a.m. statewide totals from elsewhere, initially appeared to give McCain a statewide lead of about 400 votes.
BUT, after the county’s updated tally at 1:32 p.m., it initially appeared that Obama could be up statewide by about 1,500 votes.
None of those totals include any of the rumored 4,000 provisional ballots in the city of St. Louis and St. Louis County that likely would be pro-Obama.
BUT, at 2 a.m., the state had revised its tally again, to include additional votes from Christian County.
The result: McCain had an edge of about 4,800 votes.
State GOP executive director Jared Craighead said he expected McCain’s victory to stand. He called it “a testament to the voters of Missouri.”
Expect a long battle over all those provisional ballots, especially if there are thousands more in Kansas City.
Independent Ralph Nader could once again be the scapegoat. He got 17,469 Missouri votes.
Teresa,
I get a kick out of people like you who have to put others down in order to feel good about yourself. What a sad, pitiful life you lead.
A “testament” to the voters of Missouri?? The margin is less than 5,000 votes out of over 2.8 million cast. That’s part of a much more dramatic testament to how strongly Obama ran in ALL of the so-called battleground states.
At least a few people on here are disparaging Missouri for either choosing or not choosing Obama. Please remember: whoever gets the electoral votes, it’s almost 50-50. Personally I’m proud that Missouri is overall so moderate that every vote ends up counting.
is there any way to find out how many provisional and absentee ballots are remaining to be counted and from what counties they came?
100% of the prencincts have reported, but not all of the Presidential ballots have been tallied. Given the turnout yesterday, small wonder.
Missouri won’t change the outcome of the Presidential race, but it would be nice if in the coming week all of the close “red” states actually posted the final tallies.
Congratulations to President-Elect Obama.
Kudos, to Senator McCain. I felt his concession speech was one of the better I have heard. I was saddened by the “boos” from his crowd which detracted from the grace and integrity of his moment. I truly hope the Republican party lets Senator McCain and others like him to remold it away from the unilaterist, ultr-conservative, “evangelical” party it has become.
Thanks to MackDaddy for pointing out that the only two political choices we have are Republican or Baby Killer. I guess in his twisted, sick world that may be, but not in mine.
And he thinks Democrats are crazy?
Yawl know none us here folks south of St. Louie could vote fer a colored feller jes as none em folks in St. Louie could vote fer the white feller.
Did you folks ever stop to think that people could support a democrat on the local level and a republican on the national without it being totally racial? One guy governs the state, the other our country and world.
Racial charges are flying because of Missouri not voting Obama….It’s a good thing the country didn’t vote McCain, Jesse and Al would surpass Buffett and Gates as the richest men in the country as they pimped race all the way to the bank.
Re: Amendment 1. Actually, if you read your history books, Missouri was owned by both Spain and France before English-speaking folks took over. ^_^ I voted no because there was no room in the amendment for common sense use of another language, such as in an emergency or for legalese Latin phrases. Carried to its most stringent application, phrases like “quid pro quo” and “caveat emptor” could be deemed unconstitutional for use in public business. How silly is that?
Re: Missouri as a bellwether. Frankly, I hope we recount. It’s a pride thing, to be sure, but I just need to know *for sure*, including all the provisionals and absentees, how Missouri voted. I’m losing sleep over it. ^_^
I had to complete a provisional ballot in Jackson County (KC area). I as given a PIN number and phone number to call after 14 days to find out if my vote was counted, which means it .
I also hope there are enough provisional ballots to put Obama over the edge.
Given that “scapegoat” means “one that is made to bear the blame of others,” it would certainly be the right word for Nader in this case. I’m not sure I understand how Obama had some kind of prior claim on the votes of those people who supported Nader.