Hi there Kossacks! I'm here at Merkley Headquarters and I just wanted to give you an update on the state of the Oregon Senate race. We are feeling very good about the election right now, and I want to tell you why. Follow me below the fold....
UPDATE: MERKLEY WINS SENATE RACE IN OREGON!
http://www.oregonlive.com/...
Full disclosure, I am the netroots director for OR-Sen candidate Jeff Merkley
As of right now, the race is neck-and-neck. But, there are 150,000 ballots left to be counted in Multnomah County and 90,000 left to be counted in Lane county. In case anyone isn't familiar with Oregon, Multnomah County is the Portland Metro area and Lane County is the Eugene area where University of Oregon is located. Right now in Multnomah County, Merkley is garnering 66% of the vote while Smith is only garnering 29% of the vote. In Lane County, Merkley is garnering 58% of the vote to Smith's 38%.
Today is going to be a long day! In Multnomah County, they are processing around 6,000 ballots an hour. So, they have a long ways to go. Almost all of the remaining counties have already been counted which leaves the bulk of the ballots that need to be counted in the Democratic strongholds of Portland and Eugene. And, every time new returns come in, we are increasing our vote total and widening our lead in Multnomah and Lane Counties.
Translation: we are incredibly optimistic here at Merkley Headquarters that once the votes come in, we will have a new Senator here in Oregon.
We're all still working away here at Merkley HQ. Some of us are in our pajamas, some of us haven't slept at all and it does not matter! We're gonna keep working until all the ballots are in! We'll continue to keep you all posted as best as we can throughout the day.