Thursday, June 1st, 2006
Blogging the OH-2 Congressional Race
I’m going to be keeping a running total of the returns in the Hackett-Schmidt race as they happen.
Source: WCPO in Cincinnati
7:00 PM CDT - No results yet.
7:30 PM CDT
56 of 753 precincts reporting
| Candidate | Votes | Percentage | Difference |
| Paul Hackett (D) | 6,562 | 51% | Ahead 286 |
| Jean Schmidt (R) | 6,276 | 49% | Behind 286 |
8:00 PM CDT
175 of 753 precincts reporting
| Candidate | Votes | Percentage | Difference |
| Paul Hackett (D) | 13,512 | 51% | Ahead 710 |
| Jean Schmidt (R) | 12,802 | 49% | Behind 710 |
8:15 PM CDT
305 of 753 precincts reporting
| Candidate | Votes | Percentage | Difference |
| Paul Hackett (D) | 23,957 | 51% | Ahead 1,111 |
| Jean Schmidt (R) | 22,846 | 49% | Behind 1,111 |
Looks like the gap is widening, and according to Majority Report producer Josh Orton, the early returns have been coming from rural areas - areas expected to go heavily for Schmidt. If these trends continue, Hackett’s got this one in the bag - even with all the Rethuglican dirty tricks. However, we still have to see what the tale of the absentee ballots entails. This could be an interesting race.
8:30 PM CDT
580 of 753 precincts reporting
| Candidate | Votes | Percentage | Difference |
| Paul Hackett (D) | 42,342 | 48% | Behind 2,792 |
| Jean Schmidt (R) | 45,134 | 52% | Ahead 2,792 |
Holy crap. Schmidt is now ahead. It’s not over yet, though. The urban centers are still tabulating their results. Let’s hope for the best.
8:48 PM CDT
662 of 753 precincts reporting
| Candidate | Votes | Percentage | Difference |
| Paul Hackett (D) | 48,811 | 50% | Behind 870 |
| Jean Schmidt (R) | 49,681 | 50% | Ahead 870 |
This is starting to remind me of that scene in Independence Day where they’re trying to see if Jeff Goldblum’s PowerMac virus managed to bring down the alien invaders’ shields.
9:23 PM CDT - No change in results. This is weird. We’ve been getting updates fairly regularly up till now. Now we go 30 minutes without an update…
9:47 PM CDT - Okay, I’ve had reports that they’re having to do hand counts in some precincts (most especially in heavily-Rethuglican Clermont county). Still in wait and see mode.
10:00 PM CDT
753 of 753 precincts reporting
| Candidate | Votes | Percentage | Difference |
| Paul Hackett (D) | 54,401 | 48% | Defeated by 3,573 |
| Jean Schmidt (R) | 57,974 | 52% | Won by 3,573 |
Virus ineffective. Get your people out of there. Still, for a district that was supposed to be a shoe-in for Schmidt (who probably won’t accept a concession speech or, if she does, will be smugly condescending, calling Hackett every nasty name in the book), and in spite of yet more apparent fraud by the Rethuglicans, Hackett acquitted himself admirably in this election, and certainly proved the DLC wrong about the viability of running as Republican-Lite.
(See original post on the old blog here - originally posted Aug. 2, 2005 9:10 PM)
