< Democrat Tester Wins Montana Senate Seat

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Heard on All Things Considered

November 8, 2006 - MELISSA BLOCK, host:

Moving on to the other big story today, the still-evolving balance of power on Capitol Hill. The House has gone for the Democrats, that's for certain. The Senate, however, is still up in the air.

But Tester's margin of victory in Montana is razor thin, which may open the door to a recount challenge by Republicans. NPR's Martin Kaste reports from Great Falls, Montana.

(Soundbite of people shouting)

MARTIN KASTE: Tester's election night party started a little late. He didn't declare victory until 11 o'clock this morning.

Senator-Elect JON TESTER (Democrat, Montana): It started 18 months ago; 100,000 miles later and 15 hours here we are, and we did it.

KASTE: By that time Tester's campaign had been evicted from the hotel ballroom it had booked for election night, and so he ended up thanking his supporters in a small basement conference room on the other side of town.

This race was close. Tester's margin is around 1 percentage point. But there were other reasons for the long night. In some counties, long lines at voter registration offices and polling stations meant that some people voted close to midnight.

And there were technical glitches, too. Well into the evening, Yellowstone County, a big Republican stronghold in eastern Montana, suddenly announced it was starting its count over. At 1:30 in the morning, Tester spokesman Matt McKenna tried to scotch any notion of voter irregularities.

Mr. MATT McKENNA (Spokesman, Senator-Elect Jon Tester): This is not Florida. This is just ballots that are slow to be counted.

KASTE: Duane Winslow, elections administrator in Yellowstone County, happily takes the blame for the delay.

Mr. DUANE WINSLOW (Elections Administrator, Yellowstone County, Montana): Yeah, yeah. It was me. No doubt about it.

KASTE: He says things got fouled up because his county had switched to a new digital tabulation machine, but he says the problem was operator error. His error.

Mr. WINSLOW: It wasn't the machine. It wasn't the software. When we did it right, there was no problem and everything came out just like it should.

KASTE: As he restarted the tabulation in the wee hours of the morning, Winslow says he tried not to think about the millions of people around the country who were waiting for the numbers from his county.

Tester's victory is still not quite guaranteed. Conrad Burns has not conceded and if the margin slims down a little more, Burns would have the right under Montana law to request a recount, though he would have to pay for the count.

Tester is operating under the assumption that not only is he heading to the Senate, he believes he'll be part of a new Democratic majority there and he says he hopes the new majority will move quickly to make its mark.

Senator-Elect TESTER: I think the mandate is to take the government back; start empowering the middle class. That's my mandate.

KASTE: But Tester says the first order of business is a good night's sleep. Martin Kaste, NPR News, Great Falls, Montana.

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