McCaskill Claims Narrow Win in Missouri
By SUSAN SAULNY
Published: November 8, 2006
ST. LOUIS, Nov. 8 — After a contentious race that stubbornly remained too close to call until early this morning, Claire McCaskill, the Democratic challenger to Republican Senator Jim Talent, claimed a narrow victory here, pushing the Democrats one seat closer to control of the Senate.
“The great state of Missouri has spoken!” Ms. McCaskill said to a roaring crowd just before 1 a.m. “Tonight we have heard the great voice of Missourians, and they have said we want change.”
Shortly after, Mr. Talent conceded the race, and Ms. McCaskillÂ’s supporters grew even more boisterous.
“It’s been a long time since our party really had something to celebrate,” Ms. McCaskill told the crowd. “So have a good time. You deserve it.”
The defeat crushed supporters at what would have been a victory party for Mr. Talent, bringing a dramatic late-night close to one of the most negative and contentious statewide races in recent Missouri history. Ms. McCaskillÂ’s victory had immediate national impact, as it brought the Democrats within two seats of shifting the balance of power in the Senate.
Preliminary results from rural precincts showed Mr. Talent with a sizable lead over Ms. McCaskill. But the first groans were emitted in the Talent camp at a Hilton Hotel in suburban Frontenac around 11 p.m., when a campaign official announced that largely Democratic urban centers of Kansas City and St. Louis had not yet reported their votes, which portended bad things for the Republicans.
After his concession, Mr. Talent tried to comfort his supporters. “It was not for lack of support and vigor from you,” he said. “You did a very good job, but the headwind was very stiff this year.”
The first victorious roars were let loose at Ms. McCaskillÂ’s gathering at the Renaissance Grand Hotel in downtown St. Louis at 11:45 p.m., when a large chunk of the cityÂ’s ballots finally registered and brought both candidates to 48 percent of the votes.
“It’s turning!” said Tony Wyche, a consultant to the McCaskill campaign staff, monitoring county-by-county results on his laptop. “Turing the right way.”
Chants of “Claire, Claire, Claire!” began shortly thereafter, and the ballroom reverberated with a thunderous roar when Ms. McCaskill took the lead around midnight.
The race here captivated not only Missouri voters but election-watchers, party officials and commentators nationwide because it was one of six in the country where Democrats saw the possibility of picking up a Republican seat to win control of the Senate. The contest had been a statistical dead heat since Labor Day.
Many other races were close, but they tended to lean in favor of a particular party as election day grew near. Not so here. At times over the last weeks, Mr. Talent had been in the lead and showing strong momentum only to lose ground, seemingly overnight, to Ms. McCaskill, who would then do the same.
Still, since Labor Day, neither candidate was ever ahead by more than three percentage points in any credible poll. Early on, it was unclear what impact a statewide ballot measure on stem cell research would have on the race. A defining issue of the campaign at first, it faded a bit from the spotlight in the fall only to resurface when the actor Michael J. Fox threw his support behind Ms. McCaskill, who favors the research, in a commercial that showed the toll ParkinsonÂ’s disease had taken on him.
The stem cell initiative appeared to be winning, with 51 percent support after 94 percent of precincts reported results.
If passed, the ballot measure would guarantee that any stem cell research that is legal under federal law could be performed in Missouri. Mr. Talent came out against the measure at the strong urging of Christian conservatives, but only after he tried to avoid taking a position at all.
Some political analysts say his half-hearted rejection of the measure helped Ms. McCaskill. Independent and undecided voters make up a tiny sliver of the stateÂ’s electorate, and they were largely the focus of Mr. TalentÂ’s and Ms. McCaskillÂ’s campaigns, as each crossed over into the otherÂ’s traditional base to find an advantage, however small, with upbeat appeals and personal attacks.
Mr. Talent, known for his conservative views and close association to the Bush administration, courted black voters in St. Louis and Kansas City. Ms. McCaskill, who narrowly lost a race for governor in 2004 because of weak support in rural areas, traveled in an recreational vehicle through small towns, reminding voters that she was “a daughter of rural Missouri,” born in Rolla, Mo., and raised, for part of her childhood, near her family’s feed mill.
