Nate Rosenberg

Courtesy NYTimes.com

[Update 11/8/08: Nebraska has indeed awarded one of its electoral votes to Obama (Omaha World-Herald). Also, apparently, Michigan split its electoral votes in 1892, so this is the first time in Nebraska history that but not in U.S. history that electoral votes have been split.]

Nebraska, one of two states that awards its electoral votes by congressional district instead of winner-take-all, may be the first state in history to split its electoral vote. The Omaha World-Herald reports that Obama has pulled within 569 votes in the Omaha-area 2nd congressional district with 12,000 early and absentee votes till to be counted.

Obama won 60% of the early ballots counted so far, and if that trend continues, he will be the first Democrat to win an electoral vote in Nebraska since Lyndon Johnson won the entire state in 1964.

More importantly, it will be the first time in U.S. history that any state has split its electoral vote. Unlike all the other states, Maine and Nebraska can split their electoral votes if different candidates win different parts of the states. But in every election, a single candidates has won in all the state’s congressional districts. Obama may change that.

Six Down, Three to Go

The AP Reports that Merkely (D) has unseated Smith (R) in Oregon for the Democrats sixth new U.S. Senate seat. That brings the democrats to 57 senate seats total with three races still undecided.

• Minnesota Recount: Franken (D) has pulled even closer to Coleman (R) with only 438 votes between the two. That’s less than 0.1%. In Minnesota, there is an automatic recount if the difference is less than 0.5%, but Coleman had the audacity to suggest the recount should be foregone and he declared the winner. It will be a few weeks before Minnesota declares a winner.
• Alaska Still Counting: Even though Stevens (R) leads Begich (D) by 3,533, there are still 55,000 absentee, early, and questioned votes still to be counted. It will be a few weeks until they’re done. Special note: analysts are puzzled by (A) how close the race is (polls showed Begich ahead by 6-8 points) and (B) the fact that Alaska’s turnout appears to be lower than in 2008 than 2004, despite the fact that there was a hotly contested senate race and Sarah Palin was on the national Republican ticket.
• Georgia Run-off?: With 96% reporting, Chambliss (R) is sitting at 49.9%. If he stays under 50% plus one, there will be a run-off between Chambliss (R) and Martin (R) on Dec. 2. If Democrats win Minnesota and Alaska, expect the circus to come to Georgia for Thanksgiving.