Although it’s not crucial to winning the majority in the state senate — the Democrats have held on — it seems like we have a small dispute over the actual standing of the race in District 16, where conservative Republican Tim Leonard and liberal Democrat Jeanne Nicholson are locked in a close count. Lynn Bartels reported at 10:30 this morning in the Denver Post (H/T Complete Colorado):
And in a multi-county seat stretching from the western suburbs to mountain towns, Democrat Jeanne Nicholson was up by six votes over Republican Tim Leonard, according to a tweet from Sen. Morgan Carroll, D-Aurora.
A Tweet? Could we use some real confirmation, please? Outlets like 9News and The Denver Channel (Bartels’ own Denver Post election results page is giving me fits) show Leonard with a 372 vote advantage.
And then a little while ago an email went out from Leonard to his supporters, which included:
…Before we embark on changing the world, we need to be vigilant on our upcoming recount. As of this morning, I am 443 votes ahead.
Since this is now less than a .5% difference, there may be a recounting with all the provisional and military ballots before a winner is declared in 8 days. [emphasis added]
Military ballots will break for Leonard. And based on this news from CBS4, there’s legitimate reason to figure provisional ballots will also help rather than hurt.
Wishful thinking by Lynn Bartels, perhaps? I’m guilty of my share of wishful thinking, so I can recognize it fairly well. Bartels’ coverage has shown she isn’t exactly a big fan of Tim Leonard. That’s fine. But seriously? A tweet from a Democratic state senator reported as news while actual results are omitted?
Colorado Republicans will take all the races they can get at this point, with or without wishful thinking.
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