http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/02/live-blogging-election-night-2/?src=mtwt&twt=mnytimes
The Republican Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania has defeated the Democrat Joe Sestak in his bid for the Senate, adding one of the nation’s closest and highest-profile contests to the Republican column.
The Republican Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania has defeated the Democrat Joe Sestak in his bid for the Senate, adding one of the nation’s closest and highest-profile contests to the Republican column.
Mr. Sestak who defeated had battled the White House during the Democratic primary, with his being the challenger that eventually ousted the incumbent Democratic senator Arlen Specter against the wishes of President Obama. The come-from-behind victory in the primary earned him the nickname of the “comeback kid” in Pennsylvania, and Mr. Obama eventually campaigned hard for him.
Despite coming back strong in the last few weeks against Mr. Toomey, Mr. Sestak was unable to repeat his performance during the general election. Mr. Toomey’s victory means the seat that Mr. Specter flipped from Republican to Democratic when he changed parties will now revert back.
It is also a defeat for the Democratic turnout machines in the state, which had hoped that a million-person edge in Democratic voter registration would help the party defeat Mr. Toomey in a close race. But many of those voters did not turn out, and conservative Toomey edged out liberal Sestak.
