Legal Commentary

Ken Buck Concedes and Congratulates Bennet

By Jeralyn

When Sen. Michael Bennet held his victory rally earlier, one thing was missing: a concession from challenger Ken Buck. Buck issued this statement this afternoon.

Buck said that while the final margin in the race is very small, Colorado voters have spoken and he wishes Senator Bennet well.

Buck said, “my Senate campaign has been the experience of a lifetime. I will be forever grateful to the thousands of Coloradans who helped make this grassroots journey possible.”

CBS calls the win "razor-thin", but I don't think it is. Last night at 12:45 am, the candidates were 5-6,000 votes apart. At times last night they were 4,000 votes apart. That was razor-thin. Today, with 97% of the vote in, Bennet leads by 15,000 votes, large enough to avoid an automatic recount. It's not a big win, but it's a clear one.

At least CBS acknowledges the Tea Party had a rough night in senate races. [More...]

Buck's apparent loss is a blow for the Tea Party movement, which on the Senate side had a rough night last night.

But I think CBS is wrong to lump Buck in with Christine O'Donnell and suggest he wasn't a strong candidate.

There are now three Tea Party-backed candidates - Buck, Nevada's Sharron Angle and Delaware's Christine O'Donnell - who lost in seats that Republicans might plausible have won with stronger candidates.

Ken Buck is not a cartoon like Christine O'Donnell. He's Republican mainstream, an elected District Attorney and former federal prosecutor. His views are typical of Republicans. The point is not that Republicans could have won with a different candidate, but that tea-party backing failed to bring home the bacon.

Democrats will have at least 52 Senate seats in January. Washington and Alaska remain unknown.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on November 03, 2010 (boomark / email).