news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061109/ap_on_el_se/democrats_senate
AP Democrats take control of the Senate By LIZ SIDOTI and BOB LEWIS, Associated Press Writers Wed Nov 8, 8:45 PM ET WASHINGTON - Democrats wrested control of the Senate from Republicans Wednesday with an upset victory in Virginia, giving the party complete domination of Capitol Hill for the first time since 1994.
Allen was the sixth Republican incumbent senator defeated in Tuesday's elections. The Senate had teetered at 50 Democrats, 49 Republicans for most of Wednesday, with Virginia hanging in the balance.
The Associated Press contacted election officials in all 134 localities where voting occurred, obtaining updated numbers Wednesday. About half the localities said they had completed their postelection canvassing and nearly all had counted outstanding absentees. The new AP count showed Webb with 1,172,538 votes and Allen with 1,165,302, a difference of 7,236. Virginia has had two statewide vote recounts in modern history, but both resulted in vote changes of no more than a few hundred votes. An adviser to Allen, speaking on condition of anonymity because his boss had not formally decided to end the campaign, said the senator wanted to wait until most of canvassing was completed before announcing his decision, possibly as early as Thursday evening. The adviser said that Allen was disinclined to request a recount if the final vote spread was similar to that of election night.
Senate Votes Being Scrutinized The one race that will decide control of the Senate is still being decided as Virginia election officials start canvassing the returns from election night.
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