Alaska's Write-In Vote Count for Senate Race Begins Next Week

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski began a drawn-out battle Wednesday for every ballot with her handwritten name on it in her bid to come back from a primary defeat that forced Alaskans to choose between Sarah Palin's tea party and the state's GOP establishment.

Meanwhile, the overseer of Alaska's elections told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the counting of write-in ballots will begin Nov. 10, with the hope of having a clear winner by late next week.

With 99 percent of precincts reporting Wednesday morning, write-in votes represented 41 percent of the vote. GOP nominee Joe Miller had 34 percent; Democrat Scott McAdams, who all but conceded Tuesday night, had 24 percent.

While Murkowski celebrated the fact she was still in the race, it remained to be seen whether the write-in votes would keep her in office.

She was one of 160 candidates following conservative calls urging Alaskans to sign up to disrupt her campaign. Though she focused heavily on educating voters on how to cast a vote for her properly, it's not clear how many did so, filling in the ballot oval and writing "Murkowski" or "Lisa Murkowski." And while election officials plan to be lenient in deciphering voter intent in determining whether a ballot for Murkowski counts, they've provided no set standard for what would be allowable.

"At this point, without a single write-in ballot counted, Lisa Murkowski has no claim on a victory," Miller said in a statement on his website Wednesday. Expressing confidence he'd win, he added: "this campaign is not over!"

Murkowski was confident, too: "We're doing this," she said, choking up in front of supporters Tuesday as she stood with her husband and two sons. "We're doing this."

If Murkowski is successful, it would be historic. No U.S. Senate candidate has won as a write-in since Strom Thurmond did it in 1954.

A final ruling could take weeks -- and could come in the courts.

The latest tally didn't include potentially tens of thousands of absentee ballots that election officials don't plan to begin counting until Tuesday. Election workers plan to begin counting write-in ballots the following day, in Juneau, to avoid keeping citizens and candidates in the dark about whose names are on the ballots, Lt. Gov. Craig Campbell said. The count could take three days, he said, adding that he hoped Alaskans would have a "pretty clear answer" on who won by the end of next week.

That may not be the last word: campaigns will be allowed to have observers in the room to make note of any ballots they challenge. Dec. 9 is the deadline for an election challenge to be filed in superior court.

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Sink Concedes Florida Governor's Race to Republican Scott

Published November 03, 2010

| FoxNews.com

After a hard fought, bitter race that ended in a photo finish, Republican businessman Rick Scott claimed victory Wednesday shortly after his opponent Democrat Alex Sink conceded the Florida governor's race.

In his victory speech, Scott , who ran on an anti-establishment message and drew the support of the Tea Party, pledged to "work for every Floridian."

"Today is the end of politics as usual," he said about an hour after Sink said she couldn't see a path to victory. "We're going to work for the common good."

Earlier, Scott's campaign had called a win by Sink "a mathematical impossibility," after the campaign's numbers showed Scott with a lead of more than 68,000 votes.

Scott has 49 percent of the vote to Sink's 48 percent of the vote -- a lead of about 53,000 votes -- with 99 percent of the vote counted.

Scott will replace Gov. Charlie Crist, who opted against seeking a second term to run for the U.S. Senate, a bid that he lost Tuesday to Republican Marco Rubio. Scott will be sworn in Jan. 4.

Scott, 57, is a multimillionaire who jumped into the Republican primary race in April. Sink is the state's chief financial officer. She worked for 26 years in the banking business, eventually becoming one of the state's most prominent businesswomen.

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Republicans Capture House in Historic Wave, Claim 'Mandate' to Shrink Government

Republicans thundered into the majority in the House of Representatives Tuesday night, making historic gains by a proportion not seen in more than 70 years. 

The party so far has won more than 60 seats, with about 65 net gains projected by the time all ballots are counted -- far more than the party needed to seize the majority. Democrats, with the help of a victory by Majority Leader Harry Reid, held the Senate by a narrow margin but suffered several big losses in an election that just about put Republicans on equal footing with the president's party. 

House Republican Leader John Boehner, speaking briefly to reporters Wednesday morning alongside his deputy, Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., claimed a "mandate" to cut the size of government and urged President Obama to respect the will of the voters and "change course." 

He said the American people want a climate that will promote job growth as well as a more accountable, smaller federal government. He also said his party needs to "lay the groundwork" for repealing the "monstrosity" health care law, with the eventual goal of replacing it -- an unlikely prospect as long as Obama is in the White House. 

"It's pretty clear that the Obama-Pelosi agenda's being rejected by the American people," Boehner said. "I think it's a mandate for Washington to reduce the size of government." 

Obama said at a press conference Wednesday that he wants to reach "consensus" with Republicans, calling for both parties to reach "common ground." He chalked up his party's losses to frustration over the economy. 

In House races from Florida to Virginia to Indiana to Texas Tuesday night, voters were sending a rebuke to the party in power by electing Republicans over Democratic incumbents. Seniority did not seem to matter. Longtime representatives were falling just as hard as freshmen, succumbing to campaigns -- many of them backed by the Tea Party movement -- that tied them to unpopular federal policies and proposals. 

The GOP gains would exceed those made during the Republican wave of 1994 when the party picked up 54 House seats. Not since 1938 has the party made such monumental inroads. With 218 seats needed for a majority, Republicans so far have officially won 239, while Democrats have won 185. 

Though unable to reach a majority in the Senate, Republicans have so far picked up six seats from Democrats and held down a number of others -- giving little ground as they shoot for a stronger foothold in the upper chamber. In a symbolic victory, GOP Rep. Mark Kirk beat Alexi Giannoulias for Obama's old Senate seat in Illinois after a hard-fought race. Conservative Pat Toomey narrowly defeated Democratic Rep. Joe Sestak, taking over for party-switching Sen. Arlen Specter. And three-term Sen. Russ Feingold was the latest incumbent Democrat to go down, losing his race for reelection in Wisconsin to Tea Party-backed businessman Ron Johnson. 

"What we're sensing tonight is a huge case of buyer's remorse all across America," Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell told supporters Tuesday night, describing the GOP gains as a rejection of the spending and "Washington takeovers" coming out of the federal government. 

In North Dakota, Republican John Hoeven beat Tracy Potter for the seat held by outgoing Democratic Sen. Byron Dorgan. In Arkansas, GOP Rep. John Boozman trounced Democratic Sen. Blanche Lincoln, denying her a third term in Congress. Lincoln's vote for the president's health care overhaul was considered a turning point for the senator's popularity. Former Sen. Dan Coats in Indiana scored the first GOP Senate pick-up of the night, beating Democratic Rep. Brad Ellsworth for the seat left by retiring Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh. 

But Democrats held onto a handful of key seats, most importantly Nevada. Reid campaigned hard to retain his seat, with supporters casting Tea Party favorite Sharron Angle as dangerous and unfit to serve. Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer was also able to fend off a stiff challenge from Republican Carly Fiorina in California. 

The party scored three victories for open seats. In West Virginia, Democratic Gov. Joe Manchin beat John Raese despite an aggressive campaign by the Republican to portray Manchin as a buddy to Washington Democrats and particularly Obama. In Delaware, Chris Coons beat Tea Party-backed Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell; in Connecticut, popular Attorney General Dick Blumenthal beat professional wrestling mogul Linda McMahon. All those open seats were previously held by longtime Democratic lawmakers. The Delaware seat used to be held by Vice President Biden, the Connecticut seat held by longtime lawmaker Chris Dodd and the West Virginia seat held by the late Robert Byrd. 

Republicans also won open Senate seats in Florida, Utah, Kansas, Missouri, New Hampshire, Kentucky and Ohio. Those open seats were already held by Republicans, so the GOP wins there did not affect the balance of power. 

The Senate races in Washington, Alaska and Colorado are still too close to call. Republicans so far have claimed 46 Senate seats to Democrats' 49. Two independents vote with Democrats.

Among the slew of House victories, Republican Dan Webster defeated outspoken liberal Rep. Alan Grayson in Florida's 8th District, Republican Allen West beat Rep. Ron Klein in Florida's 22nd District and Republican Sandra Adams picked up a Democratic seat in Florida's 24th District. Tea Party-backed Kristi Noem ousted Democratic Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin in South Dakota. Republican Bill Flores beat moderate Democratic Rep. Chet Edwards in Texas' 17th District. Republican Lou Barletta, a strident foe of illegal immigration, beat longtime incumbent Rep. Paul Kanjorski in Pennsylvania's 11th District. Longtime Democratic Rep. Ike Skelton, a committee chairman, was also defeated in Missouri. 

So-called purple states like Virginia followed a Republican trend on Tuesday. Republican Robert Hurt took Virginia's 5th District, defeating Rep. Tom Perriello who boldly campaigned with the president; Republican Scott Rigell defeated Virginia Democratic Rep. Glenn Nye in District 2. Democratic Rep. Frank Kratovil also lost in Maryland's District 1, while Democratic Rep. Zack Space lost in Ohio's District 18. Republican Larry Bucshon picked up Rep. Brad Ellsworth's Democratic seat in Indiana, where Democratic Rep. Baron Hill was also defeated by a wide margin. 

On the other side, Democrat John Carney picked up the Republican House seat in Delaware formerly held by Rep. Mike Castle, who ran unsuccessfully for Senate. GOP Rep. Joseph Cao lost to Democrat Cedric Richmond in Louisiana. Massachusetts Democratic Rep. Barney Frank held his seat against upstart Sean Bielat. 

 • RESULTS MAP: Explore the current party divide, and the polling numbers for the closest races
• TRACK KEY RACES: Track and follow up to 10 races. 
• CANDIDATE LIST: All you need to know about the candidates

With the strength of the Tea Party movement at their backs, GOP candidates were confident the enthusiasm of their supporters would help propel them to historic pickups in Congress and give them the leverage to put a check on the Obama administration's policies. 

Though Democrats barnstormed into Congress in huge numbers over the past two cycles -- helped in no small part by Obama's historic presidential run in 2008 -- frustration over the economy and far-reaching legislation passed under the current administration fueled a crop of candidates vowing to bring a renewed model of small-government conservatism to Washington. 

The most visible and vocal driver of that political breed has been the Tea Party, which aggravated several GOP primary contests by backing non-establishment candidates who, in many cases, won. A handful of those nominees lost on the Senate side Tuesday, opening the movement up to criticism that more tested candidates could have put the party over the edge. But the energy from the Tea Partiers was an undeniable factor in getting Republicans out to the polls. 

Republican Rand Paul heralded his victory in the Kentucky Senate race Tuesday as a sign of the Tea Party's vigor. 

"We've come to take our government back," he declared in his victory speech. "Tonight there's a Tea Party tidal wave and we're sending a message to them." 

A number of incumbents in both parties coasted to election, avoiding the upheaval that marked so many races. Vermont Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy easily won his reelection race, as did South Carolina Republican Sen. Jim DeMint, who faced off against Democrat Alvin Greene, an unemployed unknown who won his party's primary without campaigning. 

Veteran Democratic Maryland Sen. Barbara Mikulski, Democratic Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, Democratic Hawaii Sen. Daniel Inouye and Democratic New York Sen. Charles Schumer won their reelection races. On the Republican side, victories were sealed by Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby, Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn, Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, Arizona Sen. John McCain. North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr, Louisiana Sen. David Vitter, South Dakota Sen. John Thune, Idaho Sen. Mike Crapo and Georgia Sen. Johnny Isakson. 

Freshman Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., also won her race to complete the term vacated by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton -- she will have to run again in 2012. 

Thirty-seven governor's seats were also on the line Tuesday, with Republicans taking the majority of them. 

Republicans scored a big pickup in Ohio as John Kasich beat Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland, an enthusiastic Obama ally whom the president tried to save. Republicans also notched a gain in Tennessee with a victory by Bill Haslam and again in Iowa with a win by Terry Branstad. Republican Tom Corbett seized a Democratic seat in the Pennsylvania governor's race as did Scott Walker in Wisconsin. And Republican Nikki Haley won the race for governor in South Carolina, weathering allegations of affairs which posed a distraction in the race. 

In California, former Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown will return to his old job after beating former eBay executive Meg Whitman. New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo will keep his state's governor's seat in Democratic hands, beating Republican Carl Paladino. Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper won the Colorado gubernatorial race for the Democrats, beating Republican Dan Maes as well as insurgent third-party candidate Tom Tancredo. Democrat Deval Patrick won another term in Massachusetts, as did Gov. Martin O'Malley in Maryland, where ex-Gov. Robert Ehrlich tried to mount a comeback.

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S. Korea Fires Warning Shots Toward N. Korean Boat

SEOUL, South Korea -- South Korea's navy fired warning shots to chase away a North Korean fishing boat that crossed their disputed sea border early Wednesday, the Defense Ministry said, in the latest flareup of tension on the divided peninsula just days before the Group of 20 summit in Seoul.

The North Korean boat intruded on South Korean territory for about two hours before returning to North Korean waters early Wednesday, the ministry said. The fertile maritime border, the scene of three deadly skirmishes between the Koreas, is a key flashpoint because the North does not recognize the line drawn by the U.N. at the close of the 1950-53 Korean War.

The firing comes just days after North Korea shot two rounds at a South Korean guard post in the Demilitarized Zone, prompting return fire from South Korean troops, according to Seoul military officials.

South Korea is bracing for any possible North Korean moves to sabotage next week's Group of 20 summit of world leaders. North Korea has a track record of provocations when world attention is focused on the rival South.

In 1987, a year before the Seoul Olympics, North Korean agents planted a bomb on a South Korean plane, killing all 115 people on board. In 2002, when South Korea jointly hosted soccer's World Cup along with Japan, a North Korean naval boat sank a South Korean patrol vessel near the sea border.

President Lee Myung-bak said Wednesday that he does not believe Pyongyang would strike South Korea but that Seoul was ready for anything.

"The South Korean government is making thorough preparations against (any possible attacks) by North Korea and worldwide terrorist organizations," Lee told reporters during a televised news conference.

His comments came a day after militants in southern Yemen blew up an oil pipeline operated by a state-owned South Korean company, Korea National Oil Corp., according to company officials. It was not clear whether al-Qaida's local offshoot was behind the attack, a Yemeni official said.

Tensions on the peninsula have been high since the mysterious sinking of a South Korean warship killed 46 sailors in March.

An international investigation concluded that a North Korean submarine fired a torpedo that sank the 1,200-ton Cheonan near the tense Korean sea border. North Korea flatly denied involvement and warned that any punishment would mean war.

On Tuesday, North Korea issued a lengthy point-by-point denial. The 7,000-word statement by North Korea's powerful National Defense Commission accused the South Korean-led investigation of fabricating data. The U.S. also was part of the investigation.

North Korea disputed the probe's conclusion that an aluminum torpedo sank the warship, saying all of its torpedoes are made of steel alloy. The statement said the North is willing to hand over parts of one of its torpedoes to South Korea for verification.

In Seoul, the Joint Chiefs of Staff dismissed North Korea's latest denials as "nothing new."

Meanwhile, the U.S.-led United Nations Command on Wednesday returned the bodies of two North Korean soldiers that found in the river running through the heavily fortified inter-Korean border.

The village is jointly overseen by the U.N. Command and North Korea, an arrangement established in 1953 to supervise the cease-fire that ended the three-year war.

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Former Russian Prime Minster Chernomyrdin Dies at 72

MOSCOW -- Viktor Chernomyrdin, who served as Russia's prime minister in the turbulent 1990s as the country was throwing off communism and developing as a market economy, died Wednesday. He was 72.

No cause of death has been released, but Chernomyrdin had grown thin in recent years and was reported to have been ill.

President Dmitry Medvedev sent his condolences to his family and friends. The president also ordered his chief of staff to organize Chernomyrdin's funeral on Friday, which will be also shown live on national television.

Chernomyrdin helped see Russia through some difficult times, including the economic devastation that followed the Soviet collapse and the war in Chechnya, and was much loved by Russians.

Born in a Siberian village, he was a bear of a man with an everyman's charm. He also had a knack for amusing his countrymen by bursting out with colorful, nongrammatical expressions. His statement that "we wanted the best but it turned out as always" has become part of Russian culture.

Chernomyrdin rose through the ranks of the Communist Party to head the Soviet oil and gas ministry from 1985 to 1989, when he was tapped to become the first chairman of the newly created state gas company Gazprom.

He was appointed prime minister by then President Boris Yeltsin in 1992 and held this post until March 1998. Following the financial crash of August 1998, when Russia defaulted on its debts and devalued its currency, Yeltsin asked him to return as prime minister, but the parliament refused to confirm him.

After Vladimir Putin became president, he appointed Chernomyrdin as ambassador to Ukraine in 2001, a move seen as an effort to distance a political heavyweight from Moscow. Chernomyrdin remained ambassador until last year.

Chernomyrdin is to be buried in Moscow's Novodevichy Cemetery, the final resting place of Yeltsin, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev and many of Russia's most beloved artistic figures.

He is survived by two sons and four grandchildren. His wife died earlier this year.

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UN: Somalia Vows to Release Child Soldiers in Army

Published November 03, 2010

| Associated Press

NAIROBI, Kenya -- A U.N. envoy says Somalia's government will work with the global body to release and rehabilitate the child soldiers in its army.

Radhika Coomaraswamy says the number of children in the Somali army is unclear. But she welcomed the commitment of Somalia's Prime Minister Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed to develop a plan to address the problem of child soldiers in the Somali army.

Human rights groups and media have been reporting about the existence of child soldiers in Somalia for years.

In June, President Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed ordered an investigation into the reports.

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Ugandan Court Bars Photos, Names of Gays in Paper

KAMPALA, Uganda -- Uganda's high court has ordered a controversial newspaper to stop publishing the names and photographs of people it says are gay, ruling that the publication is violating their right to privacy.

A gay rights group, Sexual Minorities Uganda, sought the injunction after the paper on Monday published its second straight edition with names and photos. The first edition, published in early October, sparked attacks against at least four gay Ugandans, Sexual Minorities Uganda said.

Justice Vincent Kibuuka Musoke ordered Rolling Stone on Monday to stop publishing the names and photos of gay Ugandans at least until Nov. 23, when Musoke said a final ruling will be made. Musoke said he ordered the injunction because publishing names and photos "is an infringement of the right to privacy of those whose photos appear in it."

Julian Onziema, the program coordinator for Sexual Minorities Uganda, said the group was happy with the justice's injunction but that other publications are beginning to print the same kinds of stories.

"We filed a suit against the paper for abuse of our fundamental human rights of privacy, association and security," Onziema said. "However my happiness might be short-lived because there are other tabloids in Uganda which are taking over from where Rolling Stone exploded from. They are making people hate us."

Rolling Stone's managing editor, Giles Muhame, says that publishing photos of gay Ugandans can help police find them. Homosexuality is illegal in Uganda and anyone caught in a homosexual act can face up to 14 years in prison.

Gays in Uganda say they have faced a year of attacks and harassment since a lawmaker introduced a bill in October 2009 that would impose the death penalty for some homosexual acts and life in prison for others. The bill has not come up for a vote.

The legislation was drawn up following a visit by leaders of U.S. conservative Christian ministries that promote therapy they say allows gays to become heterosexual.

The bill became political poison after international condemnation, and many Christian leaders have denounced it.

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