U.S. Sen. Barack Obama from Illinois was ubiquitous during the final weeks of the campaign, flying across the country for Democrats, including in this picture from a rally for Sherrod Brown, the easy winner for U.S. Senate from Ohio. Photo by Bob Olayas
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Although not all the results of Electoral Night, Nov. 7, were in as Windy City Times went to press last week, it is safe to say that the Democratic Party continued to dominate afterwards.
Locally, Todd Stroger claimed a delayed victory for the Cook County Board President seat over Republican Commissioner Tony Peraica—but not without some controversy. At one point during the night, Peraica urged his supporters to storm the Cook County Administration Building and demand that votes be counted. He claimed 'the sanctity of the ballots' may have been compromised.
Later, Stroger supporters joined in what escalated into a near-chaotic situation. In the early hours of the morning, County Clerk David Orr told the press that 'hooligans' and 'drunks' fought with individuals and deputies trying to access the freight elevator to deliver boxes containing results, and the elevator was broken.
Peraica angrily condemned the voting system, but later conceded the election.
Nationally, the Democrats continued its impressive sweep by taking both houses of Congress. As of the morning of Nov. 8, only the Virginia and Montana Senate races had yet to be decided. ( The Democrats had already secured a majority in the House, with Nancy Pelosi slated to be the first-ever female Speaker of the House. ) However, in both cases the Republican incumbents ( George Allen in Virginia and Conrad Burns in Montana ) had to concede narrow defeats. The victories of former Navy Secretary James Webb in Virginia and state Sen. Jon Tester in Montana meant that Democrats secured 49 Senate seats.
Given that the two Senate Independents ( Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and Bernie Sanders of Vermont ) have indicated that they will caucus with the Democrats, the party essentially has a majority.