We’re not calling it yet on our scoreboard. But the AP is calling it as a run-off in the South Carolina gubernatorial primary. And it looks that way since she seems stuck with just a bit under 50% of the vote with about 80% of the vote in.

Even weirder, a veteran and extremely conservative member of Congress, Rep. Bob Inglis (R-SC) has been forced into a run-off by a Tea Party candidate who said Inglis wasn’t conservative enough. And if that’s not bad enough, he didn’t just force him into a run-off. The righter-winger candidate, Gowdy beat Inglis by more than 15 points.

10:16 PM: Okay, this may be getting interesting. 42% of the precincts in and we’re at 51%-49% for Lincoln.

10:04 PM: Our Eric Kleefeld is looking at the county by county breakdown in Arkansas and he thinks it’s too close to call. Looking at the results in different counties doesn’t clarify the picture.

9:59 PM: Okay, with 27% of precincts reporting we’re at 52%-48% in Lincoln’s favor in Arkansas. My recollection is that on round one the numbers slowly edged in Halter’s direction as the more rural precincts came in. We’ll see.

10:35 PM: And now Lincoln is back on top.

10:34 PM: 60% of precincts reporting and it’s still Halter by 2 points, which is a touch over 3,000 votes.

Doesn’t necessarily mean anything. It could easily slip back. But Bill Halter just went ahead of Blanche Lincoln for the first time this evening. Now 51% to 49% over Lincoln.

That’s with 55% of precincts in.

Our election guy says that a look at the results in individual counties still don’t give a clear read on where this is going.

10:56 PM: Getting various early reports, by looking county by county, and it looks like Lowden’s in real trouble … Jon Ralston is the guy for Nevada politics. And he’s tweeting it here.

The first results in Nevada are starting to trickle in.

Still very close at 51%-49%. But Lincoln’s still on top with 77% of the precincts in.

Title says it all. The AP is calling the Arkansas senate run-off for Blanche Lincoln.

Looking good for Sharron Angle tonight. But get this. We have a story coming out tomorrow that she’s a big supporter of the Oath Keepers, the group which says members of the armed forces and police don’t have to follow orders they don’t believe are constitutional and also pledge not to enforce orders to heard patriotic Americans into detention camps.

Well, it looks like Nevada Republicans have had enough of their Gov. Jim Gibbons who becomes the first sitting governor in the state in like forever to get tossed out in a party primary. Eric Kleefeld asked, just how scandal-ridden do you have to be to get tossed in Nevada? Well, Gibbons really explored the outer bounds of that question with his divorce, multiple affairs, lies and a bunch of other stuff.

But remember, the alleged sexual assault of the waitress in that parking garage (not proven in a court of law but lots of evidence) happened before he was elected the first time. So, yeah, it takes a lot in Nevada. But it looks like Gibbons got the ball over the line.

Nevada’s the last big race really in suspense tonight. With 14% of precincts, Sharron Angle has a 2 point lead. Not a huge lead since Angle went into this evening a big favorite. I’m watching Jon Ralston’s Twitter feed to get his read on the county by county breakdown. Sounds like he thinks it’s not looking good for Sue Lowden. So cork popping at Reid HQ may still be in the offing.

Here’s Ralston’s latest tweet from about 5 minutes ago …

If Angle continues to gain ground in Clark — if this trend holds — Angle is going to win by big margin. Lowden needs surge.

To decode that message, Clark County is where Vegas is. And Lowden would need a real win there to have a chance statewide. So far it doesn’t look likes it’s happening.

We still don’t have clear read out of Nevada. But it’s not too early to take some stock of what tonight tells us. We know about the huge tide of anti-incumbency across the country. Blanche Lincoln looks like the exception that proves the rule on that one. And whatever you think of Lincoln, don’t underestimate the difficulty for an incumbent of getting pushed into a primary run-off with a very disappointing result and then coming back to win the run-off. That’s very difficult. Read More