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Tester wins tight Senate race
By The Standard Staff - 11/08/2006
By Charles S. Johnson and Mike Dennison tate Bureau HELENA -- Democratic challenger Jon Tester has narrowly defeated Republican U.S. Sen. Conrad Burns in the bitterly contested Montana Senate race, the Associated Press declared on Wednesday morning.
As of 10:38 a.m., here were the unofficial tallies:
Tester, 198,032 votes for 49.19 percent.
Burns, 194,904 votes for 48.39 percent.
Libertarian Stan Jones, 10,303 votes for 2.6 percent.
Tester’s victory gave Democrats a 50-49 edge in the U.S. Senate, with the winner of the Virginia race still not declared, although Democrat Jim Webb holds a tiny lead over Republican incumbent George Allen.
At a press conference in Great Falls, Tester said had heard nothing from the Burns so far. The Burns campaign wasn’t returning reporters’ calls on Wednesday morning seeking to learn if the Republican would file for a vote recount.
Asked if he thought Burns would challenge the election results, Tester said, ‘’That’s his rightbut I think the votes are there. We won this thing.’’
The flat-topped farmer was introduced at the press conference by his wife, Sharla, who said, ‘’My husband, my soul mate, your U.S. senator, Papa Jon Tester.’’
Tester, who got only two and one-half hours of sleep as he waited for election returns in the nail-biting race, said he intends to return to his farm in Big Sandy to get some sleep. He would wait until Thursday before starting to put together his U.S. Senate staff.
He threw out the olive branch.
‘’Now is the time for working together,’’ Tester said. ‘’Now is the time to put politics aside. Now is the time to roll up our sleeves and get some things done.’’
‘’This is a great time,’’ he added. ‘’It’s really a great time to empower the middle class.’’
He said the issues that pushed him over the top were his calls for fiscal responsibility and health care revisions, his push for honesty, integrity and respect for the office and his criticism of the way the war in Iraq is being run by the Bush administration.
‘’We were successful, and now it’s time to produce,to work for regular people, to work for regular Montanans, to move this country forward,’’ Tester said.
Tester said one of his top priorities in Congress would be to address health care, which he called ‘’a huge issue.’’ One in five Montanans is uninsured. It’s an issue that both political parties need to address, he said.
‘’It can’t be done by one party alone,’’ Tester said.
As for the war in Iraq, Tester said, ‘’I hope we can work together to have a plan and get those troops home.’’
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