Dems two seats away from control of Senate - and both chambers!

We're digging through the state results. Of interest:

In Congressional District 10, Democrat Ted Ankrum did refreshingly well against incumbent Michael McCaul. With almost all votes counted, Ankrum, in a conservative district stretching from West Lake Hills to suburban Houston, has pulled in 41% of the vote, vs. McCaul's 54%. Austinite Michael Badnarik – the Libertarian Party's nominee for U.S. president in 2004 – drew 4%.

The threat to conservative Democrat Chet Edwards in CD 17 never materialized – he took 59% in President Bush's home congressional district.

Close the door on the Tom DeLay era: Democrat Nick Lampson will take his old seat, his 50% holding off the write-in campaign of Houston City Council Member Shelley Sekula-Gibbs, who pulled 43%. Lampson will have to be a mighty conservative Democrat – if Gibbs can do that well as a write-in, she could smoke him when her name is actually on the ballot.

CNN has finally projected that the Democrats have wrapped up at least 220 seats, two seats over the number needed to take the majority, making it sort of official.

The Travis County Republican Party's "No Blue Dot" campaign (referring to Travis County's tendency to appear as a blue Democratic Dot on Republican red Texas election maps) has failed miserably.

It took until nearly midnight, but with all 46 precincts reporting, Democrat Valinda Bolton has defeated Republican Bill Welch in state House Dist. 47, at a stroke replacing retiring incumbent GOP Rep. Terry Keel and turning the Travis Co. House delegation solid blue. "People are so hungry for change," Bolton had said a few hours earlier, at the Democratic Party election headquarters at the Stephen F. Austin hotel. Reached again by phone just after the final returns were released by the Travis Co. Clerk, Bolton said, "I'm excited, I'm enthusiastic, and I'm just beginning to realize that a whole new phase of my life is about to begin."

Knock on wood, but it could happen. Since my previous Senate post, McCaskill made a huge swing to pull into a slim lead in Missouri (19% remaining to be counted). The GOP's Corker has defeated Ford in Tennessee, so the current count is GOP, 49-48. Democrat Tester looks solid in Montana with about half counted, so it comes down to this: McCaskill needs to hang on, and Webb – who smartly has declared victory – needs to win the inevitable recount in Virginia.

All precincts have reported, except on the city of Austin bonds. Here are the winners in contested races exclusive to Travis County, and the percentage of votes garnered by the winners:

The odds of the Dems taking the Senate look slim. The count is 48-48, with four races still outstanding:

Virginia: Democrat Webb leads by a mere 2,265 votes, with 1% of the precincts yet to report. If his margin of victory is less than 1%, a recount will be automatic.

Missouri: Democrat McCaskill is in trouble; she's trailing by 4%. However, only 65% of the precincts have been reported. If those precincts still outstanding are from Kansas City and St. Louis, she could pull even.

Tennessee: Ford appears doomed; Republican Corker leads him 51-48, with only 6% of the boxes left. Unless all of those are in Memphis, Ford's barbecue is smoked.

Montana: Tester looks solid, even if only 30% have reported; he leads Republican Burns 54-44.

In 2004, Democrat neophyte Hubert Vo pulled out a squeaker win against powerful Republican incumbent Talmadge Heflin in state House Dist. 149, ousting the chairman of the Appropriations Committee by a mere 33 votes. Heflin is trying to regain that seat tonight, but Vo looks strong: With probably about half the vote counted, Vo is leading at 52%.

Library mastermind (and former Austin Chronicle city editor) Mike Clark-Madison is a woolly guy to get a hold of; At the 7 Steps party at Joe's Bar and Grill, he's frantically trying to get a handle on the national races. But sometime after the D's took the House, the bibliophile Karl Rove shared his thoughts on Prop. 6's victory.