IT'S NO secret that Senate Democratic candidates were hoping that the voter registration and turnout efforts organised by Barack Obama would provide the boost needed to get over the top in close races.
But in at least two contested races, Minnesota and Georgia, there was a significant drop-off between votes cast for Obama and those for his party's Senate nominees, an undervote that might wind up costing Democrats two seats.
In Minnesota, Obama took 1,573,288 votes, compared with 1,211,335 for comedian and satirist Al Franken - a drop-off of more than 360,000 from the presidential to the Senate race.
That undervote is especially significant considering that Franken trails Senator Norm Coleman by 221 votes, according to the Associated Press. Moreover, the race is almost certainly headed to a statewide manual recount that could last into next month.
In Georgia, Obama won 1,838,281 votes, while former state Republican Jim Martin received 1,753,030, a difference of more than 85,000. If Martin had matched Obama's vote total, he would still have trailed Senator Saxby Chambliss, Republican, who took 1,864,015 votes; and the race would still be headed to a December 2nd run-off. But the narrower margin might have given Democrats momentum headed into the one-month sprint.
Of course, for every rule in politics, there is an exception. In Alaska, Obama took 80,340 votes, compared with 102,998 for Anchorage mayor Mark Begich, Democrat.
Although Begich ran considerably ahead of his party's presidential nominee, he still trails Senator Ted Stevens, Republican, by 3,300 votes with 99 per cent of precincts reporting.
Stevens was convicted on October 27th of seven charges of failing to report gifts from an Alaskan company. He was also convicted of making false statements on Senate financial disclosure forms and hiding more than $250,000 in home renovations and other gifts from an Alaskan oil-services company.