Meanwhile, in Sarasota...

OD1 reminded me that there are several races out there still being hotly contested. Two are right in his backyard-- thoroughly unpleasant Ohio Republicans "Mean" Jean Schmidt and Deborah Pryce have claimed victory, but the counting of provisional ballots won't be resolved anytime soon. It doesn't sound like there's too great a chance for either race to go to the Democrat.

And in Katherine Harris' neck of the woods, things are looking very 2000.

Florida's secretary of state is sending a team to conduct an audit of Sarasota County's voting system after a stunning 18,382 votes were either not cast or not recorded in a congressional race.

Secretary of State Sue M. Cobb made the announcement today in a letter to Sarasota County elections chief Kathy Dent, who had asked for the audit as well as a team to observe an upcoming recount of the nationally watched election.

The case has cast a national spotlight on the accuracy or usability of touch-screen voting machines, which don't have a paper-trail ballot that many activists say would make recounts more transparent.

The recount for House District 13, in which Republican Vernon Buchanan holds a 368-vote lead over Democrat Christine Jennings, will take place Monday both in Sarasota County and in the four other counties comprising the district formerly led by Katherine Harris.