Still Watching?

It seems the race for the 23rd District seat in New York may not be over. I pointed to this as the race to watch and it is still worth watching. Yeah, I know the Conservative Party candidate Hoffman conceded but it is still possible that he may win and Owens may lose. The election results are still not in and the winner isn't official. Owens may have been sworn in but he may find himself tossed out.

Democrat Bill Owens, who was sworn into Congress last week and immediately voted for controversial health care legislation, still hasn't been certified the winner by local elections officials. His lead over Conservative Doug Hoffman has narrowed to 3,026 votes with about 5,800 absentee ballots received so far that have yet to be counted, according to a routine recanvassing of the votes.

The final outcome rests on uncounted absentee ballots, and more than 10,000 were sent out.

"Well 20/20 hindsight, if I knew this information on election night, I would not have conceded," Hoffman told Fox News' Neil Cavuto. "On election night with a 6,000 deficit in the voting, the 10,000 absentee ballots did not look plausible with a three-way race."

The county Boards of Election in the 23rd District are still recanvassing votes and it could be the end of November before a final count is certified in the special election. If the count overturns the election, Owens could be removed from office.

Owens was sworn in Friday, in time to cast a vote on a historic health care overhaul bill, helping House Speaker Nancy Pelosi reach the majority she needed to pass it. The House passed the legislation 220-215.

The state Board of Elections wrote to the House clerk last week explaining that the state hasn't certified the election because there wasn't an official winner yet.

Since he still leads by about 3,000 votes and the Hoffman campaign hasn't contested the race, Owens' swearing-in was legal.

But if recanvassing produces a different result, the Democratic-led House would have to determine how to proceed and whether Owens must be replaced by Hoffman.

Wouldn't it be a hoot if Owens is tossed. I'm looking forward to the end of the month to see how this turns out.

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