Senator from Wal-Mart wins runoff due to clerical error

I need to add a new icon to the yellow boxes on the side of this blog. This new symbol should stand for DUMB.

I watched tonight's results from the Arkansas Democratic runoff election using Politico's map, and I noticed Wal-Mart senator Blanche Lincoln was trailing Bill Halter in Little Rock's Pulaski County 60% to 40% (which is about what polls predicted).

Suddenly, however, Pulaski flipped to 60% to 40% for Lincoln.

I sat there and saw it happen with my own two eyes.

This was attributed to a clerical error. But - if it wasn't corrected - it would mean that Lincoln's statewide margin of victory was accounted for entirely by Pulaski County, of all the unlikely places.

Guess what? It wasn't fixed, and it was counted that way.

Of course, the media's not on the case (big surprise). I guess you don't dare cross Wal-Mart.

I wonder if this clerical error wasn't actually deliberate. It sounds to me like somebody cheated and got away with it.

And that's not to mention the polling place scandal that's unfolding in Garland County. (More on that later.)

Most maddeningly, the Republicans have a much, much better chance of picking up this seat if the anti-union Blanche Lincoln is the Democratic nominee than if Bill Halter had won. So today's events actually make a GOP pickup much easier. In other words, I don't think it was the Democrats who rigged today's election.