Esme Blog: Late Night At Dayton HQ
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- For much of the evening, it looked like Mark Dayton had a sizeable lead. But then after an error by Hennepin County was corrected, Mark Dayton's lead was down to 1 percent.
And that is where it still is this morning.
In the last week of the campaign Mark Dayton said he did not believe two recent polls that showed him with comfortable leads over Tom Emmer. Dayton said he thought the race was much closer. He was right.
At 2 a.m. Wednesday morning, Dayton spoke to cheering supporters, thanking them for their help and telling them he is cautiously optimistic that he will pull out a victory. Afterwards he spoke to reporters.
Dayton said, "The primary went much later than this. It was midday before it was finally counted. It's a close election. I always thought it would be a close election. Given what is going on nationally, the fact that we are ahead is still an accomplishment, so we will just wait and see until all the votes are counted."
After speaking to reporters Dayton said he was calling it a night and going home to take care of his two German Shepherds. He said the earliest he would have a statement would be some time later this morning.
The mistake by Hennepin County almost led the Associated Press to call the race. Dayton Spokesperson Katie Tinucci said she was told around midnight by the AP that they were about to call the race.
At this hour, the AP has still not declared a winner.
