Tipsheet

The Morning After: Five Races to Watch

The red wave last night has caused a power shift in Washington and states across the country. The GOP has captured over sixty seats in the House and six in the Senate. Ballot-counting isn't quite over yet, though. Here are the top six undecided races to keep watching.

CO-Sen: Colorado was heralded as a state trending permanently blue in 2008. But a tough, close race between incumbent Democrat Michael Bennet and tea party favorite Ken Buck is a virtual tie with almost 90% of precincts reporting. A Buck victory could turn the wave into a tsunami.

WA-Sen: Another virtual tie, incumbent Democrat Patty Murray is under siege from Dino Rossi, a mainstay in Washington politics. Rossi has felt some close-call heartbreak in big elections in Washington before. He may just pull this one out.

AK-Sen: It will likely take awhile to sort this race out. As of now, we know that the total number of write-in ballots have a plurality; the key is then to parse through the write-ins and see which ones have counted for write-in Lisa Murkowski and which for GOP nominee Joe Miller. Another twist: absentee ballots have yet to be counted which, considering Miller's military history, are expected to break strongly for the GOP nominee.

FL-Gov: This one seems headed for a recount. Republican Rick Scott is currently leading by about 50,000 votes but Democrat Alex Sink seems to be following the Gore playbook from 2000 in assembling a team to begin challenging each and every ballot. UPDATE: Looks like we'll avoid a recount. Sink has conceded.

IL-Gov: On a night in which Democrats took huge losses in Illinois, Democrat Pat Quinn is holding out against Republican Bill Brady.

Honorable mention: Much of the media has called the race already, but in California's Senate race, Carly Fiorina has refused to yield to Barbara Boxer. We'll see if she has any magic left in her hat as today grinds forward.