A Winner in Calif. 46?

LOS ANGELES (AllPolitics, Nov. 13) -- A winner has been declared in California's 46th congressional district -- sort of. Democratic challenger Loretta Sanchez is claiming victory, as late returns trickling in show her in the lead. But nothing's official yet.

Last week, GOP Rep. Bob Dornan was up by 233 votes with six to twelve thousand ballots still outstanding. But by Tuesday night, Sanchez led by 929 votes, with about 3,000 ballots left to count.

"Goliath has been slain and David, in the name of Loretta, is on the way to Washington," said John Shallman, Sanchez's campaign manager. Sanchez plans to head to Washington for Thursday's House freshman orientation.

Dornan, one of the House's most fiery members, isn't going down without a fight. He says he'll ask House Speaker Newt Gingrich to have "every registered voter in the district" checked against citizenship files. "I'm going to contest it with the House on [grounds of] non-citizen voting," Dornan said.

There's no news in the other undecided California House race. Democratic Rep. George Brown leads GOP challenger Linda Wilde by just 865 votes in the 42nd district.

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A Winner in Calif. 46?

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