We knew that Mark Begich would likely have an advantage over Ted Stevens in the remaining 90,000 votes to be counted. It was gonna be close – but we didn’t know how close. Today, after counting a 40,000 of those, the totals stand at:
Stevens (R) 125,016
Begich (D) 125,019

12,000 more are coming in tonight, and the rest will be counted in the coming days. Given the composition of the existing absentee/early/provisional ballots though, and the location of the uncounted lots, Begich’s lead is only expected to increase, by as much as another half a percentage point.

Update:

After counting the evening’s votes, Begich is up by 814.  The ballots not yet counted are apparently from heavily D-leaning areas, so it’s pretty safe to call this one for Begich.

That puts the Senate tally at 56-40-2 plus two races too close to call.