By Scott Stewart
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is leading Republican rival John McCain in partial election results released by the Douglas County Election Commission and Nebraska secretary of state.
Obama leads McCain by 6,282 votes in Douglas County but trails by 1,896 votes in traditionally conservative Sarpy County. Between both counties, the only two composing the 2nd Congressional District, Obama is up by 4,386 votes.
If Obama wins the race in the 2nd Congressional District, history will be made as Nebraska would split its electoral votes, awarding one of its five electoral votes to Obama. The split would turn Nebraska “purple” on electoral maps, which traditionally denote Democratic candidates by blue and Republican candidates by red.
Obama isn’t the only Democratic candidate with hope to win the 2nd District. Congressional candidate Jim Esch, who is challenging incumbent Republican Lee Terry, holds a slim lead in both counties.
Esch leads by 1,952 votes in Douglas County, with 64,963 votes to 63,011 votes. Terry has gained the lead in
Sarpy County with an even 10,000 votes to Esch’s 8,824. Overall, Esch leads the race by only 776 votes.
In Lancaster County, which includes the city of Lincoln, Obama is up 7,598 votes, with 47,669 votes for Obama and 40,071 votes to McCain.
