Election electricity

In the midst of a thunderstorm, I was live blogging primary election returns from a 3.2 beer joint in downtown Duquette, Minnesota. 

I have officially crossed the threshhold from political recreational user to political junkie. 

Yesterday's Gubernatorial primary saw flash floods, submerged vehicles, lightning strikes, and power outages throughout the state. For once, east central Minnesota was in the safe zone. But as evening approached the lightning rolled in. My husband Mike pulled the plug on the modem.

My fingers twitched. My heart raced. 

"You know, they have wi-fi at the Duquette Bar," Mike joked, knowing my aversion to bars.

I was already packing up my laptop for the two-mile drive to Duquette. On the way a lightning strike turned the sky yellow. 

The lightning was only half the story. While Republican Tom Emmer and Independence Party candidate Tom Horner cruised to victory, the Democratic-Farmer-Labor race was a slow-moving storm of its own. At one point former U.S. Senator Mark Dayton trailed State House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher by some 18,000 votes. As the night progressed Dayton whittled away the lead. Moods changed from jubilant to jittery, wondering if yet another election would end in a recount.

I came back from Duquette, pumped and primed to live-tweet a verdict. Then the inevitable happened. No phone or Internet connection. I huddled in a wing-back chair and listened to the radio, marking off returns on a notepad. A Kelliher lead of 1,782, then 1,350, then 425, then 60. Then a Dayton lead of 300.  

This morning, with 98% of precincts reporting, Dayton leads by 5,000-some votes, according to Rachel E. Stassen-Berger of the Star-Tribune. Kelliher is expected to issue a statement this afternoon. Here at home, still no phone or Internet service. 

For some reason, Mike decided to check the splitter, a plastic box that divides a telephone signal into separate signals for telephone and DSL. For some other reason, he had a spare on hand. He replaced the old splitter with the new one. 

Just like that. Phone and Internet service restored. Major modem damage had been averted by a five-dollar piece of plastic and wire.

So, a round of thanks go to The Tavern in Duquette, Mike the Reluctant IT Person, the intrepid staff of The UpTake, to all candidates for running, and to all voters for voting. Lightning, it appears, won't strike twice in Minnesota.

UPDATE: Margaret Anderson Kelliher just congratulated Mark Dayton on winning the DFL primary. She will give a statement to the press at 3 p.m.