Late votes give Sodrel House seat

In the wee hours of Wednesday morning, campaign organizers for Baron Hill and Mike Sodrel waited for the final vote tally to reveal whether they had won one of the most contentious congressional races in 2004.\nBy mid-day, it was official: Republican challenger Sodrel captured the Indiana District 9 U.S. representative seat last night, avenging his narrow 2002 loss to Democratic incumbent Hill.\nWith a combined $5 million in campaign funding on the line, Sodrel garnered 142,183 votes to Hill's 140,818, according to www.cnn.com.\n"The people of the 9th district have decided not to send me to Congress for another term," Hill said in a statement. "While I do not agree with the tactics my opponent used to achieve this office, the voters have spoken and I respect their decision."\nWith a machine malfunction in Dubois county holding up some 1,750 absentee ballots and about 6,500 absentee ballots in Monroe County, Sodrel waited until early Wednesday morning to declare his victory. Hill conceded his defeat later that day.\n"It wasn't a responsible thing to declare a victory until those votes were counted," said Sodrel campaign manager Kevin Boehnlein. "(Preliminary exit polls) showed us hitting all our benchmarks. Everyone felt good and Mike was in the lead the entire night in terms of the vote results we were seeing."\nThe late result comes in wake of a state-wide Republican victory and capped off the party's near-sweep of Indiana's nine U.S. congressional districts. Now, only Rep. Julia Carson represents Indiana Democrats in the U.S. House. Democrat Evan Bayh's practically pre-ordained victory to the U.S. Senate comes as a small consolation prize.\nStefan Bailey, campaign spokesman for Hill, said Democrats sent workers to close precincts to ensure proper counting procedures were followed.\n"When we came to the realization that there was really no chance that Baron would be able to pull this one out, the mood certainly became somber," Bailey said. "But shortly thereafter, Baron came into the office and had a real heart-to-heart and really lifted our spirits."\nThe 2004 election season was not the first encounter between the two, with Hill edging out Sodrel in a 2002 race that was almost as close -- 51 to 46 percent.\n"One thing that was different this time was the presidential race and the gubernatorial race," Bailey said. "(But) it was not necessarily the president's coattails that brought about this result. Hoosiers are notoriously ticket-splitters."\nDespite the district-wide outcome, Monroe county residents favored Hill 58 to 39 percent. Bailey added that Hill wished to thank Monroe County residents and IU students for their support.\n"Baron, as a candidate and as a congressman, did absolutely everything he could to win that election," Bailey said. "The ball bounces funny from time to time."\n-- Contact city and state editor Mike McElroy at mmcelroy@indiana.edu.