Sodrel leading in pending race

After a night of flip-flopping results, both Democrat Baron Hill and Republican Mike Sodrel will have to wait for 6,500 absentee ballots to be counted before either can be declared a winner.\nFor the state of Indiana, this was the race to watch. In the heavily contested rematch, a mere 924 votes separated the candidates at the end of the night, with Sodrel in the lead. Sodrel won elections in 10 counties to Hill's nine. Dubois County, representing 6 percent of the vote, had not yet reported any results at press time.\nThe Hill-Sodrel match-up set a tradition of coming down to the wire in 2002, after Sodrel suffered a 51 percent to 46 percent defeat at the hands of the incumbent.\nHill watched the results come in with his close family and friends at his headquarters Tuesday, while supporters gathered in Seymour, Ind., with hopes of seeing their candidate emerge victorious.\nThe democrat showed up to offer a pep talk to the hopeful but jittery followers watching the numbers roll in.\n"It's going to be a long night," Hill said to the group of nervous supporters, "but a miracle is occurring in Bloomington, Ind., right now."\nHill led Sodrel in Monroe County 58 to 39 percent with 100 percent of the ballots in the county reported.\nThe results come after a state-wide Republican victory, with the party capturing at least seven of nine congressional districts in addition to the governor's office. Now only Rep. Julia Carson will definitely represent Indiana Democrats in the U.S. House, though Democrat Evan Bayh retained his seat to split Indiana representation in the U.S. Senate with Republican Richard Lugar.\nAfter losing by a margin of less than 10,000 votes in their last match-up, Sodrel set out to redeem himself.\nRegardless of who wins, it will have cost him -- Tuesday marked the end of one of 2004's most expensive congressional races. Together, both candidates have spent nearly $5 million campaigning for the election.\nSodrel committed $1 million of his own money for the 2002 campaign.\nThis year the trucking industry millionaire returned, equipped with $3 million from the Republican Party and endorsements from powerful republicans. \nNot to be outdone, the democrats responded with $2.1 million to keep Hill, according to campaign spending reports from Oct. 13.\n-- Contact City & State editors Mike McElroy at mmcelroy@indiana.edu and Mallory Simon at mgsimon@indiana.edu.