A long night: Some races too close to call

Barack Obama was easily elected President of the United States Tuesday evening but a few questions about the 2008 election lingered overnight: Is Al Franken really going to be a Senator?  Did California vote to ban same-sex marriage? Did Alaska's embattled Senator Ted Stevens keep his seat?  What was the final electoral vote?

In Minnesota, the fate of a Senate seat is still unknown.  The Associated Press prematurely called the race for the "Saturday Night Live" alum Tuesday night. But after an initial count of almost 3 million ballots, incumbent Senator Norm Coleman was ahead by less than 800 votes.

The slim margin in that race will trigger an automatic recount - Minnesota law requires a recount when the winning margin is less than one half of 1 percent.  The Minnesota Secretary of States office says a recount will not begin until mid November when the results are made official at a state canvassing board meeting on the 18th.

In California, the fate of same sex-marriages waited for a total vote count.  Wednesday morning, the Associated Press said the ban had passed.  With 96 percent of precincts reporting, Proposition 8 had 5,220,694 votes, or 52 percent, to 4,792,873 votes, almost 48 percent, against.

In Alaska, Ted Stevens who was recently found guilty of seven felonies, hung onto a slim lead Wednesday morning. With 99 percent of the precincts reporting, Democrat Mark Begich had 46.54 percent of the vote to Stevens' 48.06 percent.

Beyond these state contests, the nation also waits to see the official margin by which Barack Obama won in the Electoral College.  Missouri, North Carolina and Georgia have yet to be called by the Associated Press, leaving 41 electoral votes on the table.  

The candidates seem to be tied in Missouri with 49 percent of the vote and in North Carolina at 50 percent. The Charlotte Observer reports that North Carolina Elections Director Gary Bartlett said a small number of provisional ballots must be counted in the coming days. STLtoday.com reports, "Laura Egerdal of the Secretary of State's office said that there are still between 6,000 and 8,000 provisional ballots that need to be counted, many of them from the St. Louis area."

In Georgia, the margin of difference between McCain and Obama is wider, where McCain leads 52 percent to 47 percent. AP says outstanding absentee and early votes in the metro Atlanta counties of Fulton, Cobb and Gwinnett are the hold up there.