Things hadn't yet wound up at election night parties for Democratic Senate candidates Elaine Marshall and Cal Cunningham.
About 30 Marshall supporters, some wearing name tags, gathered at the Brownstone Hotel near downtown Raleigh. Election returns gathered by the State Board of Elections were projected onto a slide screen at the front of the room.
The jovial crowd milled about and mostly ignored the early returns that were scrolling across the bottom of a CBS crime drama on the television.
Over in Lexington, Cunningham's victory party shared a marquee with a sweet 16 party at a civic center on Main Street in Lexington. About 50 supporters snacked on a spread of finger food, donuts chicken wings, baked beans and biscuits.
Two flat screen televisions carried a crawl at the bottom of the screen. The televisions were tuned to "The Biggest Loser."
Reporting by Lynn Bonner and Fred Clasen-Kelly.
