After a 20-hour Election Day that ended at 3 a.m. Wednesday, I slept in, then played catch-up with routine work and home things, including dealing with a sick kid. Anyway ... the only election surprise for me was the outcome of the GOP's 17th Congressional District contest. Brian Gilliland was clearly odd-man out, and I figured that since Andrea Zinga had gotten a shot at incumbent D Lane Evans in 2004 and fell far short, the R's would give Jim Mowen a shot. But Zinga pulled it out by less than 300 votes and gets a second
chance to unseat Evans. I'd rate her chances at zero if it weren't for Evans health problems, which are now out in the open. Even with that, she's an underdog against a popular incumbent in a district that's D-friendly.