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WATERTOWN, N.Y.
Ah, Election Day at last! In 24 hours, you'll be reading my Wednesday article about what happened in the crucial upstate New York special congressional election. And tomorrow morning, God willing, I'll be taking a shower, packing my bags, checking out of a hotel in Saranac Lake, N.Y., and heading back home to try to recover from the insanity of it all. Meanwhile, people way above my pay-grade will be on TV telling you What It Really Means.

Nice work, if you can get it.

Michelle Malkin is one of the few people you're likely to see on TV tonight who actually knows what it means. No, she hasn't been up here making the high-speed run along Highway 3 from Watertown to Plattsburgh, but she's followed this battle closely since her Oct. 16 column identifying Dede Scozzafava as an "ACORN-Friendly, Big Labor-Backing, Tax-and-Spend Radical in GOP Clothing."

Yeah, that one left a mark, didn't it? Last night, Malkin warned readers to be ready to watch Democrats and their media allies downplay an expected "conservative surge" in this off-off-year election.

OK, I can cope with that. Let the pundits and commentators argue about What It Really Means. Who cares about mere opinions? What I genuinely dread, however, is the possibility of vote-fraud shenanigans. Last night, I heard Hoffman spokesman Rob Ryan repeat his warnings about the danger of ballot-box mischief. And now ACORN whistleblower Anita Montcrief is worried, too.

God help us. I remember Election Night 2000, when I was on the national desk at The Washington Times. We waited for the results from Florida. And waited, and waited, and waited. Finally, at 3 a.m., editor-in-chief Wes Pruden approved a fourth-edition front page with the headline, "TOO CLOSE TO CALL."

It stayed too close to call for five weeks.

Could such a thing happen again in NY23? I certainly hope not, but as crazy as this campaign has been -- the Republican candidate quitting on the Saturday before Election Day and, on Sunday, endorsing the Democrat -- it's impossible to say it's impossible.

Intercessory prayer, anyone?

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Doug Hoffman