ST. LOUIS, Nov. 8 (UPI) -- Democrat Claire McCaskill has beaten U.S. Sen. Jim Talent, R-Mo., CBS News projected.
McCaskill claimed victory in front of cheering supporters in Missouri.
If the projection holds up, it would give the Democrats a net gain of four seats in the U.S. Senate. They would need two more for a Senate majority.
It looked like the fight to control the Senate was providing a considerable amount of drama.
The Missouri seat was one of three the Democrats had to win to gain control of the Senate -- after picking up seats Tuesday in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Rhode Island. The others were Montana, where Republican Sen. Conrad Burns was facing a stiff challenge from Democrat Jon Tester, and Virginia, where Republican Sen. George Allen and Democrat Jim Webb appeared headed for a recount.
The Post-Dispatch said with 2,800 of Missouri's 3,746 precincts in, Talent led McCaskill by 50,000 votes, 773,236 to 733,387, or 49.6 percent for Talent to McCaskill's 47 percent.
However, a late-night reporting of votes from urban areas, including St. Louis, narrowed that gap, the Post-Dispatch said. By midnight Tuesday, Kansas City still had not posted its vote totals, although the city's board of elections showed the Democrat with a 50,000 vote lead -- the same amount Talent led without counting in the late urban vote.
