ATLANTA - Reps. John Barrow and Jim Marshall were certified the winners of their respective races Wednesday, all but ending GOP hopes of knocking off at least one Democratic incumbent in the Nov. 7 congressional races.
Barrow defeated Republican Max Burns in eastern Georgia's 12th District by just 864 votes out of 142,438 cast, according to the final tallies released by Secretary of State Cathy Cox. In middle Georgia's 8th District, Marshall defeated Republican Mac Collins by 1,752 votes out of 159,568 cast.
Both GOP challengers are former congressmen who had been considered among Republicans' best chances to counter what became a Democratic landslide last week.
Neither had conceded defeat as of Wednesday afternoon, but only Burns could demand a recount because he lost by less than 1 percent of the vote. He has two business days to do so, under state law.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061115/ap_on_el_ho/georgia_house