YEAH, BUT WHAT ABOUT OLNEY?

Early returns show Jim Olney and C.W. Smith in a virtual dead heat for Smith's seat on the Jackson County Board of Commissioners, but he doesn't know it.

Everyone's still talking Obama. The TVs are all Obama. No one wants to step out of that warm bath of the McCain concession to talk local.

I tapped Olney on the shoulder and showed him what's on the MT web site.

Smith: 50.28 percent.
Olney: 49.54 percent.

"Wow," Olney says. "That's huge."

Huge, he says, as in a newbie to politics finding himself tied with a guy who's been elected to various seats 12 times.

"That's promising," Olney says. "I knew it would be close, but I didn't know how close it would be."

That calm look of 6:30 p.m. on Olney's face? Gone.