Michael Bennet will narrowly escape one of the tightest elections in the country, retaining the US Senate seat appointed to him in 2009.

Republican Ken Buck's chances to win in Colorado fell by the wayside early Wednesday morning.  Down by just over 7,000 votes with only parts of Boulder & San Migel Counties to go, Buck needed the margin to fall within 4,000 votes to justify a recount.

With 88% of precincts reporting, Democrats look to have landed a hard-fought victory.

Bennet garnered 47.5% of the vote to Buck's 47.1% for the slight edge in a race that drew national attention.  Democrats lost control of the US Congress to Republican gains on Election Day.  Thanks to victories by Bennet and others (most notably Harry Reid in Nevada) Dems will maintain control of the US Senate.

Democrats lodged another victory in Colorado just a few hours after polls closed on Tuesday.  Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper defeated conservative challengers to become the state's next Governor.

Late returns bear watching as the victory is not 100% assured, however Boulder County is notoriously liberal and Buck had trouble with left-leaning voters after Bennet and a host of out-of-state advocacy groups successfuly painted the rural District Attorney for Weld County as an extreme right-winger.  Ken Buck held a lead over Bennet long into the morning, but never pulled more than 10,000 votes ahead.

Now Bennet will carry the tenuous hold on his Senate seat through the remainder of Barack Obama's presidency.  Obama stumped for Bennet both live at a fundraiser in Denver and through telephone and email campaigns to Colorado voters.

Green Party candidate Bob Kinsey managed 2% of the statewide vote.  Libertarian Maclyn Stringer and Independent Jason Napolitano both mustered 1% showings.

Several conservative ballot measures were also beaten back in Colorado on Tuesday.