Then again, denial always remains an option.

Take the state of Alaska, for example.

"Hey, indictment isn't conviction."

"84 is the new 50."

"People have been voting for Ted for 40 years and their inclination is to keep doing it," Dave Cuddy, a former state lawmaker who finished a distant second to Mr. Stevens, said in a phone interview several hours before the polls closed.

We've all been there.