11 November—Paul the Apostle, a.k.a. Saul of Tarsus and Saint Paul, inter alia, advised us to question everything and keep what is good. The Greek playwright Euripides had, about four centuries earlier, admonished us to question everything, learn something, answer nothing. Ancient advice to cop the Fifth, perhaps? In all events, both guys’ advice makes sense all around.

At the risk of sounding like an election denier, then, I’m questioning—but not necessarily denying—the result of the Fifth Congressional District race that was won by Jahana Hayes. George Logan has accepted the result, however unenthusiastically, rather more politely than I’d have done. He’s taken it like a man and behaved like a gentleman.

George, from what I’ve seen, had after the polls closed been running ever so slightly ahead of Jahana, well within the half-percent margin for a mandatory recount in Connecticut. Then the deus ex machina came along that gave Jahana enough new votes not only to hold the seat for her party (which also happens to be the state’s ruling party), but also to get enough of a margin over George to rule out a recount.

That a lot of those Jahana votes materialized in Salisbury, the limousine liberal epicenter of Litchfield County, is no surprise but raises suspicions, though the corroborated explanation of a local voting official appears to be plausible.

The screw-up scenario is also supported by the election results published in yesterday’s Republican-American, taken from official sources: the Fifth District results aren’t among those reported for Salisbury, but the results of the probate race from a district all the way down the Naugatuck Valley (in which Rebimbas unseated Mariano) are.

Jahana won’t be able to do damage anyway, given the likely Republican mini-majority in the House. Nor, thankfully, will the Republicans be able to do much damage, even if they should win a mini-majority in the Senate. That’s why it’s safest and best for the country when at least one of the congressional house majorities is of a party different from the chief executive’s.

Now if we could only get back to that in Connecticut . . .