And yesterday's primary in the Washington Senate race produced the expected victors, Republican Dino Rossi and Democratic incumbent Patty Murray, who will battle for what could be a decisive seat.
The early results were in line with an exit poll suggesting that the Conservatives would enjoy a decisive 77-seat lead over Labour.
But by Wednesday morning official results had stretched to a decisive five-seat lead for Likud, making it almost certain that Netanyahu would serve a third consecutive term as prime minister.
With a decisive 179-seat majority in Parliament, the Blair government accepted some of Margaret Thatcher's policies but also carried out several of the reforms it promised in its manifesto, including abolishing the right of most hereditary peers to sit in the House of Lords and introducing devolved legislative assemblies in Scotland and Wales after successful referenda.
It is likely the youth vote had a decisive influence in seats such as Manchester Central, Canterbury and Cambridge, which are also in the top 22 seats for increased turnout.
But its leaders in Delhi think an alliance with Miss Mayawati is worth a little local difficulty: she may deliver a decisive block of seats in the national parliament to be elected next year.
The party just needs to threaten, credibly, to siphon off enough Conservative votes to deny David Cameron's party victory in a decisive number of seats: a disastrous fate in a first-past-the-post system.
Mr. Brown was speaking to Nick Clegg, leader of the Liberal Democrats, who finished a distant third in the inconclusive general election on May 6, but with the decisive bloc of seats needed by either the Conservatives or Labour to form a coalition government.
The price of the constituency system in Westminster is that parties concentrate overwhelmingly on a small number of seats deemed decisive.
The boos grew fiercest after Rios launched a Baez's would-be sinker into the left field seats, the decisive blow in the Baltimore Orioles' 5-4 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays.
