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DAYTONA BEACH -- US Sen. Bill Nelson easily won re-election while Congressman Allen West lost his seat and didn't go quietly.
The thrill of victory for Nelson and the agony of defeat for West comes in at No. 5 in Headline Surfer's year-end countdown of the Top 10 Florida stories of 2012.
The graphic here shows an easy win for Democratic US. Sen. Bill Nelson in the Nov. 6 general election over Republican Connie Mack, IV.
Nelson, the Sunshine State's senior senator and highest ranking Democrat, easily won re-election to a third six-year term over Republican Congressman Connie Mack IV, garnering more than 55 percent of the votes.
Nelson was the guest of honor Oct. 24 meeting of the Volusia County Democratic Women's Club held at the Red Lobster in Daytona Beach. Also in attendance was former Congresswoman Suzanne Kosmas. Nelson was informed by Headline Surfer prior to addressing the women's club that he had earned the endorsement of the 24/7 Internet newspaper.
This was Nelson's lone appearance in Volusia County and he didn't walk away empty-handed, but with a nice hanful of checks from Democratic women's club members, including Kosmas.
All told throughout the state, Nelson was able to raise $10.5 million or three times as much as the $3.3 million Mack raised.
In another Florida race that made big headlines was Republican Congressman Allen West refusing to conceded for two whole weeks to Democratic newcomer Patrick Murphy in the 18th district house race representing greater West Palm Beach.
At one point, West, described as the Tea Party firebrand for his conservative politics, accused Murphy of cheating in the voting, before finally conceding with toned-down verbiage.
"There are certainly still inaccuracies in the results" West said in conceding, adding, "While a contest of the election results might have changed the vote totals, we do not have evidence that the outcome would change."
"There are certainly still inaccuracies in the results" West said in conceding, adding, "While a contest of the election results might have changed the vote totals, we do not have evidence that the outcome would change."
Murphy won by a margin of 2,249 votes or .7 percent, with the Democrat receiving 166,799 votes to West's 164,370.