Exhausted and jubilant, Dennis Stuckey and Scott Martin took the stage early this morning and declared victory — for the Republican Party, the endorsement process, the first-ever GOP screening committee and, somewhere down the line, for themselves.

After four hours of waiting for the giant projection screen at the Farm and Home Center to refresh with the winning vote count, the Republican commissioner nominees learned they had defeated unendorsed candidates Charlie Smithgall and Heidi Wheaton. Stuckey edged out Smithgall by a hair, by just 460 votes, or half a percentage point.

"This is your victory tonight," Lancaster County controller and three-time commissioner candidate Stuckey told the committee members smiling from the floor. "You get all the credit."

"I am convinced that the party delivered it to us," he said later.

While his victory was hailed by the GOP as an unequivocal sign of the party's strength, for much of the evening Stuckey's fate in the race was uncertain.

At one minute before 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Smithgall was a nervous man.

He hadn't smiled all day, according to his supporters, who tried without success to cheer him.

"I don't know which way it's gonna go," he said. "I really don't."

Four hours later, the unendorsed Republican candidate for county commissioner repeated the sentiment, verbatim.

The numbers began to pour in around 9:30 p.m. — unofficial results from contacts at precincts around the county.

At Wheaton's campaign bunker at Securus Group Inc. on New Holland Pike, her adviser Jim Hughes scribbled numbers on a note pad.

Hughes got the Lititz results first. Stuckey was in the lead, with 210 votes, Martin second with 172, then Smithgall with 76 and last was Wheaton at 52.

"That's our worst precinct," Hughes said. Stuckey is from Lititz, he explained, and this is not discouraging news.

But as he scribbled and tallied, Hughes knew by 10 p.m. that Wheaton wouldn't fare well.

"Negative mail came today," he told her over the phone. "Only thing I can think of."

Hughes said the Citizens Review Group, which had launched several attacks against Wheaton, turned its newspaper ad and Web site into a mailer which hit households on Monday and Tuesday.

Voters who saw the negative ads were turned off from voting, Hughes reasoned today. Or, Hughes went on, voters anticipated conflict between Wheaton and other Republicans and chose the endorsed candidates instead.

Hughes lamented that Wheaton's bad publicity may have hurt Smithgall's standing in the race.

"It's kind of an open secret that we've been working together," he said.

Wheaton did not return a call for comment this morning.

GOP Chairman Dave Dumeyer said today he "knew going into this year that it couldn't be business as usual" on the campaign trail.

That's why the party stepped up its screening efforts and dispatched its candidates to informal "meet-and-greets" with committee people.

"The idea was to emphasize the qualifications of candidates, making sure everybody was clear and on the message," Dumeyer said.

"This process started back with 20 type-written pages for the review committee," Martin recalled after his win. It was the 34-year-old's first successful try for a spot on a ballot.

He called the party's effort "absolutely amazing" and gave special credit to committee members for their "unwavering support" and long hours.

"I don't even know what else to think about now," said East Hempfield committee chair Diane Moore. "This is all I've been thinking about for the last three months."

As voting results slowly began to trickle in, Hughes called Smithgall frequently to report that Smithgall's tally appeared neck-and-neck with Stuckey's.

On the other end of the phone line, Smithgall sat quietly anxious amid a loud party at his home on West Lemon Street.

State Sen. Gib Armstrong and a dozen other supporters watched television election coverage in Smithgall's home.

Going against the party's chosen team, Armstrong had given his support for the Smithgall campaign, which, observers said, could account for the candidate's lead over Stuckey in eight districts in the southwest part of the county — Armstrong's home turf.

At 10:30, another commissioner hopeful, Jere Swarr, who intends to run as an independent in the fall race, made his way through Smithgall's party.

Swarr, who switched his registration from Republican to Independent for this race, pledged to hold off on campaigning until the end of the primary election.

But "at 8:01, I was running," Swarr said Tuesday.

When polls closed, he traveled to the Democratic and Republican party celebrations and to Smithgall's house to extend a "peace offering" to all potential nominees.

"It's gonna be fun not worrying about a party," Swarr said.

His campaign, titled Swarr Tour, along with a Web site: www.swarrtour2007.com, is up and running, he said.

Swarr will join Democratic nominees Molly Henderson and Craig Lehman in challenging the GOP team in November.

The two Democrats, both endorsed by the party, cruised through the primary with incumbent Henderson gaining 6,459 votes and Lehman, Lancaster City controller, picking up 9,685.

At the Farm and Home Center on Manheim Pike, where the Republican committee was holding its own party, Stuckey and Martin breathed a sign of relief at hearing the final news after midnight.

"I gotta say I'm just a tad bit excited," said a tired and teary-eyed Martin as he accepted the win early this morning.

His nomination caps a string of good news for the Martin family. The candidate's brother, who is in the military, will be coming home on May 30, and Martin's wife, Heather, is expecting their first child on Oct. 14.

As the crowd thinned out at Smithgall's house, the unsuccessful candidate reflected on the results.

"I'm surprised it was that close," Smithgall said.

He said he lost because his campaign had neither the funds nor the volume of poll workers needed to overcome the party's pull.

On average, Smithgall estimated, he trailed Stuckey by just two votes per precinct.

"You need someone at each precinct who knows everybody at that precinct," he said. He had very few troops on the ground on election day, Smithgall said.

Smithgall's campaign manager, Terry Christopher, said he will be taking a look at the numbers to ensure the .5 percent margin of victory is accurate.

The county elections office begins recanvassing on Friday, factoring in the estimated 50 military votes still outstanding and an unknown number of provisional ballots.

Smithgall would not say Tuesday night if he would call for a recount.

CONTACT US: alitvak@LNPnews.com or 481-6020