upheld. before this race ends, we have to be absolutely certain that the republican primary was won by republican voters. >> meanwhile back here in new york, long-time new york congressman charlie rangel proved himself once again the lion of harlem. boldly declaring victory in a race that as of 11:15 last night the associated press was still declaring too close to call. >> there are too many of you for me to thank you individually. but i want each one of you to go home and know that this was your victory. this is your congressman. and you can rest assure all i will be doing is thinking about you and bringing these resources home. >> with close to 1,000 absentee ballots uncounted as of last night and more arriving through next tuesday, we could be awaiting a long time for the final tally. we start with nbc's ron allen,