Appearing briefly on WDEV's Mark Johnson Show Wednesday morning, Chittenden County State's Attorney T.J. Donovan said that in his bid to depose Attorney General Bill Sorrell, "It looks like we'll fall a little short."

"I think we owe it to the voters of Vermont to make sure we get it right, but it does look like we'll fall a a little short," Donovan said just after 9 a.m. Wednesday.

With 245 of 258 precincts reporting, Sorrell holds a slim, 619-vote lead, according to unofficial tallies by the Associated Press. Sorrell has collected 20,639 votes to Donovan's 20,020.

Donovan said he called the incumbent AG at 8 a.m. and plans to call again at 10, once he has a better idea of the results — but the challenger did not sound like he would call for a recount, as candidates within 2 percent of the vote are entitled to do.

"What I told Attorney Gen. Sorrell is, this will not be dragged out. We'll do the right thing," Donovan told Mark Johnson. "I don't think [a recount] serves any purpose."

With a Democratic "unity rally" scheduled for noon Wednesday, Donovan said he expects to endorse Sorrell before then, so long as the numbers stay the same.

"There are no hard feelings and I think both of us worked hard and both of us have nothing left to give," Donovan said.

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