By MIke Kaszuba

Building a formidable first-ballot lead, Republican Tom Emmer won more than 53 percent of the total, leaving him just seven percent short of the votes needed for the party's gubernatorial endorsement.

With 1,196 votes needed to win, Emmer had 1,076 votes, or 53.3 percent. His challenger, Rep. Marty Seifert, R-Marshall, had 865 votes, or 43 percent of the vote.

Rep. Mark Buesgens,R-Jordan and Emmer's campaign chair, said that the totals came just as the campaign expected, and Emmer campaign manager David FitzSimmons predicted they would have 1,050 votes on the first ballot.

Buesgens said the first ballot results should put to rest the theory that the Emmer campaign was not well organized.

As the votes were tallied, a large screen by the stage kept a rolling count so the delegates could watch the totals. Seifert sat in the front row, to the left of the stage, looking up at the tally board. As the totals increased, the crowd standing to get an up-close view of the screen began to get larger.

The crowd grew even bigger as the screen showed Emmer slowly build his lead -- moving up to 30.4 percent of the vote at one point, to 21.5 percent for Seifert.

Before long, Emmer's lead had grown to 44.2 percent of the ballots so far cast -- inching closer to the 60 percent needed to grab the endorsement.

Through the mid-afternoon voting, the first-ballot totals rolled in. Sibley County -- all seven ballots for Emmer. Roseau County -- two for Emmer, five for Seifert.

A man wearing a black-and-white, striped referee's shirt announced the vote totals from the main stage. "Microphone Four," he called out, recognizing the next person reporting a vote total.