Liberal Don McRae went head to head with the NDP’s Leslie McNabb and after a suspenseful evening appeared to emerge victorious.

“Things are looking very, very promising right now — I’m really pleased,” said McRae at 11:30 p.m., with 165 of 166 polls putting him ahead by 1,388 votes.

“I’m pretty excited. I’m feeling really, really good. As long as those poll numbers are all looking good and that last poll isn’t absolutely gargantuan, I’m ecstatic.”

At press time, with one poll still to come in, McRae had 13,016 votes while McNabb came short with 11,593. The Green Party’s Hazel Lennox had 2,338 votes. Paula Berard had 250 votes while Barbara Biley of the People’s Front got 110 votes.

McRae and McNabb started out very close in the vote count but the Liberal at one point pulled ahead by 500 votes over McNabb. But shortly after 10 p.m., the NDP candidate rallied and closed the gap to 30 votes.

While most other ridings had declared winners, the race in Comox was still too close to call until about 11:30 p.m.

Even at 11:20 p.m. McRae said he wasn’t about to declare himself the victor.

“There’s an 800 point spread and 14 polls still out there,” he said.

“We just don’t know what polls they are at this stage. We lost track of a couple and if they’re really small, there’s no problem.”

McNabb went home at 11:25 p.m. and was unavailable for comment.

Earlier in the evening, McNabb said she knew the race was going to be tight. Still, she was optimistic that the advance polls, which are counted last, would go toward the NDP.

“I’m optimistic,” said McNabb shortly after 10 p.m.

“We did a big push for the advance (polls). We’ve run a fantastic campaign, I’ve got great people working here. The volunteers are wonderful, the staff is great.

“We’ve done everything we can and now the people have to decide and I’m good with that.”

Major issues for the riding were privatization, child poverty and the feeling the public’s voices weren’t being heard, she said. “They felt a certain portion of the electorate was being heard, not everybody,” said McNabb.

During the campaign, McNabb learned much from attending environmental gatherings, accessiblity meetings and the food bank. “Some of those things I really didn’t want to know but it was a really good learning curve,” she said.

Incumbent Stan Hagen died of a heart attack on Jan. 20, leaving voters with a fresh assortment of candidates to choose from.

Tight races are not uncommon in this riding. Hagen squeaked through the 2005 campaign, winning over the NDP’s Andrew Black by 807 votes.

Derek Newnes, owner of Searles Shoes in Courtenay, said Tuesday that Hagen would be hard to replace.

“I talked about it at lunch at Rotary today. I don’t know if [people] want change — this one is a tough one to call sometimes.

“I talk to people and we don’t want it to get screwed up, that’s all.”

Green candidate Hazel Lennox didn’t expect to be elected but felt her campaign highlighted issues that resonated with the public.

“I’m delighted there are so many green votes – it’s sending a very clear message,” she said.

The riding is such a priority for the NDP, leader Carole James was here Monday, the eve of the election, to make her last pitch to the voters — her fourth visit to the riding over the month-long campaign.

Campbell visited the riding once, on Sunday.