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The door to Congress appears to have slammed shut on state Attorney General Patricia Madrid, though her camp continues to insist Madrid might still squeeze through.

Unofficial but final vote tallies released Friday night by Bernalillo County gave Republican U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson an 879-vote victory over Madrid in what had become a strident, expensive and drawn-out campaign to represent the 1st Congressional District.

Election officials will spend the weekend checking their work, but County Clerk Mary Herrera said a change in the numbers now "doesn't seem possible."

Still, Madrid did not concede the race and spokeswoman Heather Brewer said the campaign was determined to wait until the results are finalized Monday to decide whether to seek a recount.

"We're not talking about a recount right now because the count is not done," Brewer said. "We want to let democracy run its course."

Herrera, a Democrat, said no votes remain to be counted. She said her staff will spend the weekend ensuring the tally sheets on which they recorded the thousands of votes counted in recent days matched numbers entered into a computer database.

No recount in modern New Mexico history has resulted in a change of anywhere near 879 votes, and Herrera said she doubted a recount in this race would change 10.

"We've checked and double-checked them already," she said. "What do you think we've been doing for 10 days?"

If Madrid does ask for a recount, her campaign must bear the cost. Unlike some states, New Mexico law does not provide for automatic, taxpayer-funded recounts in extremely close races.

Herrera estimated the cost of a full recount at more than $30,000, though Madrid could also seek a partial recount.

It had been eight days since Wilson first declared victory, and the incumbent finally seemed out of danger Friday in what had proven to be a season of bloodletting for Republicans, who lost control of both houses of Congress.

Despite the Madrid campaign's protestations, election post-mortems had begun.

Brian Sanderoff, an Albuquerque pollster, said Madrid never energized voters and was hurt by a poor debate performance late in the campaign that produced two ads for her opponent.

"Basically, this time the Democrats had a candidate with a great r‚sum‚ on paper, but she was not a good communicator, and ultimately the weak communication skills cost her the race," Sanderoff told the Associated Press.

University of New Mexico political science professor Christine Sierra offered a more generous assessment, noting that Madrid came closer than any other Democrat has to winning the 1st Congressional District, a seat that's never gone blue despite its majority of Democratic voters.

"Had she gotten three more votes per precinct, she would have won," Sierra said. "It was that close."

While dissatisfaction with Wilson's support for the war in Iraq fueled the Madrid campaign, Sierra said Madrid wasn't able to capitalize on the parade of recent Washington scandals that combined with the war to sweep Republicans from power. Sierra said Wilson's efforts to link Madrid's tenure as attorney general to the state treasurer scandal may have turned the corruption issue in Wilson's favor.

"She (Wilson) effectively distanced herself from her colleagues who were damaged goods," Sierra said. "And I think she benefited from the fact that Republicans in New Mexico were running on an anti-corruption platform."

Like Sanderoff, Sierra said Madrid was hurt by her debate performance, but worried the ads showing Madrid stumbling over questions about taxes and lobbyists might have damaged more than Madrid's campaign.

"Once other candidates see how effectively that debate was used against her, I think you'll see more and more refusing to engage in debates," Sierra said. "These campaigns are already far too scripted."

Meanwhile, back at the warehouse

For the dozens of temporary workers, county staff and party loyalists who spent almost all their waking hours inside the county election warehouse for most of two weeks, the days had begun to blend together by Friday.

Party lawyers, who nearly came to blows outside the warehouse last week, weren't even arguing anymore.

"New numbers might be available by noon," officials said Friday, and it was only really possible to admire their optimism after a week in which nothing had been produced within even eight hours of when it was initially expected.

Around 5 p.m. the temporary staff who formed the backbone of the county's operation broke out a trio of cakes.

"To the best supervisors," the remnants of one cake said in icing.

Around the same time, word started to filter out that the county would not meet a 9 p.m. deadline to finish its audit of vote totals.

County officials confirmed that they had obtained a court order allowing them to convene the canvassing board on Monday, news that opened the possibility of a weekend at the warehouse, a demoralizing contingency.

Stories from New Mexico election lore began to make the rounds and buoyed spirits somewhat.

Like the story of the election in Torrance County from the not-so-distant past in which two candidates wound up tied, and a judge decided to break the tie by dealing each a poker hand. The winner, according to the Secretary of State's Office, was dealt a royal flush.

But according to one person who was there, the loser was dealt a straight flush in the same suit, nine high.

The judge, according to this observer, was a member of a religion that did not allow for card playing. He'd never dealt a hand in his life, and he didn't shuffle the cards before he dealt that one.

So there are crueler fates than losing by 879 of about 211,000 votes cast in a race that cost a combined $11.5 million.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.