Fifteen years after assuming statewide office, Attorney General Bill Sorrell today faces the first election-night suspense of his political career.

Since being appointed to the post by then-Gov. Howard Dean in 1997, Sorrell has won less than 60 percent of the popular vote only twice, and has never trailed his closest competitor by fewer than 25 points.

But Sorrell had also never faced a name-brand competitor, and in the estimation of one longtime political strategist, his campaign muscles had “completely atrophied.”

We’ll find out later tonight whether Sorrell, 65, managed to work himself into fighting shape, or if challenger TJ Donovan will knock the seven-term incumbent out of a job.

The Vermont Press Bureau has reporters at the election-night headquarters of both candidates. I’ll be watching events unfold with the Sorrell campaign in a cozy conference room here at the Courtyard Marriott, nearby the Burlington waterfront. David Taube – it’s his first Vermont election since joining the bureau earlier this summer! – is hanging out with the Donovan camp just a stones throw away at the Burlington Hilton.

Stay with us all night for the latest on AG returns, as well as updates in other closely watched primary races, at www.vtpressbureau.com