Local favorite Norman Solomon has conceded in the race for the “top two” in the Second Congressional District primary race, trailing behind Republican Dan Roberts by a razor thin margin of less than 175 votes. With fewer than 1,000 ballots left uncounted in Sonoma County, Mr. Solomon deemed it “numerically very unlikely” that he would pull ahead. In his concession letter to Mr. Roberts, the Inverness Park Democrat wrote that he’d been profoundly moved by the many people he encountered during the course of his campaign, and that words were “woefully inadequate” to describe them. “I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to everyone who has made our grassroots campaign possible,” Mr. Solomon wrote in a statement. “Although I will not be on the general-election ballot in this congressional race, I’m certain the political energies that galvanized and fueled our campaign will strengthen future movements for social change. This particular campaign has ended, but the imperative to create a better world continues.” Mr. Solomon’s campaign had been hard at work to make sure that every vote was counted, and counted right. Campaign manager Tom Higgins said that most of the votes being counted after election night are done so by hand, by county staff, who must reconcile signatures and research identities. “That kind of tedium and the fact that we’ve made it so much easier to vote by mail result in these protracted counts,” Mr. Higgins said. “It actually goes on with greater frequency than most people realize.” He said observers literally peer over the shoulders of the vote counters as the work takes place.