night, 52% to 48%. McCloskey thus became the sixth challenger since 1966 to unseat an incumbent in what had become known as "the Bloody 8th". Upon arriving in Washington, McCloskey sought a seat on the Appropriations Committee, but was rebuffed by then-Majority Leader Jim Wright, who told him first-term members of Congress rarely obtain a seat on that committee. McCloskey instead was given a seat on the Armed Services Committee, where he served throughout his congressional career, and gained a reputation as one of the committee's most liberal members. He was a vocal critic of Pentagon spending during his first term. Knowing he would be a target in 1984, he returned to the district often, and focused on areas of importance to his constituents, such economic development, uses for high-sulfur coal mined in the district, and farm credit. In the 1984 contest for the Democratic nomination for President, McCloskey supported Colorado Senator Gary Hart over Walter Mondale and Jesse Jackson. 1984 re-election and controversial recount After McCloskey accumulated a liberal voting record by opposing President Reagan over 80% of the time during his first year in office, Republicans recruited 28-year-old, two-term conservative state representative Rick McIntyre to challenge McCloskey in 1984. McIntyre, however, hailed from small Lawrence County in the northeastern part of the district, and spent much of the election boosting his profile in the populous Evansville area. McCloskey, however, spent much of his first term tending politically to Evansville, and retained the support of the still popular Vandeveer. Ultimately, McCloskey ran up large margins in Evansville and Vanderburgh County. However, President Reagan carried the district 61% to 38%. Benefiting from the strong Republican turnout, McIntyre trailed McCloskey by only 72 votes after the initial vote count. A tabulation error in two precincts of one county, however, resulted in an overcounting of McCloskey votes, and Indiana's Secretary of State (a Republican) quickly certified McIntyre as the winner by 34 votes, without checking other counties, even though a recount in another county showed McCloskey with an overall lead of 72 votes. After a recount, McIntyre was up by 418 votes, but more than 4,800 ballots were not recounted for technical reasons. The Democratic-controlled House refused to seat either McIntyre or McCloskey and conducted their own recount. A task force, consisting of two Democrats and one Republican, hired auditors from the U.S. General Accounting Office to do the counting. The recount