lambda assisted elections magic

gistfile1.py

    # GIVEN:
    # `counties` is a dict with each key being the slug of a county,
    # containing a sub-dict with keys including vote counts and stuff.
    # each candidate's vote count is stored in a key that is the candidate's
    # name as a slug

    # find vote leader for each county and store it in a 'leader' key for that county
    for county_slug in counties.iterkeys():
        vals = [(candidate, counties[county_slug][candidate]) for candidate in CANDIDATES]
        vals.sort(key=lambda c: c[1], reverse=True)

        if vals[0][1] == 0:
            # County with no results yet
            counties[county_slug]['leader'] = "tie"
        elif vals[0][1] == vals[1][1]:
            # County with a tie at the top (at least a two-way tie)
            counties[county_slug]['leader'] = "tie"
        else:
            counties[county_slug]['leader'] = vals[0][0]