[update: all morning-after coverage will proceed in the comments. I'm still on the lookout for a picture of Rick Santorum's son crying, so this one of his daughter crying will have to do for now. update 2: check out the bird on picture 3]
fuck it. I'm live blogging this fucker.
7:46 - Down goes Blackwell. The architect of the 04 Ohio Bush win gets his comeuppance. With 6% of precincts reporting, Allen 57, Webb 43. With 7% reporting, Allen 54, Webb 46. Virginia has very disparate districts, so we don't know where those precincts are from. Hopefully they're from the Southern part of the state. update - at 10% reported it's Allen 55. If Webb loses this race to Macaca, we can pretty much kiss the Senate pipe dream goodbye. I think we'd have to win TN and MO and possibly AZ, if Virginians decide that they like calling colored people monkeys.
7:55 - ok, now I'm bored...
8:00 - 16 more states just closed their polling, including MA. Did Deval Patrick win by the predicted landslide and become the first African-American governor of Massachusetts. Oh shit! Ted Kennedy just got re-elected! I can't believe it. Live blogging is so much fun. Snowe and Byrd won (of course) and Nelson beat Kitty Harris (00 FL Bush architect gets comeuppance!)
8:01 - 23% of precincts in VA - Allen 49, Webb 50!
8:08 - exit polls look favorable, but we know how that goes... waiting... waiting... will the Stem Cell vote turnout enough McCaskill voters ... aw yeah, the AK is following the live blog! Welcome.
8:14 - holy crap - 32% of VA reporting, Macaca up by a scant 700 votes. I'm predicting a recount with the Senate hanging in the balance ... could be a long night.
8:22 - goddamn it. I wish I had made my burritos before I started live blogging. how am i going to do this... Dem's just got the 1st of their 15 needed pick ups in the House: Ellsworth in Indiana. he's a wanker, but will stand with the Dems so that's something.
8:29 - Deval Patrick wins! MA has a Dem Governor!!!! Shocking that that's shocking.
8:30 - regardless of the outcome of the VA election, I will provide footage of me spanking a girl in TN. Unfortunately, that footage is in the hands of someone who is in Amsterdam right now. so that might take a while.
8:40 - CNN predicting Menendez (D) to win the Senate seat in NJ. phew. At least we didn't blow that one... Looks like my boy Capuano's running away with it over the Socialist challenger... Racist 56, Black Man 43 with 4% reporting in TN...
8:41 - bt-dubs, the spanking update was in response to a comment in the comments section. there are literally thousands of you following this live blog so I can't respond to all comments right now. other updates: I'm firing on maximum efficiency right now. I managed a bathroom break and managed to get my burrito mix in the microwave. I'll be shredding cheese over my laptop, so please excuse any misspellings... 55% reporting in VA and Macaca's up 50 to 49.
8:46 - Schumer just said that he has been told that much of Northern VA hasn't been counted yet ... sucks about your ordeal there, Duffless. I got bounced when I voted in the primary, but fortunately I'm unemployed so I was able to make it in plenty of time.
8:50 - Brown (D) wins Senate race in OH. That's one Senate seat swiped (swope?) from the GOP... and Daily Kos is calling for Casey (D) in PA, but I thought they were extending the polls there. dunno... if so, that's 2 of the necessary 6 pickups in the Senate... speaking of which, I wonder if Dick Cheney shot anyone today...
9:02 - Down goes Rick Santorum!! Suck it, scumbag. CNN being much more cautious than Kos, obviously. Hillary wins... Stabenow (d) wins in MI. That's not totally unexpected, but key. Kos reported that GOP dumped a load of cash into that race.
9:12 - Klobuchar holds in MN. That's 3 key holds. Waiting on MD. Racist Corky beating Ford 53-46 with 11 reporting in TN. Mizzou starting to come in - tied. VA is the big one though: 68% reporting, Allen 50, Webb 49 - by about 4000. Lieberdouchebag is winning 50-40-10 in CT... and fuck, they just called it for Lieberdouchebag. What a douchebag.
9:20 - Jennifer Granholm re-elected governor in MI. Now, first and foremost, lest I be labled a sexist, let me just say that she's an intelligent, charismatic, leader and a very worthy governor. So, regardless of her looks, she's a super person and I'm glad she won. ... and she's a hottie.9:22 - MD holds! Cardin (D) wins his senate seat. so the Dems didn't screw up any of the races they were supposed to win. now they need to get 2 out of VA, TN, MO, AZ.
9:31 - Mehlmen is claiming Northern VA has already voted. but he would. Whitehouse beat Chafee in RI taking that seat for the Dems. Chafee was as good as it got as far as GOP Senators went, but at the end of the day, he's GOP. Ciao Chaf... Dems picked up a few more seats in the House too (KY,IN).... Brian has confirmed it: Granholm's a hottie.
9:43 - burrito update - the cheese is shredded, the mix is warmed and the tortillas are sitting on the counter. another update: I just ran into the living room and giddily yelled "who let the Dems out! who who who who who!" Premature giddiness + confusing chant = ? ... we're down 30k votes in VA and TN with 85% and 35% reporting respectively...
9:50 - Who let the dog-eared ladies out in Cambridge?
9:57 - It's getting crowded here in Tryst. Who knew there were so many other bloggers here.
10:08 - polls closing in MT... a Tester win could be huge... I just finished assembling the burritos; still need to do the last reheating session ... Need 3 wins out of VA, TN, MO, MT, AZ, NV. and 12 house seats. still no word on whether Cheney shot anyone today...
10:14 - No word yet on the fate of former Pittsburgh Steeler star receiver and current GOP PA gubernatorial candidate, Lynn Swann. Loved you on the field, Swanny, but I'm going to have to cut you loose on this one ... Web down by 25k with 89 reported. CNN just showed a precinct around Richmond which was very blue in 04 that hadn't reported...
10:20 - Anyone know why Jeb Bush didn't run for re-election? Crist (R) won that race... damn. CNN is showing a lot of these house races as very close ... Burritos are on the plate and delicious...
10:35 - Sean is sitting across the room from me and found out that I was eating my burritos through this live blog. that's what I'm talking about. and that ain't no macaca... Dems picked up 5 house seats so far. need 10 mo'... Bigmouth Dink Kerry is introducing Deval Patrick to the nation on live tv (CNN) right now.
10:49 - Kos has us picking up 8 seats in the House so far. Unfortunately, he's also has "civil unions taking a pounding", reminding us how many closed minded assholes there are all over this country... CNN claims Shuler (D) wins in NC, which would be 9 seats down, 6 to go.
10:59 - Kos and CNN both have the D's picking up 10 now and Negron is conceding as we speak, which brought attention to the fact that the guy who was on the ballot for the GOP, Mark Foley, is still in rehab for alcohol, which led me to opine "he probably didn't want to come out until after the election". No pun intended. ba dump bump. So they're at 11 now. House is looking like a lock at this point. Still no update on VA, TN, and MO senate races - it's been 45 fucking minutes. what is this bullshit? They just called Murphy (D) from CT for Dems, making it 12, but "10" according to Wolf Blitzer and Anderson Cooper. idiots. The boys and girls here at Tryst are going bananas. Also, Daniel Akaka just won in HI, which led to an unbearable silence waiting for Sean's mandatory Macaca joke.
11:03 - 3 more pickups by CNN's count. so that's 8. schmucks.
11:08 - Between CNN and Kos cross-analysis, we've picked up the 15 in the House!!
11:09 - CNN calls the 15. (one minute behind VTK. kiss my ass, Wolf)
11:17 - Good tip, Brian. I just switched the tube to the Daily Show's live broadcast and am following on CNN.com and kos. Not looking good for the senate. Allen still up by 20 or 30k with pretty much all reporting. Corker up in TN by 55k and 3% pts with 82 reporting and Talent up in MO by 65k and 6% pts with 42 reporting. Even if Tester wins in MT, it's unlikely that they'll win 2 of those races and/or AZ/NV. Winning the Senate would require a Hoosiersesque ending. Come on, Jimmy Chitwood!!
11:18 - Dan Rather's on the Daily Show. I wonder if he's going to cry and/or say "wherever my president wants me to line up, I'll line up".
11:24 - from this VA General Election site, that race is wicked close: with 97.26% reporting, it's Allen 49.55 to Webb 49.24. 8k votes.
11:29 - 97.42% reporting the difference is down to 0.21%. crazy close.
11:47 - 97.67% reporting, Allen 49.47 to Webb 49.33, about 3k votes. RECOUNT!!! (unless Webb makes the comeback).
Midnight - 99.10% reporting, Allen 49.43 to Webb 49.36, 0.07% difference, under 2k votes out of 2.3 million. Motherfucking recount up in that motherfucker. gotta be. Meanwhile, Tester is winning in MT, so if MO or TN somehow swung Dem, the recount would decide the Senate. ... as I predicted at 8:14 PM EST.
12:09 - now CNN has Webb up on Allen by exactly the same margin as that site has Allen up on Webb. don't know what to think. - check that - they have Webb up by 2500 votes on CNN now.
12:51 - Webb still up 2300 votes and apparently the count is going on until tomorrow. McCaskill just took the lead in MO, but it's almost as close as VA. They just called TN for Corker the Racist. Tester is up 10% in MT with 1/3 reported... The VTK Live Blog session just passed 5 hours... from Kos: "Get ready for a bloody recount in VA. MO is looking great, and MT is looking good. Control of the Senate will come down to Virginia. I'm calling it for Webb right now."
1:42 - yowserino. this thing is going down to the wire. and I'm getting a headache. Tester is losing his lead precinct by precinct with 59% reporting. McCaskill is widening her lead (84 reporting), but it won't matter if Tester doesn't hold on - well, it matters obviously, but they won't have a shot at winning the Senate and, more importantly, validating my prediction and my suggestion that a Senate win would be Hoosieresque. Right now, Tester is like the little blond guy making the free throws at the end of the semifinal. C'mon lil buddy. You can do it...
2:30 - well, I told myself that I would call the coverage at 2:30, so this is it for the live blogging. They've called the victory for McCaskill in MO. With 99.63% of the VA precincts reporting, Webb is up 1,167,053 (49.56%) to 1,159,238 (49.23%) over Macaca. Since it is under 1% difference, the recount will be on. They'll be counting provisional ballots and this thing won't be over for another few weeks, but 8000 is a pretty big lead to go into a recount with. So, it's down to Tester in MT. He's leading with 72% reporting - 7k votes and 3% points - and James Carville said that his people expect that lead to hold. I'm going to bed.
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22 comments:
forget CNN tonight--I'm sticking with VTK!!!!
--AK
WOOHOO!
I'll respond to all comments in the blog.
so if macaca wins, do we get to see the ass-slapping video?
--AK
I almost didn't vote tonight, I get to the Davis Square voting place,
wait in line for a while. They then tell me I'm not on the list for that ward. They tell me I'm on the inactive list for Teele Square
so i have to hop a cab to Teele and make it just in time.
Allow me to state I have lived at my current address for 14 months and
I've updated my voter registration with the DMV.
The woman in Davis told me that they have turned away countless people today, that it appears anyone who has moved in the last year and has changed their info with the DMV, the change has not been sent to the voting office.
I'm pissed - I didn't get to vote on the questions that were just in my ward. It cost me 1 1/2 hours of my time and five dollars. I almost didn't get to vote!!! No wonder this country is so fucked up, people who want to vote can't!
Also, voter fraud was committed to allow me to vote. Per Somerville, anyone who has lived continously in Somerville can submit a provisional ballot if they moved within six months. The Teele voting station allowed me to vote and listed me as having moved 6 months ago. I thank them for the fraud that let me vote!
How is it that my street sweeping tickets and excise tax make it to me with no problems, yet the DMV is incapable of processing my voter change form. If I were a conspiracy theory person, which ok, I kinda am, I wonder what percentage of the screwed up addresses belong to Republicans and what percent belong to Democrats. BTW, I'm unenrolled, and the DMV must really hate me, because all unenrolled usually means is crazy liberal.
Until I see more evidence, I think you have to say she's a hottie...for a Governor. Oh, Snap! Whitehouse in RI!
So when I went to the Quaker Meetinghouse in Cambridge tonight to vote, there was a little old lady holding a single dog-eared Healey sign, shouting out "A vote for the Democrats is a vote for increased terrorism! Vote Republican!"
I must say it was rather shocking... to have a Republican supporter a) in Cambridge at all and b) outside the Quaker meeting house in particular. She will probably be getting combat pay from the Republican party offices for working in such a hostile environment tonight...
Sorry to continue beating a dead horse here, but...
Macaca.
Another Pick Up.
Don't wait for CNN, go to the state's election result sites. It's much more satisfying.
Sorry, you lost me to the Midterm Midtacular
Add election night coverage to "reasons why being in the Pacific time zone doesn't suck," which list includes being able to watch almost every sports game to completion and still get to bed by midnight or so.
Since it looks like I'm the only one still going, I'm going to take up some of the play-by-play (only because nobody is awake out there to shut me off). Sorry, Dan, if this is intruding on your turf, but I feel like I'm only bothering myself since you all are asleep...
So it's 1 am here and we're still awake and watching this shit in J-Tree (everybody here has all enjoyed the play-by-play from VTK, by the way), in the same house where "Swamp-Babe-Gator" hangs.
Seems odd that the whole night can go by and only now does it look like the biggest upset of the election just went down: McNerney beats Pombo. First time a sitting committee chairman is turned out since 1994. And not just any chairman, but evil incarnate, #1 enemy of all things environmental, and one of the most corrupt politicians in the country. This is deeply satisfying.
Steph and I got to go door-to-door this weekend for McNerney, which other than its own fun included a rousing speech by...Jennifer Garner, aka Alias. You got to love California. Her husband Ben was supposed to show but he couldn't because he...had a migraine. Like I said, you got to love California.
Other news is that it looks like Karl Rove might have kept one poison pill out there: Yellowstone County (fairly conservative Billings) pulled their votes and are conducting a recount in the morning. Can you say "voter machine fraud"? Are Virginia and Montana the new Florida and Ohio: a whole lot of excitement but ultimately nothing to show except another checkbox in the R column and a scathing article two years later by RFK Jr. exposing the scam? Only Karl knows...
--AK
I was looking forward to waking up to a red checkmark next to Tester. I'll take a 1700 vote lead in a 380k voter state. thanks for grabbing the baton from my exhausted keyboard, AK. Good coverage of the McNerney-Pombo race, of which I was ignorant. Also, thanks for confirming what we all knew about Cambridgeport's own, Ben Affleck: he's a pussy. As for Yellowstone, this results page shows that Burns picked up a few thousand over Tester with 100% counted. I don't know if that's factored into CNN's prediction of a 1700 vote lead for Tester with 99% counted. Kos says there's an absentee ballot related recount going on right now in Yellowstone. I think it's safe to say that, given MT's 0.5% difference recount law, there's going to be an official recount there regardless of what happens this morning.
Even if both Tester and Webb lose in recounts (but I don't think they will since they're both leading now, which is a huge advantage), today is still a great day for the Left. And that's a sad indictment of the state of the Left, but lets not dwell. Huge wins last night. Huge.
oh and by the way, we won the fucking senate too, republican douchebag motherfuckers!!!
From DSCC via Kos:
Both Jon Tester and Jim Webb have won their races in Montana and Virginia but want to make sure that every vote is counted. We expect to have official results soon but can happily declare today that Democrats have taken the majority in the U.S. Senate.
Montana Vote Situation: Jon Tester leads Conrad Burns by approximately 1,700 votes (as of 11am EDT) and counting. In Silver Bow County (Butte), a Democratic stronghold, votes are still being counted but Tester is winning there with 66% of the vote. We expect to gain the majority of these uncounted votes and to add to Tester's margin.
Montana Process: When the counting phase is completed, a canvass will verify the vote tallies. That process could take as long as 48 hours, and must begin within three days and end within seven. Unless the canvass shows the margin to be within ¼ of 1%, there is no recount. As the loser, Burns would have to request the recount. When the votes are all counted, we expect to be outside that recount margin.
Virginia Vote Situation: Jim Webb is up by approximately 8,000 votes and once the provisional ballots are counted, we expect Webb's margin to increase. (Please note that VA absentees were included in the tallies from last night.)
Virginia Process: A canvass is underway to verify the results and we expect that process to finish within a day or so. To be in recount, the margin needs to be less than 1% and Allen (as the loser) would have to request it. Because of Virginia voting laws, the margin would have to be much tighter than it currently is to see any change in the outcome. Given the current margins, that is highly, highly unlikely.
MT lead up to 3100.
Capital, George, capital. That's what you lost in this election. And we intend to collect.
I really wish I checked your blog last night.
Great coverage!
I really wish the black guy in Tennessee won...But have you
have you ... I think you got cut off there. Corker and Lieberman were the only real disappointments, which is amazing.
thanks, I enjoyed doing it.
Interesting analysis by Ralph Nader in his interview on DemNow! He points out that "The other thing that is good, though, is that there's some very good veteran chairmen who are coming in: George Miller, Henry Waxman, Ed Markey and, of course, John Conyers."
AMY GOODMAN: The issue of money and politics, something you take on in a very big way. According to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, at least 2.8 billion dollars were spent in this election, making these the most expensive midterm elections in history. I want to talk about this big money in the big parties, the two big parties, and also third party politics today, and what you saw around the country.
RALPH NADER: Well, first of all, the mess with the voting machinery and the registration situation, this country is a mockery of obstructing people to vote, going back to the post-Civil War era. Now they have new ways to do it through these machines, through not distributing the machines, through challenging people's voting credentials. There's no other Western democracy that requires registration. In Canada, if you are counted as part of the regular census, you vote, period.
And so, what we need in this country, first of all, is a complete reform of electoral laws, including one federal standard for candidates running for federal office, for Congress and for the President, not 50 different state standards and more county standards. There needs to be criminal prosecutions. Notice you can obstruct people's right to vote, you can do what happened in Ohio and Florida, and because both parties want to be able to do it, if they're in power, at the state level, there's no prosecution tradition here, as there is, say, for procurement fraud. So nobody goes to jail. So, every two or four years, it's going to happen, more and more and more. And the number of ways that people can be obstructed from voting -- votes can be miscounted; that people can be falsely designated as ex-felons; the extent to which voting rolls can be shrunken, like in Cleveland, Ohio, by a Republican state government, Blackwell, Secretary of State -- all this is going to happen again and again, unless you have crackdowns, unless you have task forces that will prosecute these violations, and unless you have a national debate about universal voting, Amy.
We've got to ask ourselves -- jury duty is the only civic duty in our Constitution. We have a whole Bill of Rights, but we have very few duties. And if we have to obey thousands of laws passed by lawmakers, it seems to me that having voting be a civic duty, as it is in Australia and Brazil and some other countries, is the way to clear away all these manipulations and obstructions, because if you have a legal duty to vote --
AMY GOODMAN: You mean, mandatory.
RALPH NADER: Yes. If you have the duty to vote, then obstructing it becomes a very serious crime, whereas now it's just, you know, the political game the two parties play against one another. And the discussion of mandatory voting would include a binding “none of the above.” So you can go to the polls or absentee vote for the ballot line, you can vote write-in, you can vote for your own person, write in your own name, or you can vote for a binding “none of the above.” I think that takes care of any civil liberties problems. But it should be decided by a special national referendum.
First drowning victim of the Wave: Rummy! Rest in Hell, Rummy.
Everyone's calling MT for Tester now, so there may not even be a full recount there. In any case, I'm going to officially claim success in my 8:14 PM EST prediction last night that the VA vote would go to a recount with the Senate hanging in the balance. And I feel good about that recount. Webb's up about 7000 votes and the last recount in VA flipped only 27 votes.
Wrapping up Midterm coverage, I'd just like to point out how fascinating Bush's demeanor was in his press conference this afternoon. The only other time I've seen him look this self-possessed, intelligent, witty, and sharp, was the day after the 04 election. It's as if the combination of stress, sleep deprivation, and lack of something to prove, pulls back his idiot veneer and shows the saavy individual beneath that is clearly responsible for his political success. Maybe we've been giving Rove too much credit these last 7 years. Bush was conciliatory, sure, but he was also whipping one line zingers, scanning the crowd like a predator sizing up his prey, and revealing a self-driven craftiness that is usually hidden by his bumbling and stumbling. How can they be the same person? I don't think they are. I think this is the real Bush and that other idiot is all just an ingenious act. Maybe I'm giving him too much credit here, but all I know is that once in a long while you get a glimpse of this totally different person - one that's much more consistent with the ability to rise to power, to become and remain the leader of the free world. He's still a scumbag asshole. Don't get me wrong. I just don't think he's an idiot at all.
Today is a great day.
Maca-can't.
But seriously, I think it's a good time to reflect on the words of one goddamed profound exterminator:
The Republican Party is a permanent majority for the future of this country. We're going to be able to lead this country in the direction we've been dreaming of for years. -- Tom DeLay, Nov. 3, 2004
Nov 8, 2006 - Tom DeLay's own district is now represented by a Democrat.
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