What the heck. Use the comments here to discuss the ongoing election results, if you like. So far, we can say for sure that Rick Santorum has lost and lost bad, so the day can’t be altogether bad, right?
This page by the DCCC is an excellent place to monitor the house races – word is they’ll be updating frequently.
And here’s CNN’s page on the Senate races. Right now (6:45 pacific time) it looks like the Republicans have surely won Missouri, probably Tennessee, and a good chance that George Allen will be re-elected in Virginia by small margin. So if the voting so far is representative of the whole, the Republicans will keep the Senate, albeit by a smaller margin.
UPDATE: 11pm Pacific Time, the Democrats have won in Virginia (which will probably require a recount) and are ahead in Montana and Missouri. So it may be the Dems will wind up controlling the Senate, as well. Damn.
The Feminist Majority has set up this page to track the results from a “Year Of The Woman (The Sequel) perspective. And this page on the Ms. Mag website will track stage ballot measures of interest to feminists. (Bad news: Late-term abortion ban in Virginia is projected to win. Good news: Minimum wage increase in Ohio).
Leave suggested links, thoughts, jokes, recipes, or whatever else you’d like in comments. It’s gonna be a long night.
I vote in Virginia, and there’s no abortion measure on the ballot. Virginia has a constitutional amendment against SSM on the ballot, which unfortunately is projected to win. I think the abortion measure that you’re thinking of is in South Dakota.
Feeling a bit better than earlier this week? :)
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I’m in Minnesota, but it looks like Wisconsin voters have passed a same sex marriage ban. :(
And one of the creepiest anti-choice politicians in the state of Minnesota appears to be taking the 6th District U.S. House seat — Michele Bachmann is her name.
The parental notification measure here in Oregon seems to be on its way to losing, as are two anti-tax measures that would have beaten the crap out of our ability to pay for Oregon’s government, so hooray for that. :-)
That sucks about the SSM bans in Wisconsin and Virginia, though.
Overall, not the huge Dem blow-out that some – well, let’s face it, almost everyone I know – were hoping for, but still a good night. Things could certainly be going worse.
Quote from Glenn Greenwald: “I really highly recommend watching Fox News; it’s like being at a wake for a person that you’re really happy has died, but everyone else is in deep mourning.”
Amp, I don’t know if you’re looking at KATU which has actually called 42, 43, and 48 failing. Hard to tell whether you were just looking at trends or actually referring to network calls.
More good news: Minimum wage increases are predicted to win in Missouri and Nevada, as well as Ohio, as previously reported.
Oh, and it looks like the South Dakota abortion ban has been beaten!
All four anti-same sex marriage ballot measures passed. Homo-hating doesn’t seem to be something that ever loses at the ballot box… at least not when they can say it’s about marriage.
And Webb is currently in a razor-thin lead over George Allen – less than a few thousand votes in the lead, with 1% of votes still to be counted. Is there a emoticon for biting nails?
Minimum wage increase in Montana as well.
Ah, crap, I mixed up my numbers. 41 is going down, which is good, but I voted FOR 42 and it’s failing, too.
Yay economic stratification of society!
Woohoo, 36 days of lawyerfighting in Virginia!
(Sob.)
Overall, not the huge Dem blow-out that some – well, let’s face it, almost everyone I know – were hoping for, but still a good night.
I think that picking up 32 seats in the house is a blow-out. They only needed 15 for a majority & the extra 17 makes things pretty solid for them. Picking up 3 to 5 Senate seats ain’t chopped liver, either. And then there is the number of Democratic wins in Governor’s races that is pretty impressive. So, although the Dems didn’t win the Presidency, they had the best election day that they’ve had in 14 years.
Yeah, I have to agree with Jake, and not just to make his head explode. (Third time’s the limit.) This is a solid Democratic victory, competently executed.
I imagine that Karl Rove is getting a beating right about now.
Thanks for that Amp – I couldn’t tell from CNN whether the vote had been for or agains the abortion ban. It also looks like all the minimum wage provisions succeeded – which is really great.
But the desire to ban same sex marriage and affimative actions sucks
Am I right in thinking hte Democrats could still take the senate, if Missouri and Montana maintain their leads and that last 1% goes to them in Virginia?
Yes, you’re right – it’s still possible for the Dems to take the Senate, just not likely.
It does look like the Dems won the last 1% in Virginia, so barring any changes when they do recounts, George Allen is out of a job.
What really makes me happy, though, is that the Dems just took the majority of the Oregon House of Reps – which, since they also won the Governor’s re-election, means that the Democrats now have control of the Governor, the House and the Senate in Oregon. This is good.
Plus, it’s looking like Karen Minnis, who I probably hate more than any other elected figure in Oregon, may lose her bid for re-election.
Karen Minnis is no Eileen(?) Qutub.
I may not know her well enough to despise her properly, but I’ve gotta say that I hate Randy Leonard.
I don’t believe that the Dems will win a majority in the Senate. 3 to 5 seats won’t do it. But remember, only 1/3 of the Senate is up for election this year. Extrapolate those numbers out if the Rs continue their incompetence, hatefulness and corruption and the Ds don’t entirely fuck up in the next 2 years.
Also remember that the Rs took control of the House of Reps in ’94 but didn’t get control of the Senate until ’02 . You rarely see majorities switch in both houses in a single election.
Don’t underestimate the importance of controlling the governatorships, either. Incumbents have the advantage and the ’10 elections will be important for gerrymandering districts back in the Ds favor.
UPDATE: 11pm Pacific Time, the Democrats have won in Virginia (which will probably require a recount) and are ahead in Montana and Missouri.
It’s certainly possible that all three of those races will go to the Democrats. In which case, the Dems will wind up controlling the Senate, as well. Damn.
Shameless self-promotion: Why We Lost
Reporting from Wisconsin, the anti-SSM amendment passed, as did an advisory vote on whether to to consider establishing the death penalty. But four or five districts around Milwaukee passed out-of-Iraq-now resolutions. (One district actually passed a We-support-the-war-on-terror resolution, whatever that’s supposed to mean.) We still have our incumbent Democratic Governor and a new (I think) Democratic Attourney General. And we’ve still got our two Dem senators.
But this anti-SSM amendment is really, really not making me happy.
You bastard, Robert, that’s a mental picture I could have done without.
I had one sentence for my blog, which is this:
I don’t even know how to throw a restoration-of-vague-and-misleading-sense-of-hope party.
You’ll need limes.
Wow, the Constitution Party came in 3rd in the Oregon Gubernatorial race. 3.6% for CP as compared to 1.38% Green and 1.18% Libertarian. It doesn’t get fringier than the Constitution Party and the fringe in Oregon is growing again.
I was surprised– I expected our Parental Notification to go to the wire again. (It was the closest to passing last time around, when everything on the ballot was voted down.) It went down by more this time than last– maybe we’re actually reaching people about the consequences. That’s one bit of happiness.
Meanwhile, we heap some more punishment on sex offenders after they finish their sentences…
Well, Jake, I plan on joining. Since most liberals and progs I run into can’t seem to tell the difference between Greens and the Constitution Party anyway. I might just as well go where the action is.
P.S.- I think sometime in January, a lot of liberals and progs are going to do the equivalent of waking up bleary-eyed after a blowout celebration, looking at the face next to them in bed and gasping “I went home with YOU ?!?!”
Casey and the like. Enough said… :/
maybe we’re actually reaching people about the consequences.
ScottM, you’re reaching people with your speculations about what the hypothetical consequences could be. I have yet to see any actual data from states where such is the law that demonstrates that what I’ve seen proposed here are the actual consequences.
and the Ds don’t entirely fuck up in the next 2 years.
Based on past history, good luck on that.