Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Downticket LiveBlog!

3:59 (6.54): Oh yeah! I almost forgot: DC, and it's odd that this could conceivably be disappointing, went for Obama by 92.9%.

3:55 (6.54): All good things must come to an end, and so must this night. But one final update:

-CA Prop 8 is not looking so good, at 52% Yes to 48% no with 63% in.
-CT Question 1 is in much better shape. In fact, it's almost exactly where it was at our last update. I think they may have stopped counting for the night, for some reason.
-Possession of Marijuana is now loosely legal in Massachusetts.
-Physicians can now legally kill people in WA.
-Al Franken's race is still totally up in the air.
-As are the 11 electoral votes of Missouri. I have no way of even guessing, because every county in the state is 100% reporting. God knows where the extra votes are coming from.
-While Georgia was called for McCain early, and the senate race would clearly go to Chambliss if pluralities were allowed, it's too close to 50% to be sure that Chambliss will make the majority required for the race to count. Also, there's the possibility that Georgia has not counted as many as 600,000 early votes because they do it by county and keep them separate. Since these would probably be overwhelmingly for Obama and Martin, there's a real chance that it'll go to a runoff (which will draw basically every democrat within 1000 miles just out of a desire to continue campaigning), and a very very slim chance that Georga could end up going for Obama. But who knows what'll happen there. If this is not the case, we have to explain why NC, which has far fewer registered voters and a GOTV operation on less favorable ground somehow turned out hundreds of thousands more voters than GA
-Ted Stevens is up 3%, with 72% reporting. WHAT THE FUCK. Hopefully that will turn around by morning.
-Darcy Burner's leading by 4%, but nearly 80% of the vote remains uncounted.
-As for Donna Edwards? Well, the Maryland PG county site hasn't updated at all, and remains at 0% across the board. But let's be honest. She won.

In conclusion: what an awesome night.

1:17 (6.54): By rb's request, it looks like VIDEO POKER is WINNING in MARYLAND by a large margin, and is projected to win by CNN.

1:06 (JJ): Marilyn Musgrave, one of the most hateful people to set foot in congress, lost!

12:50 (JJ): The amendment to ban gay marriage seems to be ahead so far in Cali, 54-46 with 30% in according to MSNBC. Darcy's lead maintained with 43% in. Franken still down by 2% with 68% in. Don't understand how someone like Norm Coleman can withstand this tide, pretty upsetting.

12:28 (JJ): Darcy Burner up 57-44 with 30 percent in. Franken down 1% with 56% in.

11:52 (6.54): Results still far from complete, but we're winning CT's Question 1 by 91992 to 145468, or about 61.3%. In a tight move, Middletown went "NO" by a 2:1 margin.

11:33 (JJ): Franken now behind, barely. It seems like that one will last late into the night.

10:50 (JJ): The anti- abortion amendment failed in South Dakota. Franken's race is very tight and still at 13% reporting.

10:13 (6.54): Still way far away from the final numbers, but CT's answer to Question 1 is a resounding "NO" so far: 31533 to 18360

9:29 (JJ): Haven't really been many down ticket updates recently. Al Franken is the next one to watch, right now he's up 45-39 over Norm Coleman.

8:17 (JJ): Man, more good and bad. A pickup with Shaheen in NH, but MSNBC calling it to for Susan Collins of Maine.

8:10 (JJ): Good and bad news. Fox news calls it for Mitch McConnell and Kay Hagen. Goodbye Liddy Dole! Brit Hume decides that this is all bad news for Democrats.

7:55 (6.54): FYI, Question 1 in Connecticut reads "Shall there be a Constitutional Convention to revise or amend the Constitution of the State". While that sounds innocuous enough, a convention – the last one of which was called in 1965 – would be likely used to reverse the Connecticut Supreme Court's decision to allow gay marriage, as well as for several other insidious ends. Though not quite as obvious, and although Connecticut is much smaller, the question is on par with California's Proposition 8 (an explicit amendment to ban gay marriage in the state).

President aside, there's a race to 60 in the Senate and a push for massive Democratic margins in the House. The M$M should cover a lot of this fairly well, but there are a few races we'd particularly like to follow (Darcy Burner, Donna Edwards), and a few ballot questions that might not get the coverage they deserve (Proposition 8 in CA and Question 1 in CT). And hell, it's election night! Let's talk about all of it!

14 comments:

  1. Stoller thinks we won't know the outcome of Darcy's race until sometime tomorrow. He has a post about it on Open Left.

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  2. I would SO LOVE to beat Mitch McConnell.

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  3. Sad about McConnell. Oh well.

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  4. WE DUMPED LIZZIE DOLE! YES!!!

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  5. From Open Left, Matt Stoller:
    Occasional OpenLeft blogger and Kentucky native Dave Meyer called me with an update on Kentucky that suggests Lunsford is doing much better than he appears. McConnell's base is Louisville in Jefferson County, since that's where he's from. He always does substantially better than other Republicans in that area. His weaker areas are the west and the north of the state in Boone County, where Bunning in 2004 was strong. Look to Boone County, which hasn't reported yet, to see where the race hangs. For a reference point, Boone is where the creationist museum is located.

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  6. GOD, it would be great to can McConnell.

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  7. oh, i didn't see this thread, i've been posting in the other one

    CNN is keeping mcconnell's seat as 'too close to call'

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  8. It is real exciting about Shays. The Northeast is now totally and utterly democratic.

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  9. not sure if anyone else was checking, but any word on the maryland amendment for slots?

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  10. i'm sorry i wasn't able to share this historic night with you all. i started out at an election party in Cleveland Park, somehow made my way to U street, then joined a mass exodus from there to the White House (whose house???? OBAMA'S HOUSE!!!!!!)

    i will spend most of work tomorrow catching up on the live blog (and trying not to get caught dozing off). i'm truly blessed to be alive to witness this moment. LONG LIVE BARACK OBAMA!!!!!

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  11. (whose house???? OBAMA'S HOUSE!!!!!!)

    Man, that might be my single favorite story of the night.

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