(Possibly) Good News

Marginal joke candidate Al Franken (who should never have been placed within 300 miles of an actual ballot) has apparently been confirmed by the Minnesota Supreme Court as winner of the 2008 Senatorial election.  I’m sorry, I like Al Franken.  He’s a funny guy.  But it was ludicrous for the DFL to nominate someone with absolutely no qualifications whatsoever for such an important contest.  Virtually any other candidate would have whipped Norm Coleman like a runty dog and spared the state this kind of humiliation.

Couldn’t Happen to a Nicer Guy

William “Deep Freeze” Jefferson is defeated for re-electionby GOP newcomer Anh Joseph Cao, who will become the first Vietnamese American member of Congress.  Jefferson should’ve been kicked out of the Democratic caucus long ago; at least this way the Democrats conceivably have a way to retake the seat in two years and avoid the embarrassment of being seen in public with Jefferson.

Craddick Agonistes, Redux

A secret ballot would seem to doom everyone’s least favorite egomaniacal legislative dictator (even his supporters are getting disgusted), but many people (including me) have written Craddick’s political obituary before.  He’s harder to kill than a cockroach.

One of These Things Is Not Like the Other

According to the Right Wing Howler Monkey Media Chorus:

Ronald Reagan (1980) wins 489 electoral votes and 50.7% of the popular vote = MANDATE!!!!!!

George H.W. Bush (1988) wins 426 electoral votes and 53.4% of the popular vote = MANDATE!!!!

George W. Bush (2000) wins 271 electoral votes and 47.9% of the popular vote = MANDATE!!!

George W. Bush (2004) wins 286 electoral votes and 50.7% of the popular vote = MANDATE!!!!!

Barack Obama (2008) wins 365 (at least) electoral votes and 52.3% of the popular vote = confirmation that America is a “center right” country.

UPDATE:  Apparently I somehow screwed up the link.  Try this one.

UPDATE 2:  Evidently, 59% of Americans have not gotten the memo on the whole “center right” thing.

Obama In Texas

An analysis of the presidential election results in Texas from BOR.  Significantly, even though Obama’s overall percentage was higher than Kerry’s, he actually UNDERperformed Kerry in 100 counties.  In the rest of the country, Obama outperformed Kerry in nearly all demographic groups.  In other news, Democrats nearly swept all judicial races in Harris County, despite a disappointingly low turnout.  Even though Republicans won all the statewide races, their margins were down to 51-52% and Democrats managed to saw down the GOP margin in the State House to just one seat, and possibly a tie pending results from Dallas County.  To me, this suggests that Texas is at least purpling and it will hopefully encourage more Democrats to compete statewide in 2010.

And There You Have It

Barack Obama (Democrat-Illinois)

44th President of the United States

2009-

UPDATE:  A very classy, inspiring and gracious concession speech by John McCain. That’s going out with style.

UPDATE 2:  “Bending the arc of history.”  Great, great speech.   I could get used to having a president who can speak in complete sentences.

You’re A Braver Man Than I, Gunga Din

One intrepid blogger risks his sanity to liveblog FOX “News'” election “coverage.”  It’s like 24, only with more torture.

H/T to the always gracious and lovely Blue Gal.

Put Up or Shut Up

Okay, let’s be specific.  My prediction is probably on the safe side (just my well-known conservative tendencies) but I’ll say Obama takes all of Kerry’s states plus Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio, and Virginia for a total of 338 electoral votes.  I’ll put his popular margin at 53%.  The link below will take you to the site where I got my polling data.

UPDATE:  Just noticed a typo.  It should read “popular margin at +3%” not “53%” which would be a +6% margin.  That would be nice, but given how big Obama is likely to lose the deep red states, that seems unlikely.

Early Voter Turnout High, Good

Indications are that early voter turnout has surged in Colorado, Florida, Georgia and Nevada, and that Democrats are the beneficiaries.

UPDATE:  Early voter turnout in Texas sets a new record.  Does this mean Democrats will do better here?

[ Find Your Polling Place | Voting Info For Your State | Know Your Voting Rights | Report Voting Problems ]

Vote Noriega: It’s Important

From HuffPo an excellent and sobering point–without 60 votes in the Senate, President Obama will likely be stymied from making any “fundamental changes” as the filibuster, villified by the GOP when Democrats used it, will be magically transformed into a sacred tool of protection against the “tyranny of the majority.”  As obnoxious as Republicans are when they win, a sullen defeated GOP will be even worse than they were during the Clinton Administration.  Go over to Rick Noriega’s place and give him some cash.