And We're Doing it Live

Okay, up and running.  Time to figure out what is going on.

The early exit polls sounded good to me.  I heard on npr that the electorate is projected to be only 74% white, that young voters constitute 18% of the electorate and that hispanics make up 10% of voters.  This strikes me as a very promising make up. 

And now I think I am going to walk Stanley to be back in time for the 8:00 poll closings.  See you in a few.

Okay, I'm back.  Florida looks really close, not surprisingly.  I am going to take a quick spin around the web and see if anyone has any interesting news. kos reports that Obama is leading in Hillsborough County (Tampa) by a margin of 52-47, which is just where he needs to be. 

Wow, they are already calling it for Chris Murphy in the senate race for Connecticut.  This one was uncomfortably close for a while.  We also have the Bill Nelson seat already in hand with an extraordinarily easy win.  Neither are big surprises, but they are nice wins. 

- Virginia - I am trying to delve into the county by county results in Virginia a bit.  I continue to think that Prince William and Loudon counties -- the two exurban DC counties -- are a good bellwether for the state as a whole.  So far Loudon in literally one vote apart with 33,000 counted.  Prince William is in the very early stages of its vote count, so I can't really make a judgment yet.  There are very few votes in from the large jurisdictions contiguous to DC.  They tend to come in late, much to the consternation of we Dems.

- Florida - It sounds like Obama is doing pretty well so far in Florida. kos reports that Obama is leading in Hillsborough County (Tampa) by 52-47, which is just where he needs to be.

- Flyover country -- Wolf Blitzer excitedly exclaims that Texas, Nebraska, Kansas, Lousiana, and South Dakota went to Romney.  Gee that's news.

- Michigan -- What do you know, "tossup" state Michigan was just announced by CNN, the moment that the polls closed.  Once again, the press and the GOP conspired to make this seem in doubt when it simply never was.  

- The polls -- so far the polls seem like they were more or less right on.  So much for skewing.

- Prup: Hate to say it, but Romney is already at 152 electoral votes. 

- North Carolina - Obama is running dead even.  I don't know where the vote is coming, but this is pretty encouraging.

- Ohio -- the "whole shooting match" state as it should be called.  Obama seems to have a pretty goo lead thus far.  He appears to have a huge lead in Cuyahoga County.  All signs seem very favorable. 

- Massachusetts - Warren is up 52 to 48 on Brown, while Obama is beating Romney 59-39.  That seems like she is on target. 

- Wisconsin bitchez - So gee, I guess Wisconsin and Michigan were not toss up states.  Great job Sean Trende (Real Clear Politics), who kept this as a toss up even today.  It is pretty clear that the Republicans have been engaging in bullshit spin (or self-delusion) on this and Michigan.  Next illusion to disappear -- Pennsylvania.

- And Elizabeth Warren bitchez!!!!! Yeah!!! So far with Angus King winning in Maine, we are up two seats thus far in the Senate. 

- And let's make it three -- Conservadem Joe Donnelly has defeated Rapepublican Richard Mourdock.  We are up three seats in the Senate now.

- And Sherrod Brown is reelected.  Not a surprise, but great news about a great guy.  And a good sign for Obama I think. 

- Pennsylvania - I missed the call for Pennsylvania for Obama.  So at what point do all of the pundits who bought the Romney bullshit start feeling silly.  Clearly, there was no contest in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan.  Nate must be feeling mighty good thus far. 

- Granite State baby!!! -- It's looking awfully good for the good guys.  I am almost ready to head over to NRO and listen to the lamentations of our enemies, and bask in their sweet tears, while they rend their garments.  Fuck yeah!

- And speaking of the audacity of bullshit, check out this item from Taegan Goddard on what the Romney campaigns internals actually showed in Ohio yesterday.

- Virginia - I have perused the official county by county statistics in Virginia and am pretty confident that Obama is going to win.  There is still 60% of Fairfax County to count and that alone should be enough for Obama to win.  It also appears that no votes from Norfolk have been counted, which will also go heavily for Obama.  Obama leads in the bellwether of Loudon County and is running neck and neck in Prince William.  All very good signs.  Tim Kaine seems to be running slightly better than Obama, which is more good news.

- And more good news.  Claire McCaskill!!  Bad night for the Rapepublicans.  

- Atrios can breath easy.  Kerrey has lost to Deb Fisher.  The Republicans grab one back.

- Minnesota -- Another shocker - Obama becomes the tenth straight Democratic presidential candidate to carry the state.  But it is a swing state.  Really.  Joe Scarborough tells me. 

- North Carolina - CNN just called it for Mitt.  Looks like Obama ran a nice race, but as I suspected he would, came up just a bit short.  No worries though.  Everything else looks on target.  Time to check in on Virginia again.

- Virginia - Romney's edge is down to 8,000 votes.  He's a dead man walking.

- And now Iowa!!!!

Imagine if we had any enthusiasm going for us. 

***** And there it is -- NBC calls it for Obama.  Victory.  Sweet, sweet, victory.

- It is time to dissolve the people and elect a new one.

- I wonder what Peggy Noonan is feeling now?  Besides the lulling oblivion of some gin and olives.  Make mine dirty barkeep!

- It looks like Nate Silver knows a whole lot more than Frank Newport of Gallup and Scott Rasmussen.  I can't wait to see the demographics, but it seems to me that this was like 2008 plus.

- Obama is now up 30,000 in Virginia and I see no way for Romney to come back given the jurisdictions that are remaining. 

- And Shelly Berkely is running significantly ahead in Nevada.  I don't know if it's enough to win, but this is my upset pick of the night.

- Boy almost all of the news looks good -- Baldwin is ahead, Heitkamp has a narrow lead, Tester is ahead.  This night is shaping up about as well as we could have ever have expected.

- Marriage Equality -- So far the good guys are up narrowly in all four states.  This could be epic.  In Maryland it is ahead 52-48 with 86% of the vote in.  There is a four point margin in both Maine and Washington with about half of the vote counted and a two point margin in Minnesota with about half of those votes counted. 

- Very pleased to see that Loudon County has come down 52-47 for Obama and Prince William has gone for Obama 55-44, which is a really nice win.  I like to win and I like being right.

- I cannot believe that Romney is not conceding.  It doesn't matter if Ohio is up for grabs -- which it really isn't.  He is going to lose Virginia, Florida, Colorado, and Nevada too.  He has no coneivable path to victory.  Get some class man.

- I am describing our winning coalition as suburban women and the men who cut their lawns.

- Obama must be pissed that Romney is keeping him from addressing the country until such a late hour.  Romney is a douche to the end.

- Obama just took the lead in the popular vote.  And that is with only about half of Washington and Oregon's vote in and less than 30% of California's.  I feel pretty good about my 51-48 prediction. 

- There is so much to this election we haven't discussed -- the marijuana initiatives, the return of Alan Grayson to the House, and an incredibly tight race to send Allen West packing among other things.

- So Shelly Berkley has slipped behind by 2,000 votes with 85% counted, but Heidi Heitkamp is up by 5,000 with 89% of the vote in.  These can be meaningful amounts in jurisdictions as small as Nevada and North Dakota.  Keep your fingers crossed.

- Romney's concession was actually quite gracious. 

- And the big winner tonight thus far seems to be the poll aggregators.  It seems to me that there results are amazingly on track thus far. 

- I just took a glance at CNN's exit polls -- very interesting stuff.  Once again, it seems to reinforce the notion that demography is destiny.  The turnout by African Americans was impressive once again -- as I expected.  They constituted 13% of the electorate, which I believe means they were slightly overrepresented relative to their share of the population.  No enthusiasm gap at all evident there.  Obama won the African-American vote by a staggering 93-7.  And then Hispanics increased their presence to 10% of the electorate and they went for Obama by 71 to 27.  Asians -- who are actually the fastest growing demographic in America -- constituted 3% of the electorate and went for Obama by a margin of 74 - 24.     By the way, Americans under 30 constituted 19% of the electorate versus 16% of the electorate over the age of 65.  In other words, it was the 2008 electorate again -- plus as I said earlier.  Obama took 60% of the vote among the under 30 voters.  Again, no enthusiasm gap at all.  We just need to try and get all of these groups to vote every two years instead of every four.  Oh, white men gave Obama just 35% of the vote.  A sad commentary on them, not the President.

- Nice speech by Obama.  Too bad it is going on at 1:45 EST. 

Good night all.  It's 2:45 AM and I need to drive to Richmond tomorrow and back.  But I will feel fondly toward old Virginny on my way.  I can't make it long enough to get the definitive word on Heitberg, Berkley, and Tester.  Or Michelle Bachmann, who is hanging on by her fingernails.  Maybe more good news awaits in the morning.

As always, it's been a pleasure. 

Comments

[low-tech cyclist]

With 35% of the vote counted in FL, Obama's opened up a 100K lead out of over 3M counted. As always, hard to tell what it means unless you know what parts of the state have been counted.

[low-tech cyclist]

Meanwhile, only 7% of the vote has been counted in VA, and Romney and Macaca Allen both have 58% of what's been tallied so far. Still way early.

[low-tech cyclist]

Donnelly up 50-44 with 21% of the vote counted in Indiana.

[T.R. Donoghue]

Huge turnout in Cleveland. Excellent news

Sounds like the exit polls and earlly results are backing up the initial reports that the electorate looks very much like 2008.

[low-tech cyclist]

The Virginia Board of Elections site is way, way behind. They're only showing ~1,500 votes counted. I'd been hoping to see why Allen and Romney were way ahead, but they're useless.

CNN's projected winners in a bunch of states so far, but not a swing state in the bunch.

[low-tech cyclist]

Bill Nelson (D) has been projected as the winner of the FL Senate race over Connie Mack. First semi-contested race to be called, but a result that was pretty much a foregone conclusion.

FL still very close in the Presidential race. Good.

Obama's ahead by 100K in Ohio in the early going.

[oddjob]

I heard on the radio (WGBH) that, to no one's surprise, Angus King has been projected to win Olympia Snowe's Senate seat.

I voted around 3:00pm. My ward's polling place was busy, but with minimal waiting. Lots of parents had their kids in tow to watch their parents vote which I thought was way cool. Give that I live in a very working class/urban poor city with a very large immigrant population I was one of the few voters with white skin. I take that as reason for cautious optimism regarding Elizabeth Warren.

[kathy a.]

emily's list just announced that warren won. (i'm not watching TV, and not sure of the basis, so i hope that's correct!)

[Joe S]

Wisconsin has just been called for Obama.

[oddjob]

Apparently NBC is now predicting that Warren has won.

[oddjob]

bullshit spin (or self-delusion)

I'm figuring both (or rather either), depending upon which GOP voter/operative/sympathizer you're thinking of.

[low-tech cyclist]

NBC has called Pennsylvania and Wisconsin for Obama.

[oddjob]

Exit polls show Obama, Baldwin both leading in Wisconsin

[oddjob]

GOP wins full control of North Carolina state government.

:(

[oddjob]

[Democrat] Maggie Hassan became only the second woman elected governor in New Hampshire with a solid victory over Republican Ovide Lamontagne, according to the Associated Press.

Sully has noted that it's quite possible that not only will the next NH governor be a woman, but so also will the entire NH delegation sent to the US Congress.

[oddjob]

The (conservative) Boston Herald calls it for Elizabeth Warren!

God am I delighted I was wrong on this one!!! :))))

[oddjob]

To no one's surprise a Kennedy has been elected to replace Barney Frank.

[paula]

Florida!

[oddjob]

AP is calling Democrat Bob Casey the winner in his reelection bid as Senator from Pennsylvania.

[oddjob]

CBS predicts GOP will keep its House majority status.

[oddjob]

am pretty confident that Obama is going to win (Virginia)

I wonder if Romney is going to take any of the true swing states?

[nancy]

WI -- Any hope that Ryan might end up in the Admissions/Reg office back at alma mater Miami U? Reading "Ayn Rand is My True Inspiration" college app essays? Oh please.

[oddjob]

"My mood now downgraded again to grave concern with a down arrow."
- Jonah Goldberg (Tweeting a sad)

:)

Hat tip, Sully.

[paula]

Oh Nancy!

[oddjob]

History is made as Tammy Baldwin becomes the first open lesbian elected to the US Senate!

[Sir Charles]

oddjob,

I stand by my prediction -- as pretty much was done by the poll aggregators -- that Obama will take all swing states (and fake swing states) except for North Carolina.

[oddjob]

Romney loses New Hampshire.

[Joe S]

CBS calls VA Senate for Tim Kaine.

[paula]

I made calls to NH voters yesterday for Obama. If he wins, I take credit.

[kathy a.]

tammy duckworth, in illinois -- female combat vet, who was viciously attacked by her tea party opponent.

[Joe S]

@kathy a.- the District right next to mine. Joe Walsh was like listening to my wingnut asshole uncle. They all sound the same.

[kathy a.]

on facebook: "All the rape guys got their asses kicked. Thank you, Jesus."

[nancy]

@Paula. And so you should! Phone bank power.

[Sir Charles]

Kudos.

[oddjob]

"All the rape guys got their asses kicked. Thank you, Jesus."

Seconded!

[kathy a.]

NYT says networks call wisconsin for obama? but NYT's graphic still shows wis. in pink, for "leaning romney."

times like these, i cannot bear to look at the networks.

[kathy a.]

NBC suddenly updated its internet news page, and obama jumped to 243 (vs. romney 188). here we go!

[low-tech cyclist]

Romney's lead in VA is down to 12K out of 3.1M, with 12% of the vote still out there. 67 precincts are still outstanding (out of 244) in Fairfax County, and Norfolk hasn't reported a single vote yet! Portsmouth, also heavily Dem, is mostly still out. Most of the Republican hinterlands are counted; just a few GOP-leaning places (Covington, up in the mountains, Craig County, down in SW VA, and Frederick County - gonna have to look that one up, a rarity for me in VA) haven't been counted yet. (The VA Board of Elections site has caught up with and is now ahead of the nets, so I've got good county info.)

I think Obama's gonna pull Virginia out, and Kaine's won, regardless of who has or hasn't projected his victory.

[low-tech cyclist]

NBC just called Iowa for Obama!

[Joe S]

It's done. NBC just called Ohio for Obama. He's got 4 more years.

[low-tech cyclist]

And NBC called Ohio for Obama for the win!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[kathy a.]

wooooot!

[oddjob]

Apparently the Denver Post is calling Colorado for Obama, too.

[nancy]

Woot squared. Big mamma jamma. The blowback election.

[oddjob]

Larry Sabato also thinks Obama's going to win VA.

[low-tech cyclist]

Hell, I beat Sabato to that one.

[paula b]

Bronco Bama rocks!

[Sir Charles]

l-t c,

We're way ahead of Larry.

[low-tech cyclist]

Right now, the VA Board of Elections has Obama up by 40,000. The Romney people are apparently saying that Ohio's not a done deal yet, but it doesn't matter. CNN's map shows only FL, VA, CO, and NV still up for grabs, and Obama's gonna win them all!!!

[oddjob]

Alan Grayson will return to the House of Representatives.

[oddjob]

With 94% of the vote in it's still too close to determine whether John Tierney has won reelection or not.

[low-tech cyclist]

CNN's called the AZ Senate race for Flake. But we could sweep the remaining seats: only ~500 votes separate Berg and Heitkamp, and our candidates are ahead in MT, NV, NM, and WI, although there still aren't that many votes counted yet in the Dental Floss State.

[oddjob]

Per Sully, if things stay as they are now all three states where marriage equality was a ballot question are going to enact it!

[oddjob]

I can't wait to see the demographics, but it seems to me that this was like 2008 plus.

I suspect this will turn out to be the case.

[big bad wolf]

i am mostly relieved. i believe in nate silver and all, but, as with actual ballgames, actual elections can sometimes go wrong.

this too from a trip this weekend that involved a lot of driving through four southern states: a lot of those people in non-urban areas really do live in a different country than we do. i think they could and should be more tolerant on social issues. yet, it is hard to drive through where they live and not at least grasp that their experience is very different from ours. if we are materialists, that is, if we believe experience precedes ideas, it is perhaps unsurprising that they believe in a vision of the world that is different from and older than ours.

relatedly, i was reminded when visiting friends in louisiana that it if often quite a brave thing to be a democrat, and we should remember that when we scoff and denounce democrats from red states. i'd like them to be bolder and see out vision, but maybe they are braver, in their, to us, watered-down version than we our in our safe, validate by those around us ideology.

again, the arc of justice is long, but it bends toward

[Sir Charles]

bbw,

The thing I remind myself of -- maybe not often enough -- is how so many of my favorite people are southern liberals. They are a special breed.

[paula b]

!!!!!

[oddjob]

Apparently those of us who didn't watch Fox News tonight missed quite the raw, live television spectacle:

Fox News Slowly Loses Its Mind Over Election Results

[oddjob]

Incumbent John Tierney defeats Republican challenger Richard Tisei by a very narrow margin.

[Sir Charles]

oddjob,

That makes me happy -- I really couldn't bear losing that seat.

[Joe S]

Anybody know what's going on in Montana ? It's such a tiny state, I can't understand why it's taking them so long to get their results out.

[oddjob]

That makes me happy -- I really couldn't bear losing that seat.

I'm relieved to have been wrong about this one as well. I'm not much of a Tierney fan, but present circumstances being what they are the very last thing the House needs is another Republican (of any stripe).

What makes me very happy is learning that Allen West is no longer going to be there!

[oddjob]

Even Bill Clinton was involved with the Tierney campaign. I came home one evening last week to a voicemail from a robocall, with Bill Clinton asking me to vote for John Tierney.

[oddjob]

Oh, white men gave Obama just 35% of the vote.

How very, very different from our childhoods in the 60's & 70's, when a statistic like this was certain to mean that candidate had lost in a landslide.

[Prup (aka Jim Benton)]

Lpts of questions to bring up tomorrow, maybe, but for now, just celebrate. Sir Charles had it spot on with the EVs, and while there are still three open elections, we won everything else but Carmona -- why he was not a national celebrity I'll never understand -- and Kerrey who was a long shot. Heitkamp seems to have an unbreakable lead, and from what i understand the Nevada vote that is out is from Democrstic areas, so Berkley is still strong.

And Joe Walsh is gone.

We'll work on a better tomorrow tomorrow. G'night!

[low-tech cyclist]

Looks like same-sex marriage won in MD!

A comment from Lisa Schiffren at The Corner:

It may well have come down to the women’s vote and the abortion-centric campaign run by the Obamaites, if Fox’s reading of exit polls is correct. Democrats were serious about targeting single women, single mothers, professional women, and Hispanic and blue-collar women, all of whom can, apparently, be persuaded that their abortion rights are endangered, and that this issue trumps the economy and employment.

"Can be persuaded"??? Lordy. The 5-4 majority for Roe depends on the votes of two Justices who turn 80 during this next Presidential term, but it somehow takes 'persuasion' to get women to (incorrectly, she implies) believe their right to choose might be in jeopardy?

And as it's so often been pointed out lately, women's access to contraception and abortion are part and parcel of their continued ability keep a job and have a career. For women, this IS about employment and their personal economic success, whatever 'the economy' might be doing.

I continue to have a hard time grasping the total obtuseness and cluelessness of such people.

[jeanne marie]

Great news all around! My dad's surgery was successful and Obama won! And, hey, Virginia didn't embarrass me!

[oddjob]

Looks like same-sex marriage won in MD!

AND ME!

AND WA (most likely)!

AND MN BLOCKED THE AMENDMENT WRITING MARRIAGE DISCRIMINATION INTO THEIR CONSTITUTION!

WE RAN THE FRIKKIN' TABLE!!

[Beckya57]

For me the most important thing about this election was all the people who stood in long lines and defied the GOP efforts to keep them from voting. They should all be very proud, and they should know that they truly are "real Americans."

[oddjob]

My dad's surgery was successful

YAY! :)

[oddjob]

In other news, Colorado & Washington state have voted to legalize marijuana and Massachusetts has voted to legalize medical marijuana.

[low-tech cyclist]

Randall Munroe (xkcd) has what deserves to be the last word in the Silvergrad campaign.

TPM says Heidi Heitkamp has won in ND, even though her lead's less than 3000 votes; in NV, the secretary of state's website is showing 100% of precincts reporting, and Berkley down by 12,000.

In MT, Tester's up by about 17,000, and in my very quick and offhand check of the counties that haven't finished reporting, it looks like neither candidate has a big advantage in the remaining votes. But nobody's calling it yet, so take that with a grain of salt.

Latest on the House: "The GOP led with 231 seats to the Democrats' 191 seats while votes were being tallied early Wednesday, according to CNN projections." So 13 seats are still up in the air. It would be nice to get at least 9 of them: 200+ just sounds better.

I think this may be one of the things that Obama's first debate performance cost us: with the Presidency suddenly on the ropes, that had to draw time, attention, and money away from the Congressional campaigns.

A good first debate, and Obama would probably have had time to talk up the importance of having a Democratic Congress to help pass his legislation, rather than fighting a tough battle for his own political survival.

[oddjob]

Randall Munroe (xkcd) has what deserves to be the last word in the Silvergrad campaign.

Now, that's just cruel (& richly, richly deserved).... :)

[Sir Charles]

l-t c,

About 20 years ago I was at a brunch with Lisa Schiffren, who was a friend of a friend of my wife. To say that fireworks ensued was an understatement. I was less moderate in those days. :-)

I think the House result cannot be laid at the feet of the debate, but in the total ass kicking we took in 2010, a census year. As a result, the redistricting insulated a whole bunch of Republicans who otherwise would have been vulnerable.

We have to find a way to get our demographic to the polls in these elections.

Fortunately 2020 is a presidential year, so hopefully we won't face the same problem.

JM,

Glad to hear about your dad.

[Prup (aka Jim Benton)]

The Carmona and Berkeley losses hurt, especially the Carmona -- if only the pundits had discovered him the way they discovered Elizabeth Warren and a few others. Great resume, truly progressive, truly cared about what he wanted to do, and a little more publicity might have brought him across. (But of all the Republicans in contested Senate races, Flake was probably the least obnoxious -- low praise but true.)

Berkeley's loss to the empty suit, Dean Heller, is annoying, but she was more centrist and I think the phony 'scandal' must have killed her momentum. (Her husband is a doctor, a kidney specialist. She voted for funding to keep the last hospital specializing in kidney diseases in the state open. The idea that she did this because of her husband's profession -- neither his profession nor his specialty were secrets -- rather than because it was the "last hospital specializing in kidney diseases in the state" makes sense only to the Republican mind, but it hurt her.

(And even l-tc will, I'm sure, come to regret the absence of Bob Kerrey if only because it means the presence of Deb Fischer.)

Meanwhile, the King and Queen of the Crazy Prom will be back, "Steve and Michelle, together again" and we have a new candidate for weirdest member in Kerry Bentivolio, reindeer rancher, Santa impersonator, tea party supporter, whose own brother warned that he was crazy and if elected would wind up in jail.

(And you will excuse me for not joining in the general rejoicing, but I am not that happy about the return of Alan Grayson. It's a gut feeling, but I think he has the potential to be a dangerous demagogue, and I won't yell at Republicans for protecting their scarier members if I don't speak out against ours.)

But overall, a damn good day, and the first wins for weed and wedding for all in elections. (And maybe the saddest news was the defeat of janinsanfran's anti-death penalty referendum. But that'll happen too, after a few more tries.)

Now if we can get rid of or modify the filibuster...

[oddjob]

Now if we can get rid of or modify the filibuster...

Angus King has already said in an interview I heard on WGBH radio last night that high on his list of priorities (when discussing with the powers that be which party he'll caucus with) will be what they will be willing to do along exactly those lines.

[paula]

With the actual numbers and relative percentages of registered female voters clearly in my mind and snuggled up next to that Slate piece on old white men, I heard Brooks and Shield talk about women's concerns being distractions in this election and, when questioned by Ifill, deny that women's votes would push the results. Brooks said something about the central issues, and how suburban women love Romney. Wha? These two went on and on about the demographic history of Virginia, noting NoVA's diversity. Brooks attributed that to out-of-state college students coming to the region, then staying for their first job. David, what about the huge Southeast Asian, Latin American and other immigrant communities spread across NoVa? Did you not notice them? David, last night my husband pointed out your ill-fitting suit, but I noticed you were tooting that final bugle note, making yourself almost as relevant as The Donald and George W Bush.

[Joe S]

Prup, Not to bring up old business, but you'll need to donate 250 books to charity + 81 (Romney won 206 electoral votes). I'm sure there's a 80 something who's dying to read "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" or the third book in Isaac Asimov's trilogy on robots.

[kathy a.]

i believe that sane people, including women, handed certain others their asses last night.

the only real disappointment for me was losing Prop. 34, to replace the death penalty with LWOPP in california. jan and the fabulous campaign team, though, did an amazing job, with over 47% favoring the measure. this is a huge shift in attitudes! the bay area and los angeles solidly supported 34 -- but i am impressed at progress in more conservative parts of the state, too.

[Prup (aka Jim Benton)]

Joe S: I'm already making selections -- and I'll have Lora Serra at Schulman write a comment as I have them delivered. No, I'm not giving them any of my Philip K Dick's -- if I am still around at 80 I expect to be rereading them yet again. The Asimov, and a fair amount of STAR TREK (TOS and DS9 more than VOY or TNG), and some fantasies that have drifted into the collection. But the main bulk will be mysteries -- and if you don't think 80-year olds who are still reading read them, ...

Anyway, one key is if some books stored in the basement are still in good condition, as they were last time I looked. If so, 90% of them -- mostly large hb format mysteries by people like Robert Parker -- will go and I'll have about 100 less to sacrifice.

Fortunately, my library has been so supplemented by the availability of public domain classic mysteries for the kindle, free or ridiculously cheap (12 book collections for $1 or $2) and other things (the complete Baum OZ, all the Zane Gray baseball books I had as a kid, even real current books) that I can really ask myself how likely it is that I'll need to read a particular writer in the next twenty years, even if I have the time I rarely do now. (I still don't have a Kindle, but there's a free Kindle app for the computer that gives you the material. The machine -- by Christmas, I hope.)

[oddjob]

Wha?

I've often wondered how one gets one of these great paying gigs where you get to be a relentlessly clueless yet "very important person". It must be such an amazing thing to never be held accountable for your colossal obliviousness!

[Eric Wilde]

Hooray!!!!! The side of reason and the Enlightenment did well last night.

[oddjob]

Greg Sargent posts a good column about why these particular Senate victories are as signficant as they are, in the process citing this observation:

Elizabeth Warren and Joe Donnelly and Angus King picked up seats, and all of them are to the left of what is currently in that seat on most issues, to varying degrees (obviously Warren is significantly more liberal, while the other two more in the sense that they don’t have the pressures of voting with an obstructionist minority). But there’s more. Chris Murphy is well to the left of Joe Lieberman, enough that you could call that a pickup in itself. Tammy Baldwin is way to the left of Herb Kohl. Martin Heinrich is probably a little to the left of Jeff Bingaman. Heidi Heitkamp is probably a wash with Kent Conrad. And a number of the incumbents are free to vote a bit differently given that they won’t be up for re-election for 6 years.

[Joe S]

Oddjob- Tim Kaine is probably a little to the left of Jim Webb. Tim Kaine is much more of a team player than Jim Webb, so I'll take that trade.

[Prup (aka Jim Benton)]

Even the three losses weren't that bad. Flake is likely to be more independent of leaderhip than Kyl, Heller is an empty suit, but he's in effect replacing John Ensign, only Deb Fischer is substantially to the right -- but of Ben Nelson. (And okay, Cruz is well to the right of Kay Bailey, but that was unavoidable by us.)

And did I miss a mention of the all-female New Hampshire group, Gov, both Senators, and both Representatives. (Anybody put a seismograph next to William Loeb's grave?)

[Joe S]

I honestly don't think it matters much this term whether the Senate moved incrementally left. Usually you get senators over a long period of time (like the 1970's) who get a progressive moment and shine. This seems like one of those nights. Warren, Baldwin, King, Murphy, and Kaine will be picking (as well as Hawaii's new senator) will be picking up skills, getting prepared, and will be ready for the next progressive push (which may be in 2016 or 2020).

[paula]

Boehner willing "to accept" new revenue
http://wapo.st/RXgSRA

[low-tech cyclist]

IMHO, the most important thing about last night's big Senate win was that it gives us a buffer for 2014. As some others here are aware, if you thought the terrain in the 2012 Senate elections was bad for us, you ain't seen nothin' yet. Except for Maine, the seats the GOP will be defending in 2014 are in the South, the Plains, or the mountain West - and not any of the relatively friendly states like Montana or North Carolina. Really our only pickup opportunity is if Susan Collins decides to follow Olympia Snowe into retirement.

So it's good to have enough seats that we can afford to lose 2-3 seats, net, in 2014, because that's the likely outcome even if 2014 is a good year for us.

[nancy]

TNC : "Hippies Wander into the Lions' Den, Maul Lions".

Glad to see the outcome in Montana, both with Tester and the initiative to overturn Citizens'. Next up: watching them unravel and trace the money laundering trails of all that nefarious cash. Go Grizzlies.

My husband is enjoying the Fox post-election analyses today. He's a glutton...

[oddjob]

Anybody put a seismograph next to William Loeb's grave?

LOL!!

[oddjob]

Boehner willing "to accept" new revenue

That's a good thing.

Hopefully Cantor & Ryan won't cut him off at the knees for it.