Can I just say how happy I am tonight? I was praying really hard for results such as this. That creep in Pennsylvania, Rick Santorium, history! Ohio, Indiana, huge Dem gains. The contract with America has expired. Tonight is a wonderful night. My faith has been restored in the American public. God speed to victory!

You may wish to change that "Contract with America" to the "Contract ON America".

We also had a HUGE Democrat win in the Golden State with Ah-nold (who is still masquerading as a Republican). Haha!

Well, I know gmg is happy that Arnold won, so see, there was some good news for everyone!

Well, while I hate to be captain bringdown, we have to remember that some of the democrats (Bob Casey for example) that were elected in tonight are still social conservatives. So, while we're going to avoid gay marriage amendments for two years at least (I hope), we're not really electing in a big liberal swing in national philosophy. Plus, same-sex marriage bans passed in every state on which they were on the ballot except for Arizona, which is still too close to call.


C'mon AZ, hold on to that no vote!

Edit: Whoops, Ft beat me to this in the midterm madness thread. My bad fantomas.

I'm sitting here stunned that the Dems are leading in the final 3 (Missouri, Montana and Virginia) and are within striking distance of taking the Senate too. That would be absolutely unbelievable. I won't be going to bed for awhile.

Within the last 10 minutes, Talent has given his concession speech and McCaskill gave her victory speech in Missouri. McCaskill had been down 6-10 points throughout the night until StL and KC #'s came in.

The New era of American Politics begin! It took some Americans longer than other to pick up on what exactly was happening. I lost faith in much of America during the last 6 years of the GOP rule in the White House, Congress, and Senate.

Lets Hope Pelosi and Reid don't make the same mistake the GOP'ers did in 1994 when they took control of Senate and HOuse by playing divisive politics. I for one hope us Democrats learn from our mistakes and show why we are the party that will lead all of America.

This night was a long night coming.........

I am definitely NOT getting any sleep tonight. It sure looks like Montana with Tester and Virginia with Webb will likely win. That's my hope. The House is already turned blue. So too, hopefully, will the Senate.

(Illini, you added new stuff, so that's cool.)

Webb is going to win Virginia, and Tester is going to win Montana, which means that two of the most outrageous, racist, homophobic troglodytes, Allen and Burns, in the Senate will be gone. It didn't happen soon enough. Also the anti-gay Rick Santorum was bounced out on his ass.

So let me say, thank you people of Virginia, of Montana, of Missouri, of Pennsylvania, and of course of all the other states that elected sane people rather than the anti-gay fanatics. Chafee wasn't so anti-gay and did vote against Bush often enough, but he still caved at crucial moments. Why didn't he just switch parties, and coast to reelection?

It is awful that the anti-gay marriage ballot propositions passed, though some did specifically NOT include civil union bans, but this just means that we will have to keep working hard to fight the bans and push for equality under the law.

It's also a bummer that that lying jerk Joe Lieberman was reelected. His whole narcissistic, pro-Bush behavior should have disqualified him, but he won most of the Republican votes, so that's all it took. I hope Democrats realize that if Bush finally cans Rumsfeld, whom he claims is "doing a great job" (and McCain sniped at this sort of delusional crap tonight), he could appoint Lieberman Secretary of Defense, which would mean that M. Jody Rell would appoint a Republican to his seat and...well, you get the picture. So the Dem leaders obviously made some sort of agreement with Lieberman to keep him happy. I still recall that he approved Mike "Heck of Job" Brownie's candidacy, after a breezy hearing, so he can't be trusted with anything. He'll be whining if he's not catered to, just watch.

As for the new Democrats, some are very liberal, like Klobuchar (MN) and Whitehouse (RI); some are pretty moderate, like McCaskill (MO) and Webb (VA); and some are conservative, like Casey (PA). But on many economic issues they are pro-middle class, at least far more so than the GOPers whose seats they took. Since Harry Reid is a moderate-conservative, the Senate will govern to the right of the House (which even now includes a Democratic rock musician, John Hall, from New York!), lots of veterans, and many progressives linked to the Netroots blogs, but both will be to the left-center of our far right-wing president. Just watch him try to push Social Security privatization, more pro-conglomerate bills, crazily ultraconservative judges, and so on. Barbara Boxer or Teddy Kennedy can use secret holds to their hearts' delights, and no Republican can challenge them. It's the nasty bed the Republicans made, though when the Democrats last had power they didn't lie in it.

I wish I was as confident as you regarding Tester in Montana. His lead is down to 5,800 votes now with 77% reporting. That's not safe by any means. Also, abcnews.com just reported that Montana isn't expected to be finalized until 8 a.m. ET because "recount needed in Yellowstone County."

What?! How in the heck can they start a recount when they haven't even given us the final figures? I smell Karl Rove. Earlier on CNN, the strategists reported that Yellowstone County was the key in Montana, and that in order for Burns to win, he would have to carry that county. Yet they said that Republican strategists were disappointed because the exit polls were revealing that the county was going for Tester.

This all sounds like the Repugs are trying to steal another election if you ask me. And what better time to do it than between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. local time in Montana while the nation sleeps?

I am really gonna pay for this tomorrow morning. I can't stop watching the Montana race as it gets closer and closer. It's only a 3,300 vote spread now with 84% of the precincts reporting.

In California, the Democrats had a major Congressional pick-up. Little-known Dem Jerry McNerney beat GOP Rep. Richard Pombo, the current chairman of the House Resources Committee in a stunning victory for environmentalists. This was definitely part of the national wave because McNerney lost to Pombo 2 years ago in the same race and was trounced badly. The district comprises a chunk of the northern San Joaquin Valley, which has been turning more and more Republican over the years so this was a huge Dem victory.

I think it is important to note that, should it hold up, Rick Santorum has lost by a larger margin than was predicted in any pre-election poll that I've seen and that the margin was more anti-Santorum than pro-Casey.

It is also important that this swing to the Democrats happened in spite of the clever gerrymandering of the conservatives around the country.

Election reform needs to be one of the first issues on the agenda, economics the second and foreign policy third.

As important as I believe it is to our troops out of Iraq, it could result in a huge loss of political momentum for Democrats to expend all of their energy opposing that one policy and wind up blamed for a terrorist attack caused by Bush's insistance on staying there.

Iraq will most likely be an issue for the next presidential election and the next president unfortunately.

In the meantime, pray we don't hit a really nasty speedbump there. And more power to Nancy Pelosi, the nemesis of the right-wing and a proud product of my home state of Maryland: Baltimore's best since Waters.

How SWEET it is!! Wow, what a stunning night. For the first time in 6 years, I am actually looking forward to Shrubs press confernce today!!!! Democrats have a huge opportunity in front of them, along with a huge responsibility. I hope we are up to the task!!!!

That's a very nice surprise. I thought Pombo would hold on.

The other big name going down, not on many pundits' radar screen, is Congressman Jim Leach ® in Iowa.

The Dem. wave was also present in Northeast Wisconsin (Green Bay and Appleton) -- a solid GOP district. It has elected only five Dems. since Wisconsin statehood -- the last three were a former Green Bay Packer, a Catholic priest and a newscaster -- certainly not run of the mill politicians. So that boded well for an allergist -- Dr. Steve Kagen -- who beat out a GOP career politician, John Gard.

I want to see Bush cry like a baby. Just kidding.

It is so good to see Democrats win in every corner of the country. For the next two years, the GOP has been relegated to a Southeastern party. Dems won in the north, midwest, mountain states and the west. They picked up a few seats in Florida and Kentucky, held on to governorships in Oklahoma and Tennessee and took back the governor's office in Arkansas. Dems won a House seat in Kansas -- Kansas of all places!! -- and turned out several GOP veterans (JD Hayworth in AZ, for one). The GOP barely held on in places red-meat Red states like Wyoming and Idaho.

I am so happy Santorum lost. I feel bad for his little girl, but Santorum didn't shed a single tear when he ripped apart gay people. His little girl will regain her dad. If Santorum had his way, my own children would grow up in a world without their gay father. Sorry Rick, but you're gone.

I hope Pelosi and the Dems don't read the wrong message on this election. I hope they shift slightly to the center. If they want to hold the seats they won in Red America, they will need to evidence serious policy shifts.

Most of all, I feel like a cloud has lifted and the sun is finally shining back in on America. Like a period of tyranny is, at long last, finally ended.

What A Glorious Day!!!!
I think the appropriate headlines for the parties should be

Dems = MORNING IN AMERICA

Rethugs = MOURNING IN AMERICA

And as a proud Pennsylvanian I am so GLAD to see santorum gone, it was an overwhelming defeat for Ricky.

Yep big wins for the Democrats. If MT and VA hold up they'll have control of the Senate and House. But how long will it before before Joe Lieberman "Jeffords" the Dems? I figure sometime around May. Rumsfield will offer his resignation. Bush will call Lieberman and tell him to become SecDef. Joe will "heed the call of service to his country from his Commander-in-Chief"* and will resign his Senate seat. Then the Connecticut Governor will appoint either Shays or Simmons to the Senate seat giving the control back to the GOP. Mark my words.

*It wouldn't surprise me if Lieberman uses those exact words too.

Don't count your chickens...

People voted Dem overwhelmingly because of perceptions of corruption and perceptions that the R's were out of touch.

If the Dems are smart, they will concentrate on ethics and campaign reform; the budget, deficit and the debt, healthcare, education and other domestic issues.

There is little they can actually do about foreign policy: but they should keep up the pressure and make it THE front button issue for the 2008 election.

While I would think DOMA is now DEAD - don't look for any sympathetic legislation from our friends; even with Pelosi as Speaker. For that we will have to wait for a Dem President to do what Truman did. For now we will have to be content with the status quo.

Rob

I feel for my Democratic friends in Idaho, which is still a one party state. They gave it a good go, but Idaho stays red, which really didn't surprise me that much.

Rough night in Colorado...Marilyn Musgrave is probably going to retain her set in the house, a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage passed, and a referendum creating domestic partnership benefits failed.

Even though the marriage amendment passed BARELY in my home state of South Dakota, they did not let the abortion ban pass.

51% for the marriage amendment
49% against the marriage amendment

Pretty f**king narrow, if you ask me.

You don't have to hope -- they won't, to their shame. As Grover Norquist has said, "Bipartisanship is like date rape." They have no excuse for failing to begin impeachment if they take both houses. Except, of course, the Democrats abetted Bush in much of his criminality.

Curb your enthusiasm. Meet the new boss, pretty much the same as the old boss...

I, for one, welcome our new Democratic overlords. I'd like to remind them that as a trusted Republican personality, I can be helpful in rounding up other Republicans to toil in their underground sugar caves.

IMHO, the first thing they should attack is graft, greed and corruption in the Iraq contracting process - hit Halliburton where it hurts. That would allow the Dems to hit an issue everyone can agree on (whether you're for the war or not, you're not going to be for waste and corruption, not to mention poisoned water for the troops), continue the focus on the incompetence in Iraq, but avoid some of the nastier fights over troops. They should also begin truly caucusing the entire House and Senate to come up with an Iraq withdrawl plan for Bush to veto, making him the bad guy.

They have already promised a rise in the minimum wage, full implementation of the 9/11 commission recommendations, and ethics reform in the House - all good things to do.

I agree and would add raising the minimum wage. I think it will have wide support and will be a big help to those who need it most. They should also restore Congress' role of oversight. I heard recently (I can't remember the source) that there were 144 hours of hearings for Clinton's use of the Whitehouse Christmas card list and 12 on the torture at Abu Ghraib. The House could do America a great service by simply shedding some light and what is going on in Iraq, etc.

It seems clear that the momentum for equal rights for gays and lesbians has slowed down and it is extremely painful to see our religious fellow citizens succeed in enshrining discrimination against us in so many state constitutions. Still, I think equality is something I will live to see and am looking forward to it. There is good news from Arizona. The younger generation (who voted mostly Democratic) don't have the same level of bigotry against us that their elders do. Conditions have improved drastically since I was a kid (thank you activist judges for knocking down the sodomy laws!) so when I take the longer view I remain optimistic. It is also good to see more out gays and lesbians winning elections..




Kent Brockman!?! Is that you?

Missouri overwhelmingly passed a proposition that would raise the MW to 6.50, and also every year increase/decrease min wage to the cost of living.

I just want to CELEBRATE, CELEBRATE...I just want to CELEBRATE, CELEBRATE...

....

Yes, this is a very good day to wake up to! I stayed up way too late last night and today I am suffering for it. However, that suffering is well worth it!

Tester proclaimed winner in MT.

It's hard to believe that a woman president will be just a hunting accident and a pace-maker malfunction away.

Congrats to you Yanks. It'll be nice to have your country back. By that I mean the America that has inspired other nations. The America written about on the Statue of Liberty, of Lincoln, John and Bobby Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Roosevelt.

But I have one thought. If by some outside chance the Republicans keep control of the senate, even with a 50/50 tie, it will be a much more right wing senate. A few of the moderate Republicans have gone down to defeat. Those that are left, are more right wing. While Chaffee was replaced with Whitehouse, a Democrat, his political philosophies are now history. It will be CHeney's political philosophies in charge.

That is scary.

Wow...Bush just admitted he lied to the press 7 days ago about keeping Rumsfeld on. Someone pinch me...This is my favorite day of the year!

Don't look at me, I voted for Kodos.



Edit: CNN calls Montana for the Democrats.

Lksimcoe, a lot of the new Democratic reps are also more conservative. There really is no major philosophical differences between the "center" of the parties anymore. The extreme-right GOP is just neofascistic, is all.

Well while many of the newly elected are more moderate, you have to keep in mind that first of all, people campaign on their more moderate issues. Just like how all those Republicans TRIED to portray themselves as not being a Bush puppet, even though their voting was.

Many of the new moderate Democrats are not all about abortion, gun control, etc......but those issues aren't going to be brought up now. Something like gun control wouldn't be touched unless there was a Democratic President. Keep in mind the Democrats will determine what is brought up.....so none of those more conservative views will really ever come into play.

Where they do stand with the Democrats is the minimum wage, environmental issues, prescription drugs.....things where they can pressure the President (and could even have some Republican votes).

lol! Oh my God, my sis & I were discussing this same issue...

But I certainly don't think about or wish death on anyone, not even the politicians I dislike.

Ok I still feel like gloating....

I've got this strong urge to put on my Dee Lite cds & dance...Groove IS in the heart...

DOO DEE PEE POP AH DEE POOH!

True, though liberal Republicans Susan Collins, Olympia Snowe and Arlen Specter, and weepy moderate George Voinovich are still in the Senate. A few of the other Republicans, like Gordon Smith, show some moderation from time to time. The ones from the south are almost uniformly right wing, from moderately right-wing, like Lindsay Graham, to extreme right-wing, like Trent Lott and Jeff Sessions. Nothing you can do about that, since the voters down there keep sending them back to the big house.

A number of pretty liberal Democrats also were elected to both houses, though. In the Senate, the Democrats now have Ben Cardin, Amy Klobuchar (who won in a romp), Bob Menendez, Sheldon Whitehouse, and many of the liberal stalwarts like Baby Teddy (Kennedy), Bingaman, Stabenow, etc. I don't think this is going to shift the Senate to the left, but even with Webb, Tester, McCaskill, etc., the power will reside in the center-left, not the far right as it has been. Keep in mind that outside of Collins and Specter, none of the moderate Republicans had ANY power whatsoever. When you've got the likes of Orrin Hatch, Rick Santorum and John Kyl running things, that about says it all.

In the House, alongside some of the very conservative Democrats, a number of liberals and progressives actually won. I would imagine they realize they can't shift things to the far left, but again, given how extreme the House has been since 1994, it will definitely shift left.

What is NOT going to happen is Bush's impeachment. It won't. I can't see Pelosi allowing it, and there would not be enough votes in the Senate to convict him. I mean, do you really think even Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton would vote to convict that criminal, even if the litany of crimes were detailed for the American people? It ain't happening. What I hope they do, after introducing that 100 Days legislation as if it's coming off an assembly line, is to have some investigations of the financial shenanigans involving Iraq, the lobbyists, and so on. Also let's see what happens with the Foley-Kolbe investigation. According to Andrew Sullivan, it's looking very bad for Hastert, Reynolds, et al. So they may have been reelected, but they very well could be severely sanctioned, and Lord knows, the last thing the Republicans need at this point is more focus on their inability to control and discipline old men praying on teenage boys.

It took us 6 years, American people, but the Rovian spell has been broken!

I really think the Repugs need to follow their own advice of 2000 and 2004....

Allen just needs to concede Virginia and "do what's right for the country in the spirit of healing so we can all move on."

Where to begin? First, the daughter is dressed like her doll, which she's too old to be toting around, don'tcha think? And the expression on her face doesn't look authentic - it's overracted and unconvincing.

Then there's the deer-in-the-headlights boy, the teenage girl (whose emotion does look real, at least as real as coming from the teenage daughter of Rick Santorum can look), and...who's that behind Rick's shoulder? Another son? Why is he alone in the group? The black sheep (closet case)?

Wifey's grimace is fascinating - something about the arch of the eyebrow and the closed mouth pulled to one side. What was going through her mind at that moment?

G'bye, Rick. A little bit of me will miss you. You made PA politics entertaining, and you're kind of cute in a dork way. But you can stop pretending you live here now. Go home.

A Video Tribute to All of the Republicans Whose Sorry Butts Got Booted Out

I see that Crist was elected Governor of Florida despite rumours of his orientation and ex-con bf. If the rumours were to be proved true do you think he could remain in office as a openly gay Governor or would the GOP force him out?

Also last night, while enjoying Santorums defeat , I saw Bill Bennet on CNN extolling the ex-Senators virtues and suggesting that there were many in the GOP who would now be urging Rick to go for the presidential nomination. I would have thought given how soundly he was defeated that any aspirations for higher office would have gone down the drain. Is there really a chance this guy could come back to haunt us ??

The Santorun family photo is both scary and hysterically funny at the same time. Is this the portrait of the ideal Republican christan family- or some out take from a "Children of the Corn" sequel?

Eeeeeeekkkkkkkkkk!




Lol! Hee hee hee.

Children of the corn, gets my vote. Scary.

Of course the conservatives have been all over how left-wing liberal Nancy Pelosi is in regards to the war, etc. One thing I'm surprised about is the fact that there's been no real mention of the fact that Pelosi represents what has to be the GAYEST congressional district in the country - the heart of the Castro here in San Francisco.

gmginsfo needs to chime in at some time here, especially since he faced Pelosi for her position before cowtowing it down to San Diego.

A little scandal or two might do the trick, but the state parties would no doubt just clone them.



And delusional:



I can't imagine Santorum could even get elected dogcatcher at this point -- and I hope I'M not the one who's delusional.

Maybe they can start a new Munsters or Adams Family show based on the Santorums.

The scoop on what the world thinks about the Democratic tsunami yesterday

I don't know if this has been posted yet and its really not important but something thats been bugging me. When did Missouri become Missoura? I've never heard so many political pundits refer to MissourI as MissourA this election.