Senate & House Under Obama - Dallas-Mavs.com Forums

Janett_Reno · 11-06-2008, 02:05 PM

The Oregonian now projects that state house speaker Jeff Merkley will defeat Sen. Gordon Smith (R-OR) in their Senate race. Merkley now leads by 4000 votes and most of the remaining votes are from heavily Democratic Multnomah County.

In Minnesota, Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) leads challenger Al Franken by 570 votes out of 2.5 million cast. There will be a recount, which could take weeks according to Minnesota secretary of state Mark Richie.

Alaska has another Senate race whose winner is in doubt. At present, Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) holds a 4000-vote lead over Anchorage mayor Mark Begich. However, 4% of the precincts haven't reported yet and there are 70,000 absentee ballots yet to be counted. A Stevens victory could have national implications, however, as Democrats will likely try to expel the convicted senator from the Senate if he wins and Republicans would be forced to make a difficult vote on the expulsion motion. If he is expelled, there will be a special election to fill the seat and many people expect Sarah Palin to run and win, giving her four years of national exposure before a possible 2012 run for the White House. Not all Republicans are happy at seeing someone with such high unfavorables and who was repeatedly mocked as a lightweight with expensive taste in designer clothing becoming the de facto party leader. Once you have acquired a bad public image, it is hard to shake it. Just ask President Quayle.

Finally, in Georgia, Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) beat Jim Martin(D) in the Senate race there, but may not have gotten the requisite 50% of the vote, forcing a runoff there in December.All in all, the Democrats still have some opportunities to raise their Senate totals to the 57-58 seat range, but getting a filibuster-proof 60 now seems out of the question unless Obama appoints to the cabinet one or more Republican senators from states with Democratic governors.

The House

While the Democrats failed to pick up their hoped for 30 seats, they did get more than 20 and will likely end up with 255-260 seats in the House. Nevertheless, a number of seats are undecided. One of them is the CA-04 open seat being vacated by John Doolittle, who is under investigation on various corruption charges. Currently Tom McClintock (R) is leading Charlie Brown (D) by 451 votes, but there are tens of thousands of absentee and provisional ballots yet to be counted in this R+11 district. In LA-04, there will be a runoff Dec. 6th between Paul Carmouche (D) and John Fleming (R). In MD-01, Democrat Frank Kratovil is ahead of Republican Andy Harris by 915 votes, but there are 25,000 absentee ballots yet to be counted. in OH-15, Steve Stivers (R)is leading Mary Jo Kilroy (D) by 321 votes, so a recount is likely. In VA-05, challenger Tom Perrillo (D) has a 31-vote lead over incumbent Virgil Goode (R). A recount is assured there. Finally, in WA-08, incumbent Dave Reichert (R) has a 1900-vote lead over Internet darling Darcy Burner (D), but absentee ballots are still coming in and could change the result. Swing State Project has more.

Exit Polls
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Obama won among
men (49% to 48%)
women (56% to 43%)
blacks (95% to 5%)
latinos (66% to 31%)
asians (62% to 35%)
whites (43% to 55%) This is normal for democrats
18-29 year-olds 66% to 31%
losing seniors 52% to 46%
He swept every educational category as well as Catholics and Jews but lost Protestants 54% to 45%

Al Gore
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In the year 2000, George W. Bush won 54 percent of the white vote and 31 percent of the Hispanic vote. But Al Gore won 90 percent of the black vote and thus topped Bush in the total popular vote." Democrats at the national level consistently win fewer than 50 percent of white votes.

John Kerry
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88% of the black vote went to John Kerry.
Latinos voted 53 percent for Kerry.
Asians were 56 percent for Mr. Kerry

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I posted the black vote because it seems in the forum it is alot of talk about the black vote. It was years ago under a republican president when blacks voted republican and many things was promised to them and when they help elect him, he did the complete opposite and this was when the black vote left the republican party. The republicans also took the latino vote for granted and would try to scare them with Castro. Now remember, alot of the above is back lash against Bush/Cheney/Rummy and a "R" by your name but how long could this last? You do not throw the latino vote away. If Obama brings in latinos in his adm, this does well within the latino community. Then the black community sees what party had a woman and a black man running and it was in the democrat party. Also independents, i need to get a poll on how independents voted in this election. The republicans did hold pretty solid and strong in the south. Deep south but i know it must be fear within the party that GA was even as close as it was. Now if you do not know about the state of VA, you need to read it's history and for them to vote for a black man, this was history in the making and especially from VA. Now this is where the gop should be in bad fear as VA went blue and it looks like the state under it in NC has went Obama. See where this is creeping into the south?

Other things i find interesting, how many black people live in IA and MT? This must be very scarry for the gop party. MT is out west in republican country and did Obama even go there to speak? MT has been electing some dems here lately and look how close Obama came here. If it wasn't McCain in AZ and another person, it makes you wonder, what about AZ? IN was amazing and i feel the young people really helped in this state. This is as red as a state gets and it went blue. Joe the part time plummer, country music artist, wanting to run for mayor did not help in OH. Again guess what happened? Let's scare the country. Since the Iraq scare tactic this adm pulled, now the scare tactic isn't working. I even see today where Mitch E Poo McConnell is blaming W Bush and who is Mitch E Poo to be talking? He was as much or more of a puppet and neocon than W was. What a turn coat. Hey, if you stood by rubber stamping everything, now why blame W and Cheney when Mitch was was part of this adm and maybe the main or one of the main ones. On sates like IA and NH they really do think for themselfs and more independent thinkers and really listen and weigh the issues out.

Who takes the gop party over? Not sure but i feel Mitch is way to weak and a mouse. Newt would like to and he may possibly. Saran Palin maybe want's top spot in 2012 but it won't be easy with some gop not liking her. It is also talks of Romney already in 2012. The democrats need to do the best they can and add to what they have now and sweep down in more states. If the dems mess up and turn out to be another "W", then they will get kicked out in 4 years. I don't see this happening.

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Grading The National Polls: Rasmussen In First, Gallup And Zogby Last

Most of these polls were on target with Obama winning by five to seven points, and quite a few of them had him in the neighborhood of 52% support. The first prize goes to Rasmussen for nailing the 52%-46% figure exactly. Research 2000 is close behind with their 51%-46% figure. Gallup was way off in giving Obama an 11-point win, but they did have Obama's support at just over the true result of 52%. And Zogby also gave Obama an 11-point lead, at a 54% level of support.

Also, the final Pew poll allocated its undecideds based on demographics and answers to key issue questions. Their prediction: Obama 52%, McCain 46%.

DirkFTW · 11-06-2008, 03:03 PM

Guys I found the hardest font to read...EVER!

Kirobaito · 11-06-2008, 03:07 PM

If Stevens wins in Alaska, I sure as hell want Chambliss gone. I think even most Republicans can agree that Chambliss is a despicable low-life, closet (or not even closet) racist that represents everything wrong with American politics. Go Jim Martin.

Underdog · 11-06-2008, 03:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DirkFTW

Guys I found the hardest font to read...EVER!

Ain't that the truth...

My eyes are BLEEDING!!!!

horse900703 · 11-06-2008, 05:09 PM

Go Job Obama!

bernardos70 · 11-06-2008, 06:17 PM

.

bernardos70 · 11-06-2008, 06:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DirkFTW

Guys I found the hardest font to read...EVER!

You can't deny its impact though....... I've had to get a new eye prescription! Words so bold they make one go blind...

Janett_Reno · 11-06-2008, 07:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kirobaito

If Stevens wins in Alaska, I sure as hell want Chambliss gone. I think even most Republicans can agree that Chambliss is a despicable low-life, closet (or not even closet) racist that represents everything wrong with American politics. Go Jim Martin.

I agree with you on Chambliss and what he did to Cleland was very bad and even what he stands for is very bad and you did hit on it. It should be close if he hits 50% or if it is a run off with Martin. I am not sure how a run off will go between him and Martin. No matter what happens, GA gop has took a hit and weakened. All the gop all over the country has with maybe an exception of Alaska. It would have been good to have got Chambliss out and let Lindsay Graham and even Mitch E Poo have a fun next 4 years. As far as Stevens, that will be a mess but as you see, maybe even Palin taking the senators job and then her running for president in 2012. I really hope she does and she gets the nominee because i feel the gop will lose again.

GOP in dire straits

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1108/15357.html

Thumped convincingly in consecutive election cycles, the Republican Party now finds itself in its worst straits since the rise of the conservative coalition — a minority party without the White House, fewer seats in the House and Senate, only 21 governors and full control of just 14 state legislatures.

Most ominous for Republicans, the GOP is increasingly becoming less grand than old — and outdated. As reflected in Tuesday’s results and exit polls, it’s a party that is overwhelmingly white, rural and aged in a country that is rapidly becoming racially mixed, suburban and dominated by a post-Baby Boomer generation with no memory of Vietnam or the familiar culture wars of the past.

Beyond demography, the party is now, thanks to the outgoing president and some members of Congress, perceived by many voters as either incompetent, corrupt or just not standing for much.

Even on fiscal issues — for decades central to the GOP’s appeal — Republicans now lag. In an election focused on the economy like none since 1992, Democrats had the advantage on which party would best address the current financial crisis, limit spending, reduce the deficit and cut taxes for middle-class voters, according to a pre-election survey taken across four battleground states — Virginia, Florida, Ohio and Colorado — by the American Issues Project, a conservative third-party group. Not coincidentally, each of those states — red in 2004 — flipped to the Democrats on Tuesday.

Intermingled with the cries of anguish in GOP circles this week — as well as a few choice words aimed at the McCain campaign — there is a common mantra: What do we do now? Interviews with some of the leading figures in the party, many of them representing GOP hopes for a future restoration, answer that question with a consensus that Republicans need not undergo major ideological shifts. Instead, these governors, former governors and members of Congress say the party must re-embrace its small government roots while striving to embrace the reform mantle and become relevant to the day-to-day concerns of average Americans.

All concede that the party’s once pristine brand name has been tarnished during the Bush era. “I don’t think we’ve done a good job in the last two cycles of defining what Republicans are,” said North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr.

And if a Republican president and Republican-held Congress presiding over a massive increase in the size of government wasn’t bad enough for the party’s image, the shaky handling of the economic crisis this fall by the White House and GOP leaders on Capitol Hill was the last blow to conservative fiscal credibility.

“In the near-term, the answer is clearly yes,” Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty said when asked if the bailout had hurt the party brand.

“It was a watershed moment,” added former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a vocal opponent of the $700 billion rescue package. “It went against every principle Republicans held.”

The hope now is that this election will offer a political cleansing of sorts, with Democratic dominance providing a fresh opportunity for Republicans to rebuild around new leaders, draw sharper contrasts and articulate conservative principles in a way that will lead moderate voters who’ve abandoned the GOP back into the fold.

“We’re still a center-right country,” said Sen. John Thune, a South Dakotan who is eyeing a leadership role in the new Congress and is seen by some in the party as presidential timber. “Democrats won those voters in the middle who ought to be part of our coalition.’

With Democrats firmly in control of both chambers of Congress, Thune said Republicans have a chance “to get back on offense.”

“I think this is going to be very liberating for Republicans in Congress.”

And Republicans are wasting no time in critiquing some of President-elect Barack Obama’s first moves.

“With the selection of Rahm Emanuel [as White House chief of staff], I think Sen. Obama is sending a strong signal of partisanship,” said Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour. Emanuel has been offered the job, according to Democratic sources, but has yet to accept it. “He’s a hardball player if there ever was one. That doesn’t say much to me about this ‘post-partisan’ presidency.”

But while the GOP does battle with Obama and his liberal allies on Capitol Hill, other Republicans would like to see the party use this wilderness period to reassert itself at the state level and recreate the sort of coalition of conservative reform governors it had in the '90s.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said the party should take four primary steps: show no tolerance for corruption, practice what it preaches about limiting the scope of government (“There should not be such a thing as a Big-Government Republican”), stand for working families and small business, and embrace reform.

“I hope there is a strong focus on recruiting candidates for governor as a top priority for 2010,” said Bush. “A reform conservative agenda can be shown at the state level regarding education, health care and environmental policy while the liberals advocate the status quo, just more of it, in Washington, D.C.”

Two young Republican governors who are being touted by some as future presidential candidates agree, noting that the party must win its way back by appealing to voters on issues on which it has largely been silent in recent years.

“We have to have actual ideas,” said the 47-year-old Pawlenty. “The Republican idea factory has dried up. And we’ve got to catch up on the key issues of our times — health care, renewable energy and education.”

“We need real solutions,” adds Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, 37. “It’s not enough to be just against single-payer health care, for example. We’ve got to discuss how we promote private coverage, to apply our principles to the issues that affect people’s lives.”

“The other side is worse,” said Jindal, adding it is “not a very inspiring bumper sticker.”

Translating the theoretical to the practical is key, said Rep. Eric Cantor, a Virginia congressman who began a campaign this week to be elected minority whip, No. 2 in the party’s House leadership.

“We shouldn’t be talking about lower taxes because supply-side economics is better for Americans but because it puts more money in people’s pockets,” said Cantor. “Where we have to focus is on reconnecting with people across this country where they live.”

But while recapturing the advantage on issues is important, Republicans are frank about the urgent need to also become a party that looks like the nation America is quickly becoming.

Obama won over Hispanics — the country’s largest minority group and a target of ardent outreach by President Bush — by sizable margins, gains some in the party attribute to the perception fueled during the immigration debate that Republicans were hostile to Latinos.

Obama also trounced McCain among younger voters, who represent a powerful voting bloc for decades to come.

“I would suggest that conservatives need to do the math of the new demographics of the United States,” said Jeb Bush. “We can’t be anti-Hispanic, anti-young person, anti-many things and be surprised when we don’t win elections.”

“We’re not relevant to people of my generation,” admitted Rep. Paul Ryan, a 38-year-old Wisconsin conservative seen as a rising star on the right.

Ryan said the party had become ossified, emblematic of a despised status quo.

“No more old bulls, no more old boys network, no more just bringing home the bacon to get reelected,” he said.

Jindal, the son of Indian immigrants, spoke admiringly of Obama’s new majority

“He built a different coalition than has elected other Democratic candidates,” Jindal observed of the new president’s support from nearly all regions of the country and spanning many traditional divides. “We need to be aggressive for every one of those voting blocs.”

Pawlenty, the son of a truck driver who worked his way through college, is also passionate about the need to put a new face on the party.

“Demographically, culturally, technologically and economically, the country is changing,” he noted, while the GOP is “stuck in a 30-year-old feel in tone and image.”

“We need a more forward-leaning, newer, younger, more diverse party. That does not mean that our values and principles get thrown overboard.

“But you can’t be a majority governing party getting almost no support from African-Americans, modest support from Hispanics, with a major gap with women, and decreasing support from modest-income Americans.”

The party, Pawlenty concluded, “needs to be freshened up.”

Janett_Reno · 11-06-2008, 08:17 PM

McConnell now blaming Bush and even listen to this, Bachmann praises Obama's win, now by After suggesting Obama had "anti-American" views, Rep. Bachmann says she is "grateful" he is the president.

364 Obama electoral votes -- 57(+6) Democratic Senate seats -- 254(+19) Democratic House seats. I wanted Obama to go over 350 and he did it. What a win. NC shot him right past 350.

Lieberman Meets With Reid, Tries To Cling To Senate Chairmanship.

Report: Obama Picks Robert Gibbs As Press Secretary

Barack Obama's chief strategist David Axelrod has accepted the position of Senior Adviser in the White House, sources tell ABC News.

Rove Says New Voters Key to Obama Victory
Karl Rove: "Messrs. Plouffe and Axelrod understood that over the last 28 years only 11 of 20 eligible Americans on average cast a presidential ballot. They focused on registering and motivating the other nine who don't usually vote. This decision, perhaps more than any other, allowed Mr. Obama to win such previously red states as Virginia, Indiana, Colorado and Nevada. It forced Mr. McCain to spend most of the fall on defense, unable to take once-reliably Republican states for granted."

((Hey Karl, i mentioned this long ago. The word was "unlikely" and like i stated the whole time as he beat Hillary that "unlikely" was going to beat your gop party also. Thanks also Karl for your Palin pick, that was another "unlikely" the democrats enjoyed. I must say you got me on that "unlikely"))

Merkley Wins Oregon Senate Seat
According to the Portland Oregonian, Jeff Merkley (D) has defeated Sen. Gordon Smith (R-OR).

Democrats have now picked up six Senate seats this election cycle, including knocking off three Republican incumbents. There are three seats -- in Minnesota, Georgia and Alaska -- are still undecided.

Janett_Reno · 11-07-2008, 05:17 PM

Franken Just 237 Votes Behind
Al Franken (D) is now just 237 votes behind Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) in Minnesota's U.S. Senate race, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

That amounts to a .011 percentage point gap between the candidates.

McCain to campaign for Chambliss

McCain will be stumping for Ga. Sen. Saxby Chambliss in runoff.

What In The Hell Happened in Alaska?

http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/

Although Ted Stevens holds a small lead in Alaska and is the favorite to retain his seat, the outcome is not as inevitable as it might appear to be. Stevens currently holds a lead of 3,353 votes, or about 1.5 percent of the votes tallied so far. But, there are quite a large number of ballots yet to count. According to Roll Call, these include "at least 40,000 absentee ballot, 9,000 early voting ballots, and an undetermined number of questionable ballots".

Indeed, it seems possible that the number of "questionable" ballots could be quite high. So far, about 220 thousand votes have been processed in Alaska. This compares with 313 thousand votes cast in 2004. After adding back in the roughly 50,000 absentee and early ballots that Roll Call accounts for, that would get us to 270 thousand ballots, or about a 14 percent drop from 2004. It seems unlikely that turnout would drop by 14 percent in Alaska given the presence of both a high-profile senate race and Sarah Palin at the top of the ticket.

But even if Begich were to make up ground and win a narrow victory, this would seem to represent a catastrophic failure of polling, as three polls conducted following the guilty verdict in Stevens' corruption trial had Begich leading by margins of 7, 8 and 22 points, respectively.

The emerging conventional wisdom is that there was some sort of a Bradley Effect in this contest -- voters told pollsters that they weren't about to vote for that rascal Ted Stevens, when in fact they were perfectly happy to. Convicted felons are the new black, it would seem.

The problem with this theory is that the polling failures in Alaska weren't unique to Stevens. They also applied to the presidential race, as well as Alaska's at-large House seat. In each case, the Republican outperformed his pre-election polling by margins ranging from 12 to 14 points:

There are three plausible explanations I can think of to explain this discrepancy. The first and most likely is that the Democratic vote became complacent and did not bother to turn out. The outcome of the presidential contest was not going to be close in Alaska, and Barack Obama's victory in the Electoral College was apparent as of about 4 PM local time. Begich supporters, moreover, may have looked at the polls and concluded that their candidate was far enough ahead that they didn't have to bother to vote. Meanwhile, the Republican base was going to turn out no matter what because of their enthusiasm for Sarah Palin. There seems to be a sort of danger zone at about 10 points wherein a candidate is far enough ahead that many of his supporters assume the race is in the bag, but not so far ahead that he is immune to poor turnout (a similar dynamic affected then-Governor Jim Blanchard of Michigan in his 1990 race against John Engler).

The second possibility is that a substantial percentage of the Democratic vote is tied up in the early and absentee ballots that have yet to be counted. We know that Barack Obama overperformed among early voters in many states, and Alaska may be no exception. (Although, I would guess that the absentee vote is predominately rural, whereas Begich's base is in Anchorage).

The third possibility is that a lot of those "questionable" ballots are Democratic ones, and that there have been irregularities in the voting tally. Although this is the least likely possibility, Alaska is a provincial state with some history of corruption, and Democrats ought to be making sure that too many of their ballots haven't been disqualified.

Kirobaito · 11-07-2008, 05:20 PM

That runoff in Joja is gonna be fun to watch. One single race, one state, with everyone watching.

wmbwinn · 11-07-2008, 06:25 PM

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081107/...bama_gun_sales

record sales figures pouring in...

economic boom!!!

(and other booms)

Kirobaito · 11-07-2008, 10:34 PM

God, Chambliss put out another 9/11-filled ad today. What a truly horrific excuse for a human being.

Janett_Reno · 11-13-2008, 01:04 AM

Stevens trailing in Alaska Senate race

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081113/.../alaska_senate

Republican Sen. Ted Stevens, the titan of Alaska politics convicted of felony charges last month, fell behind by more than 800 votes Wednesday as the count resumed in his re-election bid.

Democrat Mark Begich, the two-term mayor of Anchorage, began the day down more than 3,200 votes but went up by 814 as officials resumed their counting of early and absentee ballots. The tally was 132,196 to 131,382.

Neither side was claiming victory or conceding defeat, with tens of thousands of outstanding ballots.

MINNESOTA. US Senator Norm Coleman's (R) lead dwindled further. He now leads humorist Al Franken (D) by 205 votes. The statewide hand recount will take a 2-3 weeks to complete.

Janett_Reno · 11-13-2008, 02:13 PM

The Alaska Division of Elections counted 60,000 absentee ballots and provisional ballots yesterday and Sen. Ted Stevens' 3200-vote lead over Anchorage mayor Mark Begich has been completely erased. Begich now leads by 814 votes, with another 20,000 absentee ballots that arrived after election day yet to be counted. In addition, 15,000 provisional ballots are still waiting to be verified and counted. Nationally, something like half of all provisional ballots are rejected, but the ones that are counted tend to skew Democatic. More ballots will be counted tomorrow, but Anchorage, where Begich is well known, won't count until next week.

While no Republican has publicly expressed a desire to see Begich win, privately many of them would be very happy to avoid having to cast a vote on whether to expel Stevens from the Senate, a vote that will not be necessary if Begich wins. On the other hand, if Begich wins, there will be no special election and Sarah Palin will stay in Alaska as governor. If Stevens wins and is expelled from the Senate, there will be a special election which Palin might be able to win. Having 4 years in the Senate would give her a national platform that could act as a springboard for a 2012 presidential race. A Begich win eliminates that option.

If Begich wins, the Democrats will have 58 seats in the Senate and attention will move to Minnesota, where Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) and Democrat Al Franken are engaged in a high-stakes, bitter recount. Coleman currently leads by 200 votes. However, there were 25,000 undervotes--ballots with a vote for President and no vote for the Senate race. In a manual recount, some of these may yet count. If the voter didn't press the pencil hard enough or made an X instead of filling in the oval, the optical scanner might have missed the vote, but Minnesota law states that if the intent of the voter can be determined, the vote is valid. About 18,000 of the undervotes are in counties that Barack Obama won.

The final Senate race is the runoff in Georgia on Dec. 2. If Begich and Franken win, then the runoff will determine whether or not the Democrats get the magic 60 seats in the Senate. Suddenly, the race will take on national proportions. Already many Republican big guns have promised to campaign for Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA). It is not clear whether Barack Obama will campaign for Jim Martin (D), since a loss there, which is likely, might tarnish his image somewhat.

Janett_Reno · 11-15-2008, 01:44 AM

Democrat Mark Begich now leads Sen. Ted Stevens (R) by just over 1,000 votes with more than 90 percent of the total ballots now counted in the high-profile Alaska Senate race.

The Alaska Division of Elections counted another 14,500 votes on Friday and Begich's lead increased from 841 before the day started to 1,022 when the counting ended.

That means that Begich has gained more than 4,200 votes on Stevens since the 90,000 early, absentee and questioned ballots began to be counted on Wednesday. There are roughly 24,000 votes left to be counted, and the counting will resume, and presumably conclude, early next week, according to the Begich campaign.

Of the remaining votes, roughly 15,000 are in the Anchorage area (a swing area in the race) and another 8,000 are in the Juneau area, which should be Begich territory.

"The news continues to be positive," Begich said in a statement released by the campaign tonight. "With the gap widening slightly in our favor today, I feel even more optimistic that when all the ballots are counted next week, we'll see Alaskans came out to vote for new leadership in Washington, D.C."

If Begich winds up winning, Democrats will have gained seven seats in the Senate with two results -- in Minnesota and Georgia -- still undecided. In Minnesota, Sen. Norm Coleman (R) has a 206-vote lead over comedian Al Franken (D) and a manual statewide recount is almost certain. In Georgia, Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R) and former state Rep. Jim Martin (D) will face off in a Dec. 2 runoff.

Should Democrats sweep all three contests, they will control 60 seats (including Independent Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut) in the Senate -- a margin that, if it held, would allow them to break Republican-led filibusters.

Janett_Reno · 11-17-2008, 02:18 PM

It can be alot to happen between now and 2010 but the Democrats are looking good for 2010 senate races. I see some interesting races if Arnold Schwarzenegger goes up against Barbara Boxer, Janet Napolitano against John McCain, Chuck Grassley against Tom Vilsack, Sam Brownback against Kathleen Sebelius, Judd Gregg against John Lynch, Arlen Specter against Rendell or Mathews.

In some polls already Specter looked safe against Chris Mathews but i have not seen any polls against Rendell. It showed McCain losing against Napolitano and Arnold/Boxer would be something. It is speculation on who runs against them but here is a good list for 2010. Brownback is not running again in 2010 from Kansas and usually all reps in Kansas win but Kathleen Sebelius(D) is really liked. Maybe Brownback would like to throw his hat in the presidental ring.

http://www.electoral-vote.com/

Democrats Could Gain Southern Senators in 2010

http://www.southernpoliticalreport.c..._1117_666.aspx

Janett_Reno · 11-17-2008, 02:34 PM

Let the fun begin in the gop party.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/jonath..._.html?showall

Huck unloads on Mitt; Romney camp hits back

Mike Huckabee is using his new book, out this week, to settle a few scores, not the least of which is with his fierce primary rival, Mitt Romney.

Per Michael Scherer, Huckabee picks up where he left off earlier this year, tweaking Romney as a rich guy and firing what may be the first shots of the 2012 primary.

Romney, Huckabee, writes, was "anything but conservative until he changed the light bulbs in his chandelier in time to run for president.”

At another point, Huckabee portrays a Romney proposal to encourage more investment in the market as, "Let them eat stocks!”

The former Arkansas governor also takes a shot at Fred Thompson – who ensured his defeat in the pivotal South Carolina primary – as well as those evangelical leaders who didn’t get behind his bid.

But none of these people may emerge again in four years as political rivals of Huckabee.

Asked to respond, Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom said Huckabee was acting small.

“This type of pettiness is beneath Mike Huckabee,” Fehrnstrom. “If we’re going to move the party forward, we need to offer more than personal recriminations. Unfortunately, in this book, Mike Huckabee is consumed with presumed slights, and he seems more interested in settling scores than in bringing people together.”

Republicans ask: Just how bad is it?

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1108/15676.html

Since 2004, Republicans have gone from 55 Senate seats to no more than 43 once this year's last winners are determined, and from a 29-seat edge in the House to a 30 seat hole. And now they've lost the presidency, too.

Janett_Reno · 11-20-2008, 01:16 PM

Minnesota News
The Great Minnesota Recount began yesterday in the hotly contested Senate race between Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) and Democrat Al Franken. With 18% of the vote recounted, Coleman's lead has shrunk from 215 votes to 174 votes. In addition, the Franken campaign won a major court battle when a judge ordered Ramsey County officials to turn over the names and addresses of voters whose absentee ballots were rejected. A key part of the Franken strategy to make sure every vote counts, including absentee ballots that were rejected for minor technical reasons, in some cases caused by clerical errors made by county employees. On the whole, Minnesota election law is fairly liberal and basically says that if the intent of the voter can be determined, the vote counts, even if there are small technical errors such as Zipcode missing on absentee ballots. The Franken campaign will undoubtedly try to use this ruling to get similar rulings in other counties. The Coleman campaign says that ballots that do not conform to exactly what the law prescribes must be rejected.
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The Fall of the Republican Party
The Economist says the Republican party "lost the battle of ideas even more comprehensively than they lost the battle for educated votes, marching into the election armed with nothing more than slogans..."

"Republicanism's anti-intellectual turn is devastating for its future. The party's electoral success from 1980 onwards was driven by its ability to link brains with brawn. The conservative intelligentsia not only helped to craft a message that resonated with working-class Democrats, a message that emphasised entrepreneurialism, law and order, and American pride. It also provided the party with a sweeping policy agenda. The party's loss of brains leaves it rudderless, without a compelling agenda."

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Senate Republicans in a Funk
"Down to 42 seats with two still at risk, Senate Republicans are in a deep funk," Politico reports.

"Some are in denial. Some want a return to conservative principles. Some want to cut deals. Some want more filibusters. Others want to jump out a window -- but they're afraid they'd screw that up, too."

The reality: "Two years ago, the Republicans held a 55-45 majority. They're down 13 seats since then, with a too-close-to-call race in Minnesota and a runoff in Georgia still to come."

Janett_Reno · 11-21-2008, 02:36 PM

The State of Minnesota
The Great Minnesota Recount continued yesterday. With 46% of the vote now recounted, Sen. Norm Coleman's lead has slipped from 215 votes to 136 votes. If Al Franken picked up 79 votes on 46% of the recount, projecting this linearly, with 100% of the vote he will pick up 172 votes and Coleman will win by 43 votes. However, there are 823 challenged votes yet to be resolved. In addition, Franken is trying to get thousands of absentee ballots that were rejected for technical reasons (e.g., no zipcode listed) counted. After the recount is finished, then the court challenges begin. This could go on for a while. Stay tuned.

http://ww2.startribune.com/news/metr...nt/msenco.html

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/fea...enged_ballots/

Public's View of the Republican Party Continues to Drop

A new Gallup poll shows that 34% of Americans have a favorable view of the Republican Party vs. 61% who have an unfavorable view. The 61% unfavorable is the highest for any party in history. For the Democrats the numbers are 55% favorable and 39% unfavorable. As the debate rages within the Republican Party about what to do, the poll gives some guidance. Some 59% of the Republicans polled want it to become more conservative, 28% want it to remain the same, and only 12% want it to become less conservative. With most of the congressional moderates defeated either in 2006 or 2008, the remaining Republicans are very conservative and come from states and districts that are also very conservative, so individual members of Congress have a strong personal incentive to see the party become more conservative: to enhance their chances at the next election. The only problem with this strategy is that piling up even bigger margins in Oklahoma, Wyoming, and Utah is not much consolation if you lose Virginia, North Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Ohio, Colorado, New Mexico, and Nevada by even bigger margins as a result.

Janett_Reno · 11-22-2008, 09:20 PM

Polling on 2012 Starting
Barack Obama won't even be inaugurated for 2 months and the race for 2012 is already on. Gallup ran a poll among Republicans and Republican leaners asking which candidates they wanted to see run in 2012. Here are the results.

Candidate Yes No No opinion
Sarah Palin 67% 30% 3%
Mitt Romney 62% 32% 5%
Mike Huckabee 61% 33% 6%
David Petraeus 49% 39% 12%
Rudy Giuliani 48% 47% 5%
Newt Gingrich 47% 48% 5%
Bobby Jindal 34% 36% 30%
Jeb Bush 31% 61% 9%
Charlie Crist 23% 46% 31%
Lindsey Graham 21% 53% 25%

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With 64% of vote counted, Coleman has 120 vote lead. If they only count the other 36% i am guessing maybe Coleman wins with a 45 to 75 vote win. Very close. The other 36% is comming next week but it is around 1,000 votes that has been challenged that they are going to look over and then it is talks and no decisions yet if some absentee ballots will be looked at again. This was one nail bitter of a race here, no matter who wins.
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68% of MN now in and Coleman has pushed it up to 180 over Franken.

wmbwinn · 12-13-2008, 07:29 PM

It appears that Hillary has accepted a change in power in her life...

posted purely for humor.

Underdog · 12-13-2008, 07:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wmbwinn

Look at Bill's face after she disses him...

Look at Obama's face after he kisses her...

wmbwinn · 12-13-2008, 07:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Underdog

Look at Bill's face after she disses him...

Look at Obama's face after he kisses her...

I know. It is a very funny clip. I was laughing for quite a while when I saw that...

GermanDunk · 12-13-2008, 11:44 PM

over

wmbwinn · 12-14-2008, 12:27 AM

over the top

Flacolaco · 12-14-2008, 03:14 AM

So awkward.

So very, very awkward.

Janett_Reno · 01-05-2009, 03:51 PM

Chambliss did win GA. Franken looks like won MN. Obama's seat will end up with a democrat but which one, not sure. Looks as if the democrats will have 59 senators. Sort of sad that Chambliss and Cornyn won.

A race next time that could be interesting is John McCain for senator. Depending on who the democrats run against him. Another interesting thing is Daddy Bush want's Jeb as president. That will be a nice knock down drag out contest with Jeb, Rudy the cross dresser, Sarah Baracuda and the Mormon to see who comes out on top. None will unseat Obama as Obama will be a two term president i think, unless he steps aside and say's go ahead Hillary.

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At a debate between candidates vying to lead the Republican National Committee, current chairman Mike Duncan said that President Bush's biggest mistake was prosecution of the war.

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Which republican does Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reliy suppose to throw some shout out's to and show love for? Now some are saying Iraq was a mistake(republicans). Nothing like a switch hitter. Just ask Rudy, Vitter and Craig about being a switch.

Next election it will also be worth looking into, will the people send some democrats home or will the democrat senators push over the 60 barrier and send more republicans home?

92bDad · 01-05-2009, 06:19 PM

Hopefully the message for Change is continued in 2010. After all the current Democrat majority of congress has a LOWER approval rating than President Bush!!!

If the people of America don't like what they have then it's time to vote them out.

I'm all for changing the Democrats who have ruined congress.

For that matter get rid of the leftist leanign Republicans who have moved away from the core fo the party.

The power that these liberals have snatched is far more dangerous to the future of this nation than 1000 Iraq wars ever will.

At the end of the day, I do NOT want 100% Republicans, nor do I want 100% Democrats.

I'ld rather see 51% Republican and 49% Democrat...at least the two balance each other out.

What we've learned is that regardless of the party, if an overwhelming majority have the rule, then they tend to be wreckless with corruption of some type.

We saw under Clinton, that our Intelligence capabilities were seriously damaged, thus opening up the way for 9/11.

We saw under Bush, that our ability to tighten the financial belt was seriously damaged, leading to the current economic downturn. ... of course, we have to note that the Democrats where in the majority, so I'm not sure if this point works.

Now we see an even stronger Democrat majority and we see nothing but Government Handouts to Large Corporations taking place in the form of bailouts.

2009 could be a great year, but saddly our government is going in the wrong direction and hopefully the people of America will cease this opportunity to remove the Democrats from office and quickly before we go so far down that like the great depression, the only thing that will get us out of it will be a World War.

...

and there I go again...I need to stay away from this board, it does nothing but piss me off!!!

I freakin hate Liberal Ideology...it's destroying this world!!!