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Election Day Open Thread

by: James L.

Tue Nov 04, 2008 at 12:45 PM EST


Well, this is it -- election day. It's been an enormous pleasure covering all the downballot races with you over the past couple of years. Let's hope we have a lot of reasons to celebrate tonight.

We'll be rolling with liveblog coverage of the House and Senate races later this evening, so go vote (if you haven't already) and strap yourselves in for one long night.

Feel free to use this as an open thread.

UPDATE (David):

Man that felt good!
James L. :: Election Day Open Thread
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Election Day Open Thread | 33 comments
I'm so nervous.
This is so stressful.  The weather is icky and I don't know... sigh.  I just need the voting to be over so I can breathe again.
Not Nervous, But Ready
Time to go kick a little butt...
How were the lines...
...at your polling places?
Mine was nonexistent, basically
I was there at like 7:30 AM in the elementary school that served as the polling place for our one-fifth of a town of not that many people (like 25,000).  Just walked right in, showed ID, got a ballot, filled it in, cast it, got a sticker, and left.

Also, my bad, that question of whether I should go to the party or stay home should have been in this thread.

party: Democratic, ideology: moderate, district: CT-01

[ Parent ]
Comparatively long!!
Being a morning person, and hating to wait in line, I made the long trek across the street to my polling place at 5:45am this morning -- and there were already at least 75-100 people ahead of me.  Given that my neighborhood will go probably at least 80% Obama, a good sign!
[ Parent ]
Well, having never waited in a line before...
I thought they were very long. It was GREAT! I had never seen so many of my neighbors out participating in democracy. And loads of them were first-time voters. Everyone had this feeling of being a part of something really big and important.

"They tried to make you civilized. They just don't seem to realize that what they touch, they bastardize."
[ Parent ]
It was nice and smooth on campus.
I slept in, got to the library about 11:15, waited in line for 10 minutes or so, cast my ballot, got my "I voted" sticker, and I was outta there.
[ Parent ]
At random
1. Republicans were so gleeful that I thought the Murdoch news group must have ferreted out a Jew in Berlin. Turned out to be an illegal Kenyan in Boston who also happens to be Obama's aunt. Anyway, Republicans are delighted.
The Boston Herald (where you can read about McCain's victory tomorrow morning) covered this in greater detail than its pro Democratic counterpart the Globe.

2. Why do the republicans do so well at state level in DE?

3. Stuart Rothenberg will be giving away wisdom free of charge on PBS this evening.

3. JLT, Gregoire and Perdue have, among Democrats, 3 of the worst campaigns (Perdue may not). I hate to bash them as much as I would like to because I am afraid of being seen as an MCP.

4. (Contd. from above) Kanjo was better. I called him everything. I even asked to cut him loose and not spend any money on him a long time ago.

5. Eagleberger should have sworn an oath to tell us the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

6. Is Specter up in 2010? Other than Vitter, whom are we targeting?

7. Bill Jefferson got into trouble before the 2008 election. Why is he not indicted yet? Has the White House slowed down the wheels of Justice?


Correction #7 above
I meant the 2006 election.
[ Parent ]
Twisting in the wind
It may have suited the Repubs to have Dollar Bill twisting in the wind, a vivid symbol of the Democratic Party for all of Dixie to see. Nevermind that stuff in the Constitution about a right to a "speedy" trial. But eventually (a year or so after the cool cash was found) he was indicted. Then it served Dollar Bill's best interests to get the trial postponed, from a once scheduled Feb '08, iirc, to now some time in '09. Of course, this delay still serves the GOP interests, I suppose, but it does do much less damage with every passing year.

Meanwhile, since the freezerful of cash was reported, Jefferson has survived two primary rounds in '06 and the first round in '08. And he's looking good for this runoff round in '08. He lucked up and got a white opponent in this overwhelmingly black district. Not just any white opponent -- the right one might have given him a run -- but a woman promptly revealed to be playing footsie with some of the state's leading Repubs. As a result, Dems like us to not have a dog in this hunt. We await the outcome of the forthcoming trial, if there ever is a trial, to resolve the matter.

Of course, a re-election means a lot to Dollar Bill at this point. It will give him something big to bargain with as his lawyers talk to the D.A.s. Resigning from a currently-held Congressional seat is worth something in years to be served or dollars in fines to be paid. Once he has that bargaining chip in hand, Jefferson may want to exit the stage most expeditiously.

[ Parent ]
Specter is up.
We're also targeting OH.
[ Parent ]
The 2010 senate picture is very unpredictable.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U...

The only known retirement so far is Sam Brownback (R-KS) is retiring.  If Slattery or Sebelius got in, this could be a race.  

Potentially Competitive R-Held Seats: (Depends on recruitment / retirements)
Murkowski (AK), McCain (AZ), Martinez (FL), Grassley (IA), Open (KS), Bunning (KY), Vitter (LA), Bond (MO), Gregg (NH), Burr (NC), Voinovich (OH), Specter (PA).  

Potentially Competitive D-Held Seats: (Again, depends on retirement / Recruitment)
Salazar (CO), Inouye (HI), Replacement for Obama (IL), Reid (NV), Feingold (WI)

A lot of it depends on the political environment.  

[ Parent ]
Slattery wouldn't make it a race
Only Sebelius probably would.  
[ Parent ]
Yeah
Sebelius or Moore could do it, Slatts is a hell no.
[ Parent ]
Moore?
I really don't think Moore could win statewide.  He has a pretty progressive record in the House for a midwest congressman.  The right would have plenty of ammo to use against him.
[ Parent ]
Boyda?
Not that I'd want to lose her house seat.  

Liberty Avenue Politics - a place for politics in Southern Queens
[ Parent ]
Boyda would probably be worse than Moore
She's turned out to be more progressive than I think most imagined she would be in Congress.  That's good for her district, but I think she'd lose big trying to run statewide.
[ Parent ]
I don't know why everyone is freaking out about Hawaii.
Lingle may be popular but the state is ancestrally one of the most Democratic in the union. She was re-elected by a large margin mainly on the basis of a divided gov't. Checks and balances.

If she does decide to run, the DSCC should recruit Mazie Hirono. A little campaigning by Barack (who's about as popular as having great sex there) and she's win 56-44 minimum.

[ Parent ]
That's a lot of "what if's" "but"s and "maybes"

[ Parent ]
Kay Bailey Hutchison
Hutchison is strongly believed to be running for Texas Governor in 2010 and will likely retire beforehand.  Thus her seat would also be up for a special election in 2010.
[ Parent ]
Byrd and Lauterbur (whatever the spelling)
should retire and Democratic Govs ahouls appoint people who can keep the seats for a couple of elections.

Ditto in HI, After Linda Lingle is gone.

[ Parent ]
Not to worry
The Democratic bench in WVa is full, and the bench in NJ is even fuller. Democrats will hold these seats in all likelihood, no matter when these fellas decide to move on.

The strongest potential Repub for the WVa Senate seat is Shelley Moore Capito, who could get knocked off by Ann Barth this year. By defeating her now, we won't have to face her later when the tide is not so strongly in her favor.

[ Parent ]
Republican bench in West Virginia
According to my notes, the Republican bench in that state has two warm bodies sitting in the wings: Shelley Moore Capito, and Betty Ireland, the Republican Secretary of State.

I agree, knocking one out of office this cycle would be an excellent coup. Though Congresswoman Capito is young enough (55) to sit out for a cycle or even two and still make a political comeback, trading on her father's popularity.  

Half the population believes our electoral system is broken. The other half believes it is fixed. Wakeuplaughing.com  

[ Parent ]
early results show Obama landslide!
You know, those two cute little towns in New Hampshire where they close the polls after everyone who's registered has voted:

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap...

Margin of victory exactly 2:1.  
Well, and two votes for Ron Paul.

I expect the margin will narrow, nationwide,  as additional results pour in...  

Half the population believes our electoral system is broken. The other half believes it is fixed. Wakeuplaughing.com  

You beat me to it.
Congrats. I should have posted last night after I watched it on TV.
[ Parent ]
Taget told me about them
Dixville Notch: 15 Obama 6 McCain 0 others
Hart's Location: 17 Obama 10 McCain 2 Ron Paul (write-in)

This is the first time Dixville Notch has gone Democratic since 1968, and the first time Hart's Location has gone Democratic since they reinstated their midnight voting in 1996.

party: Democratic, ideology: moderate, district: CT-01

[ Parent ]
The first results
came out during the 11PM (PST) news last night. At a small town in NH on the Canadian border, voting started at 12AM local. The results were announced soon afterwards. Obama - 15, McCain - 6, Nader - 0. Bob Barr must have thought it beneath his dignity to contest in such a place.

May the good news roll.

To those of you who have not heard about Canada:

It is a big province north of us. We get our weather from there.


Should I go to the CT state party party, or should I stay here at SSP all night?
Hey everyone,

I kinda posted in the wrong place earlier about this, so here it is in the right thread.

There's a victory party being held by the state Democratic party this evening, from 8 PM to midnight EST, over in Hartford, which is about 45 minutes' drive to get into the city from here.  I won't be able to be online then, of course, and I likely won't be online when I'm at the party either, so I won't be able to liveblog anything or be on IRC (even though, yeah, I know not many people go on there, even though I'd love for more of ya to stop by!).

Or I can stay home and keep both the TV and internet connection going, and save gas and $5 parking.

What do YOU think I should do?

party: Democratic, ideology: moderate, district: CT-01

Well
I say go out and have fun, especially if you have friends going.
[ Parent ]
Boone County Missouri sneak preview (not scientific)
My local paper always does a poll of morning voters in Boone County.

This is not a scientific poll and it may reflect that Democrats were more enthusiastic and voted earlier.

Boone County went 50/50 for Bush/Kerry with Bush barely winning in 04. Hulshof is from Boone County so losing big to Nixon here if true would be a big problem for him.

Boone County makes up 25% of the Missouri 9th district and will be from 25 to 33% of the districtwide vote so Baker's 62-38% lead in Boone County (if the actual results are like this) would require her to stay within 8-12 points in the rest of the district. I predicted that her path to victory would require about a 20 point win in Boone County and staying within 7-10 points elsewhere. The drop off in total votes cast on the D side of the ticket is a bit of a potential problem.

Encouraging is in the election day story they cite a Republican who is crossing over to vote for Judy Baker.

http://blogs.columbiatribune.c...

http://www.columbiatribune.com...

THESE UNSCIENTIFIC POLL RESULTS ARE BOONE COUNTY ONLY

PRESIDENT McCain: 58 l Obama: 103 I Barr: 3 l Baldwin: 1

GOVERNOR Hulshof: 59 l Nixon: 100 I Finkenstadt: 3 l Thompson: 1

NINTH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT Luetkemeyer: 58 l Baker: 94 I Millay: 6

This is mostly just for fun. Not much you can tell from exit polls, so treat it as mostly for entertainment value.  

Less than 1 hour to go until polls start closing!
Can't wait.  I'll be keeping a close eye on IN-Pres, IN-03, KY-02 and KY-Sen at the outset.
Straight Party Voting...
Auburn, AL here... I noticed that many student voters here in Auburn seemed to prefer to vote straight party ticket... do you guys think it's going to help Josh Segall here or work against him?

By the way, the line is only a bit longer than it was in 2004... but it could be that I'm too early (my family and I went to the Best Western voting place around 8:30, and got out about 9:10).  Though I still think Josh should've spend more time on the Auburn Campus...

Also, is it just me, or the state constitution amendments are getting more annoying year by year?  

Amendments suck
It's just a way for state legislatures to pass the buck.  At the very least I hope more states follow suit with forcing amendments to get 60% of the vote as we have done in Florida.  More and more amendments have become a right-wing tool.  Almost every FL amendment this year is anti-progressive.  Thankfully most of them are going to lose.
[ Parent ]
Election Day Open Thread | 33 comments

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