News Did FL-13 Impact the 2006 Midterm Election Results?

[moose]

I just wonder if Bush will loosen up his grip on everything and allow some bills through. He could, afterall, just veto every single bill that comes to his desk...

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Well folks, it's a brave new world. There is now Congressional oversight.

 

[Gokul43201]

Tester's lead is shrinking ~7500 votes with 70% of precincts reporting.

I expect it to continue shrinking until they start counting votes again in Silver Bow and Yellowstone. For some reason, it seems they haven't counted anything there in over two hours now!

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I just wonder if Bush will loosen up his grip on everything and allow some bills through. He could, afterall, just veto every single bill that comes to his desk...

Yes, but the Bush agenda is dead.

One of the first things to be retracted are the huge tax breaks given to oil companies that were making record profits.

 

[moose]

Oooo, in Arizona, a smoking ban proposition is winning. The harsher one!

 

[Gokul43201]

Ahem ... let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Use this thread to report results as they come in!

 

[moose]

In the House
191:Republicans
226:Democrats

18 still undecided. Looks like it will be a rather decisive majority.

As a side note, citizens of Arizona have passed all anti-immigrant propositions by 70 or so %

Tester's lead now at 7025 votes ahead 74% precincts

I think that Montana is the Republican's only hope for retaining the Senate (obviously enough).

EDIT: Gokul, I think you scared everyone off with your comment . I'm going to sleep in 10-20 minutes

 

[Gokul43201]

Missouri's Stem Cell proposition is all but guaranteed to pass now.

South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds' attempt to challenge Roe v Wade with SD referendum 6 (ban on abortions) has failed.

The minimum wage raise has been passed by all states where it was on the ballot.

The same-sex union ban was successful in all states except AZ.

In Ohio, smoking is now banned in all restaurants, bars, workplaces, other public places.

 

[moose]

California Proposition 85: Apparently, Californians believe that Parents or Guardians don't need to know if ahead of time if their child is to have a freaking abortion! (so yes, Parental Notification was voted down)

California Proposition 87:
Funds for Alternative Energy

Voted down, hmmm.All efforts to legalize marijuana have failed. I am actually shocked at how close Nevada came to legalizing it though. Funny how in some states, smoking is being banned, and in others marijuana is almost passed.

Michigan will restrict affirmative action

Oregon also voted down a similar parental notification measure

 

[moose]

Tester's lead is now only 5500. It's still shrinking!

EDIT: Woah, in Virginia, Webb's lead is now down to 7239 votes! I guess this was just reported!

EDIT: Looking at Montana Counties which haven't been counted into the CNN thing yet, I am not sure who will win. This could get closer...

EDIT3: Tester's lead grew slightly to 5639 votes
Webb's lead grew to 7380

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Ahem ... let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Power has shifted be it a complete shift or not. But it sure looks good...

 

[Gokul43201]

EDIT: Woah, in Virginia, Webb's lead is now down to 7239 votes! I guess this was just reported!

There's only 5500 votes left to count in Va.

Tester's lead is now only 5500. It's still shrinking!

EDIT: Looking at Montana Counties which haven't been counted into the CNN thing yet, I am not sure who will win. This could get closer...

I've been looking at these for a while now and I'm certain that table is riddled with errors. Every other time I look at it, it seems they've got something wrong and have changed it.

Until about half hour ago, they had Yellowstone at 31% reporting; now it's down to 0%.

 

[moose]

For what it's worth:
Tester = 5679 lead
Webb = I just saw on tv that his lead was about 2 thousand or so. How did that happen? I don't even know. Online it's still around 8 thousand though.

EDIT: Tester's new lead is 4861
It seems to hover between 5 and 6 thousand for the most part.

EDIT2: Tester's lead is now 3997... it seems to be shrinking. I guess we just hit that kinda district?
and now 3639
EDIT AGAIN: and now 3317

I will see how everything plays out when I wake up in 5 hours. Woot.

 

[Smurf]

California Proposition 85: Apparently, Californians believe that Parents or Guardians don't need to know if ahead of time if their child is to have a freaking abortion! (so yes, Parental Notification was voted down)

California Proposition 87:
Funds for Alternative Energy

Voted down, hmmm.


All efforts to legalize marijuana have failed. I am actually shocked at how close Nevada came to legalizing it though. Funny how in some states, smoking is being banned, and in others marijuana is almost passed.

Michigan will restrict affirmative action

Oregon also voted down a similar parental notification measure

Hee hee, reminds me of an election in Canada some years ago where for the first few hours the marijuana party was actually leading the vote.

Of course, they didn't get a single representative, they never do, but for a few hours you could imagine a bunch of stoners sitting around the television "we did it guys!"

 

[jtbell]

South Carolina has now put a ban on same-sex marriages into the state constitution, with about a 78% yes vote. There was already a law against them, but proponents argued that a constitutional amendment would be bulletproof against Commie liberal atheist activist judges.

The Republican governor was re-elected, despite some dissatisfaction among members of his own party because of his reluctance to work closely with the Republican-controlled state legislature. I saw a campaign sign for "Republicans for Tommy Moore" (his opponent).

All SC representatives to the US House (Republican and Democrat alike) were re-elected. Neither of our US Senate seats were up for election this year.

The most interesting race is the one for state superintendent of education, which the Democratic candidate at this moment leads by about 200 votes out of about 1,000,000, with 2058 out of 2059 precincts reporting. The incumbent Democrat did not run for re-election. The Republican candidate was expected to win because of her conservative pedigree and support for "school choice" (i.e. giving state vouchers to help parents send their children to private schools if they choose). However, she has no direct experience at all in the education field, as far as I know (as opposed to her opponent) and this apparently swung some votes against her.

 

[Schrodinger's Dog]

Tester's lead is now only 5500. It's still shrinking!

EDIT: Woah, in Virginia, Webb's lead is now down to 7239 votes! I guess this was just reported!

EDIT: Looking at Montana Counties which haven't been counted into the CNN thing yet, I am not sure who will win. This could get closer...

EDIT3: Tester's lead grew slightly to 5639 votes
Webb's lead grew to 7380

Care to break this down for those of us who aren't from the US. Last I heard the democrats needed three seats for the senate. I'd apreciate knowing if they're close to taking it? Interested parties at work would like to know. When you guys are awake of course

 

[Astronuc]

It's not clear yet on the Senate because at least two races (in Virginia and Montana) are very close. This is because voting methods vary and some votes are yet to be counted. It's really strange, but in the US the voting systems vary from state to state, so it's a matter of logistics at this point.

Montana Senate
Tester (D) 174,045
Burns (R) 172,302 - incumbent

Small difference of 1743 with 91% of precincts reporting

Virginia Senate
Webb (D) 1,170,564
Allen (R) 1,162,717 - incumbent

Difference of 7847 with 99% of precincts reporting

The total votes vary according to population of state and Virginia is one of the more populated states (7,567,465 - 12), and Montana one of the least (935,670 - 44th). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_states_by_population

As it stands, if the races conclude with those in the lead, still in the lead, then it looks like the Senate composition is

50 D - 49 R - 1 I, and one of the D (Lieberman in Connecticut) ran as O=Other. Lieberman lost in primary, a race to determine the party candidate, to another Democrat, but ran as Other rather than Independent and one Senate race. The lone declared/registered Independent is Bernie Sanders in Vermont. With this composition, the Senate will be an interesting institution.

===========================================
Democrats Seize Control of House; Senate Hangs on Virginia and Montana
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/07/us/politics/08elect.html
NY Times, Nov 8, 2006

But the fate of the Senate remained in doubt this morning, as races for Republican-held seats in Montana and Virginia remained too close to call as Election Day turned into the day after. Democrats would need both seats to win control of the Senate as well.

In Montana, Senator Conrad Burns, a Republican, was trailing Jon Tester, a Democrat, by a narrow margin. The race in Virginia — between another Republican incumbent, Senator George Allen, and Jim Webb, his Democratic challenger — was so close that some officials said it would have to be resolved by a recount.

That prospect could mean prolonged uncertainty over control of the Senate, since a recount can be requested only after the results are officially certified on Nov. 27th, according to the state board of elections. Last year a recount in the race for Attorney General was not resolved until Dec. 21

 

[Astronuc]

Some interesting congressional races in the NY

In my immediate area -

NY 19
Hall (D) - 90,019
Kelly (R) - 86,491 - incumbent (supported Bush and generally voted for Republican positions, but race still close)

NY 20
Gillibrand (D) - 115,017
Sweeney (R) - 101,989 - incumbent (supported Bush and generally voted for Republican positions) Sweeney may have health issues, and the latest concern was an allegation that he beat his wife, a few days before the election. His wife called the local emergency (911) telephone. But events are unclear.

Then

NY 24 - Sherwood Boehlert (R) is retiring. He was chair of the House Science committee.
Arcuri (D) - 98,409
Meier (R) - 83,069
Sylvia (L) - 1,909 (L = Libertarian)

NY 26
Reynolds (R) - 102,846 (Incumbent) - He is one of the House leaders implicated in the Foley Scandal, who may have known or should have known, but didn't take action.
Davis (D) - 95,449

Hillary Clinton took 67% of the vote. Watch for her next year, or by early 2008, to see if she will decide to run for President.

 

[Manchot]

As a Missourian, I'm extremely disappointed. Given that all the polls had suggested that the amendment enjoyed an overwhelming support (51% to 35%), it appears that the fundamentalists got out the vote. At the same time, McCaskill is currently losing by a surprising amount, suggesting that the same fundamentalists are influencing the Senate race as well.

Well, I certainly jumped the gun on that one. That's what I get for making assumptions based on figures with 19% of precincts reporting.

 

[Blahness]

Where is there a list of approved, denied, and elected propositions/senators?

I love reading the discussion, but I would like a concrete list so I know exactly what happened. X.x

 

[Skyhunter]

I am happy to report that Richard Pombo has lost in California's 11th.

Jerry McNerney 87,346

Richard Pombo 77,260

With 99.7% reporting

 

[Manchot]

CNN and MSNBC both have pretty comprehensive state-by-state coverage. As for local issues, you'll probably need to turn to a local paper for that.

 

[Gokul43201]

With 99% reporting, Tester's lead is down to 1700 votes.

I have little doubt that Webb has won in VA.

 

[Skyhunter]

CNN and MSNBC both have pretty comprehensive state-by-state coverage. As for local issues, you'll probably need to turn to a local paper for that.

The Secretary of State probably has online results. Google your state.

 

[Office_Shredder]

50 D - 49 R - 1 I, and one of the D (Lieberman in Connecticut) ran as O=Other. Lieberman lost in primary, a race to determine the party candidate, to another Democrat, but ran as Other rather than Independent and one Senate race. The lone declared/registered Independent is Bernie Sanders in Vermont. With this composition, the Senate will be an interesting institution.

It shouldn't be too interesting... the republicans have a better chance of getting democrats to vote with them than sanders; it's essentially a democrat majority. A tight one, but a majority.

 

[Gokul43201]

Where is there a list of approved, denied, and elected propositions/senators?

I love reading the discussion, but I would like a concrete list so I know exactly what happened. X.x

Main page/summary - http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2006/

Senate (complete list) - http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2006/pages/results/senate/full.list/

House (key races) - http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2006/pages/results/house/

Governorships (complete list) - http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2006/pages/results/governor/full.list/

Ballot Measures (selected) - http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2006/pages/results/ballot.measures/

 

[Skyhunter]

With 99% reporting, Tester's lead is down to 1700 votes.

I have little doubt that Webb has won in VA.

I agree, last time Virginia had a recount, about a year ago, the final tally only changed by like 20 votes.

 

[Skyhunter]

It shouldn't be too interesting... the republicans have a better chance of getting democrats to vote with them than sanders; it's essentially a democrat majority. A tight one, but a majority.

Slim or not, it still changes the agenda!

 

[Gokul43201]

With 99% reporting, Tester's lead is down to 1700 votes.

If CNN's County results table can be trusted, all counties in MT have completed counting, except Meagher County, from which we have none of the results yet (why?).

According to the 2000 Census, Meagher had a population of 1932 people. In the rest of MT, about 40% of the population voted. So this puts the number of uncounted regular votes in MT at about 800.

The margin between Tester and Burns is 1100.

EDIT : Meagher uses paper ballots that are hand counted, but how long could it possibly take to count say, a thousand or so ballots?

EDIT2 : http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061108/NEWS01/61108020

Meagher County was the only county not reporting results Wednesday morning. Election officials there said the nearly 900 ballots cast in the rural county were being counted by hand, and results were expected later this morning.

 

[moose]

I wake up and this is what I find:
Tester
194,914
Burns
193,179

1735 lead for Tester.

I'm almost positive dems will get Virginia and Montana now

 

[Gokul43201]

I'm almost positive dems will get Virginia and Montana now

There's going to be a recount in VA, and possibly one in MT too. I wonder how long that'll take?

 

[Anttech]

Congratulations to the Dem's I think the whole (rest of the world) world was happy. To be honest, I hope this doesn't back-fire come the REAL Elections (Presidential). Considering the Mess the Republicans have made especially in Iraq, it may get the Dems hand dirty trying to clean it up...

 

[Astronuc]

Dems take House; Senate hangs on 2 neck-to-neck races
http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/11/08/election.main/index.html

(CNN) -- Democrats took control of the House of Representatives for the first time in a dozen years, but the crucial question of which party will run the Senate hung Wednesday morning on neck-to-neck contests in Montana and Virginia.

Democratic challengers have picked up four seats in the Senate, according to CNN projections. Republicans would need to take just one of the two remaining competitive races to keep control of the chamber.

Democratic Senate candidates won in Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Missouri and Ohio, as well as independent Senate candidates Bernie Sanders in Vermont and Joe Lieberman in Connecticut -- who are expected to vote with the Democrats.

But in Montana, the race between Republican Sen. Conrad Burns and state Sen. Jon Tester is too close to call, although Tester shows a razor-thin lead. With 99 percent of the ballots counted, Tester leads by fewer than 2,000 votes.

If Tester wins, Democrats could secure Senate control by winning in Virginia, where embattled Republican Sen. George Allen trailed his Democratic challenger, Jim Webb, by fewer than 6,000 votes out of more than 2.3 million counted.

Webb declared victory early Wednesday, saying, "The votes are in, and we won."

But Allen wasn't backing down. "The election continues," he said.

If the parties split the Virginia and Montana races, that would create a 50-50 breakdown in the Senate, assuming that Sanders and Lieberman will caucus with the Democrats. In that event, Vice President Dick Cheney's constitutional authority to break tie votes would keep the Senate under Republican leadership.

GOP: 'Deeply disappointed'

House Majority Leader Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, said Republicans were "deeply disappointed in the outcome."

"Our challenge as Republicans is to regain our confidence, our courage and our energy to address the big issues that matter," Boehner said in a statement.

Boehner's predecessor, former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, suggested Republicans were largely at fault for their losses.

"We took a whipping last night, and we understand that," DeLay told CNN's "American Morning." "The Democrats didn't win, the Republicans lost."

 

[Schrodinger's Dog]

Thanks for all the info Astronuc and for demystifying your electoral process somewhat.

 

[Gokul43201]

The Ohio results were a strange mix of "all politics is local" and "no, it isn't".

In the House, all incumbents held (or are projected to hold) their seats. Even in Columbus, the most liberal district with a conservative representative, the incumbent Deborah Pryce(R) has narrowly beaten her challenger (pending a possible recount). Pryce did a fair bit to distance herself from Bush and Iraq, these last few days, and that helped her. The only sign of throwing any bums out of the House was the whipping defeat handed to Bob Ney's replacement, Joy Padgett(R), by liberal, Zack Space (no, he's not a comic book superhero).

The senate race saw the exact opposite result. Incumbent, and very long-time (US and state) senator, Mike DeWine(R) was easily ousted by the far from shiny Sherrod Brown. Voting with the president some 95% of the time was what did it.

In the race for the statehouse, Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell(R) (of 2004 Presidential election disaster fame) was upended by Ted Strickland. Blackwell must be completely shattered. In his (Blackwell's) own words (approximately), Bush had "guaranteed" him this Governorship, way back in 2004! This must make Blackwell seriously question his faith!

Smoking is completely out, as are slot machines. The minimum wage will be raised and required to keep pace with inflation.

 

[Anttech]

Bye Bye Donald, first neo-con to fall

 

[Rach3]

Bye Bye Donald, first[/color] neo-con to fall

Huh? What do you call Rick Santorum then, a potato?

 

[Rach3]

Montana goes Blue!
http://elections.us.reuters.com/top/news/usnWAT006545.html

 

[Rach3]

Unfortunate news for the impatient:

A Virginia Recount Would Not Come Soon

...While a recount seems likely, though, if it comes it will not come quickly.

According to a statement issued this month by the state’s Board of Elections, no request for a recount may be filed until the vote is certified, which is scheduled to happen this year on Nov. 27th.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/us/politics/08cnd-recount.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

It's a relatively sizeable margin in absolute terms, so I'm calling a Webb victory for this one (hurray!). Perhaps the racist Sen. Allen will look at the 2000/2004 debacles and decide not to seek a recount.

 

[arildno]

No, of course one cannot get the results earlier.

After all, it would be scandalous if, say, the Supreme Court just went ahead declaring a the Democrat candidate the winner?

 

[Astronuc]

Montana goes Blue!

Tester (D) 198,304 49%
Burns (R) 195,456 48% (Incumbent)
100% of precincts reporting and Testers lead increased to slightly more than 2900 vote.

CBSNews.com and the Associated Press projected state Sen. Tester had unseated incumbent Burns, who was tainted by links to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff and whose campaign was marred by several gaffes. The only Senate seat still undecided was in Virginia.

But even so, Burns still had considerable support. Perhaps without scandal he might have had something like 60-70%+ of the vote?

It looks like CNN's site has Sanders (I) and Lieberman in the Democratic camp. 50 D and 49 R with one undecided Senate race, which ostensibly is Virginia.

 

[Anttech]

Huh? What do you call Rick Santorum then, a potato?

No, perhaps religious right (far far right). I am not totally clued up on that persons political Ideals, care to share?

Anyway disregarding the temptation of another sarcastic quip to counter yours, I was actually meaning as being fired as a direct result of the Republicans fall, not being defeated at the polls...

Anyway good riddens to them both, especially Donald, as he effected MY life!

 

[jtbell]

Huh? What do you call Rick Santorum then, a potato?

A mashed potato!

 

[BobG]

Every gubernatorial candidate that appeared on TV's "The Dating Game" won. Every foreign born gubernatorial candidate also won.

Of course, since every foreign born gubernatorial candidate has appeared on "The Dating Game", that probably goes without saying.

Former NFL players went 1 and 3 in their election attempts. Only Heath Shuler won. Lynn Swann, Tom Osborne, and Sandy Sullivan all lost. Oh, wait, Sandy Sullivan didn't actually play for the Green Bay Packers.

Every candidate caught with $90,000 in their freezer won their election ... well, kind of. Jefferson finished with the most votes, but Louisiana has a strange election system. He still has to compete in a run-off against the second place candidate.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I would bet that all things considered, what really made the difference in this election is that:

1). The independents like me swang heavily democratic
2). All of the lazy dems who failed to vote in recent elections have finally learned their lesson. That, or, God forbid, the dems are learning how to get out the vote.

In fact, to very high percentages [I think around 85%] dems still voted for dems, and reps still voted for reps.

Oh yes
3). A slightly suppressed republican turn out.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

With the influx of moderate Dems, I wonder if they are finally getting past the acid, amnesty, abortion label. It seems to me that the dems have taken a big step towards the center. And with the success that it brings them, if they are smart they will continue in this direction. They could end up stronger than ever in '08 if they don't screw things up.

 

[Gokul43201]

Yesterday, America elected its first ever Muslim Representative (Keith Ellison, D-MN), its second black Governor (Deval Patrick, D-MA), put into place its first female Speaker (Nancy Pelosi, D-CA), voted NOT to ban same-sex unions (AZ) and voted to allow funding of stem cell research (MO).

I know which side of the fence most of these votes came from, but I think America finally grew up a little.

 

[McGyver]

For the past 18 months, I have listened, prayed, written, and advocated for progress and stability on global matters. With new blood now in Washington and in many states, it appears it may be near. A toast to you all!

 

[scott1]

Yesterday, America elected its first ever Muslim Representative (Keith Ellison, D-MN), its second black Governor (Deval Patrick, D-MA), put into place its first female Speaker (Nancy Pelosi, D-CA), voted NOT to ban same-sex unions (AZ) and voted to allow funding of stem cell research (MO).

I know which side of the fence most of these votes came from, but I think America finally grew up a little.

Also it looks we could be getting our first black president in '08. It may be common to have more minority politicians in the future.

I wouldn't surprised if this election becomes a very important in election in history.

Didn't Bush say something like that - "A vote for Democrats, is a vote for the terrorists?"

I also congratulated Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi and Congressman Steny Hoyer.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/11/08/bush.transcript/index.html

 

[moose]

voted NOT to ban same-sex unions (AZ)

To make it clear to anyone who doesn't know. In AZ, same sex marriage is illegal by law. This proposition wanted to place it into the AZ constitution. The governor repeated over and over at how absurd and pointless this prop is.