On Being a Good Winner

post from My Left Wing - Front Page on 03 November 2008 06:45:18 PM. © My Left Wing - Front Page

I've been thinking about dancing in the streets, sending gloating emails, and generally being an obnoxious prick about winning this election tomorrow. I'm thinking of 2004, when most of the Republicans I knew were insufferable jackasses about their victory, and I'm thinking I'd like to be that insufferable jackass... but I'm also thinking maybe that's not what I want to do.

From a very rough, first approximation, it's possible that such poor sportspersonship was partly what led to the 2006 winning of Congress for Democrats. Yeah, there's a lot of factors. A LOT. But I know one of the things that made me get off my ass, put aside the busy work of grad school, drive 100 miles to where I was registered (I'm bad at planning) -- one of those things was a former friend and coworker blasting Queen's "We are the champions" when I showed up to work the day after John Kerry's concession speech.

I'm bad with sentence structure, forgive me.

Anyway, one of the reasons I was so motivated to vote (other than hating Rick Santorum) was my anger at all these gloating Freepers. This year, I've decided, I will not even broach the topic with any of my (few) Republican friends. If they bring it up, I'll be as humble as I can be, I'll tell them I respect what they were trying to do by electing McCain/Palin (it will be lying, as I do not respect it), and I'll say that maybe we need some more parties. Then I'll leave it.

I don't know what others should do. Of course, I'll be dancing (badly) in my apartment when the news comes through. Of course, I'll rejoice and write effusively on the internets about it. I won't, however, rub anyone's nose in it, and I certainly won't be dancing in the streets.

We need to heal this country now, not divide it further. Blah blah blah, who hasn't written something about this, but you get the idea. Gloating makes enemies and motivates people. I'm going to be the kind of Democrat/Progressive/Liberal that mostly anyone would want to associate with.

Hey, any potential Republican readers (precious few of you, I'm sure), come on in and let's work together to try and help each other out. I'll buy the coffee, even, to try and make up for some of these taxes Obama's going to levy on you. I'll even buy you a donut. A good, cake donut, because they're pretty much the best.

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AP: Second Trooper-Gate Report To Be Released
Tonight

post from TPMMuckraker on 03 November 2008 06:43:00 PM. © TPMMuckraker

The Alaska State Personnel Board will release its report into Trooper-Gate tonight, reports the Associated Press.

From the AP:

Timothy Petumenos, an independent investigator hired by the Alaska Personnel Board, says he will release the report during a news conference 7:30 p.m. EST Monday.
A separate legislative panel earlier found that Palin, the Republican vice presidential nominee, abused her office by allowing her husband and other staffers to pressure the public safety commissioner to fire a state trooper who went through a nasty divorce from Palin's sister. She fired the commissioner, but denies it had anything to do with the trooper.

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A Union Member For Change

post from MyDD on 03 November 2008 06:38:56 PM. © MyDD

Jonathan and I are out in Nevada for the election, and on Sunday we sat down with Courtney Errington, an SEIU member here in Las Vegas who works as a property manager for Clark County. She's been organizing with SEIU for a while. And even though[...]

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Not my Commander in Chief

post from Docudharma - Front Page on 03 November 2008 06:36:19 PM. © Docudharma - Front Page

Glenn Greenwald, writing for Salon, calls it "the single worst expression in American politics."You may have your own nominees for that distinction, but his is "Commander in Chief," which is used these days as a substitute for President.He[...]

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Rumors of . . . Tigers . . . in Iraq

post from IraqSlogger.com on 03 November 2008 06:31:27 PM. © IraqSlogger.com

In one of the more outlandish rumors reported to Slogger, reports are spreading among herders in Maysan Province of "tigers" attacking their livestock in the area.

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White House: Bush Thinks McCain Has "Right Ideas"
On Economy

post from Daily Kos on 03 November 2008 06:30:04 PM. © Daily Kos

Another unwanted endorsement from White House Press Secretary Dana Perino:

"President Bush remains hopeful that John McCain will pull it out tomorrow night and win the election." Perino added that Bush thinks McCain and other Republicans "have the right ideas when it comes to the economy and national security."

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The DWT Predictions For Tomorrow

post from DownWithTyranny! on 03 November 2008 06:30:00 PM. © DownWithTyranny!

These are premised on there being no electoral fraud from our friends on the right. It always amazes me that the Democrats send out hordes of lawyers to protect voters from the hordes of lawyers the GOP sends out to disenfranchise people. Something I'll never forget in my life was how a then-young little fascist piece of shit, Willy Rehnquist, was a lawyer assigned to keep minority voters from casting ballots in Phoenix in the early '60s. It was the first time I ever heard of him. The Republican Party rewarded him with a series of jobs and eventually Nixon appointed him to the Supreme Court, where he was the most far right extremist on the Court, reason enough for Reagan to make him Chief Justice. He's currently slowly roasting in hell. Anyway... back to the predictions.

Since I started yammering about the Supreme Court out of the blue, let's get going with the Senate, since they will have to advise and consent to President Obama's nominations if we should be so lucky and see Scalia, Thomas, Roberts and Alito all fall into a shark tank and get torn to bits before anyone thinks about saving their worthless carcasses.

Unfortunately, no Democrats will lose their seats, so we will be stuck with utterly reactionary swine like Mark Pryor (AR) and Mary Landrieu (LA) for 6 more years. The most likely Democrats to win are both contesting open seats. I hope Mark Warner (VA) turns out to be a moderate like Jim Webb has and not a dickhead reactionary. I'll hope for the best and be ready for the worst from this guy. The other sure thing is one of the best candidates the Democrats have this year, Tom (NOT Mark) Udall (NM). He's on the way to routing extreme right-wing knuckle-dragger Steve Pearce, who is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Big Oil and was-- aside from Cornyn-- their biggest play of 2008 ($314,234), bigger even than crooked oil whores Inhofe, McConnell and Landrieu. Tom is a solid progressive with great ideas for moving America forward. Let's hope he has more influence on his cousin in the Senate than he did in the House. And, in fact, that cousin, Mark Udall (CO), is the third sure Senate winner tomorrow, also for an open Republican seat.

Even Alaskans aren't contrary enough to re-elect a convicted felon and Mark Begich has been ahead in every single poll this cycle. And that brings us to the tougher races. The best of the likely winners-- by far-- is the man who should get Paul Wellstone's desk, Jeff Merkley (OR). We should look for Merkley to join Bernie Sanders, Sherrod Brown and Russ Feingold to fight for the interests of working families and for the re-establishment of constitutional law. Jeanne Shaheen (NH), a decent moderate, should be fighting a re-election battle but in 2004 Rove engineered a theft of the New Hampshire Senate election-- and possibly an airplane accident in Minnesota-- to give Bush a Senate majority. This year New Hampshire voters will correct that injustice by retiring John Sununu from public life. As I explained earlier, Elizabeth Dole killed her own re-election prospects with her out-of-bounds negative campaigning and right of center hack Kay Hagan (NC), an improvement over Dole by all means, will wind up a U.S. Senator. Norm Coleman has tried painting Al Franken (MN) a left-winger; we should be so lucky! He's a solid, decent moderate... and likely to win the Minnesota Senate seat tomorrow.

That brings us to 8 pick-ups. Even if you want to count Lieberman as a Democrat, which is silly, that still doesn't give Reid the clout to break a filibuster without help from Olympia Snowe (R-ME) or, even less likely, Arlen Specter (R-PA). Are there any other shots? There are two toss-ups. Jim Martin (GA), a decent moderate. I have a first hand report from a friend that just came in via IM:

I stood in line 6 hours on Friday, after trying to vote all week for less than that time, and it never happened... most of the people around me, and I mean MOST were Democrats... very few Republicans in North Fulton County. Let me revise... Lots of Republicans in North Fulton County. Problem is, none are voting as they did in 2000 and 2004! Georgia goes Blue... Georgia goes Blue... Thats my early call based on what I've seen. Of course, I've been saying that for weeks, but I believe it after Friday. People in line were very vocal about for whom they were voting. So this wasn't just a guessing game.

OK, Martin could force radical right extremist Saxby Chambliss into a run-off, although there's no guarantee that Georgia will then decide to hand the Democrats the key to the car. That leaves the seat Roger Wicker was appointed to in Mississippi. Can anti-choice reactionary Dem Ronnie Musgrove take it? He has a 5 point gap to close in less than 20 hours.

Is there anywhere else left to look? It seems hardly worthwhile to pray that Bruce Lunsford close the narrowing 3 point gap with the odious Mitch McConell, since Lunsford is almost equally odious and will quickly show himself to be the absolute worst "Democrat" in the Senate. So if you want to pray, here are the chances the Democrats have to get a decent Senator as #60. Pray for a 5-10 point shift in any-- better yet, all-- of these

Rick Noriega (TX)
Tom Allen (ME)
Andrew Rice (OK)
Scott Kleeb (NE)

So... without Divine intervention, look for 8 pickups and a possible run-off. Pray

And that brings us to the House. I'll go alphabetically by state. First a note. In 2006 not one Democratic seat went to the Republicans. This year a fake Democrat-- a corrupt reactionary one at that-- Tim Mahoney (FL-16) is likely to lose his seat. It's actually a toss-up but my guess is that he'll be swamped, giving progressives one more reason for celebration. I'd love to see right-wing Democrats who vote with the GOP more than with their own party-- like Nick Lampson (TX-22) and Don Cazayoux (LA-06)-- also lose their seats. The latest from Texas shows Lampson down significantly in one of those unreliable Zogby polls, 53-36%, and in Louisiana William Cassidy is gaining on Cazayoux who will owe his defeat-- if it comes-- to an independent run by African-American state Senator Mike Jackson (polling 14%). Cazayoux only won his seat because he posed as a champion for working families, attracting massive African-American support, so it would be an act of supreme justice for him to lose tomorrow. Those 3 are the only Democratic incumbents with any chance of losing-- and I'll opt for all three, although the polling for Cazayoux and Lampson is suspect and if I didn't hate them both so much I would discard it. There is also an even chance that Democrat Paul Kanjorski (PA-11) will lose his seat to xenophobe and bigot Lou Barletta.

OK, that said, here are the districts that I'm predicting will change from red to blue. (The one sin italics are long shots that will need a bigger Obama landslide than anyone is predicting.)

AL-02: Bobby Bright (crap Democrat)
AL-05: Parker Griffith (crap Democrat)
AL-03: Josh Segall

AK-AL: Ethan Berkowitz

AZ-01: Ann Kirkpatrick (crap Democrat)
AZ-03: Bob Lord

CA-04: Charlie Brown*
CA-03: Bill Durston
CA-26: Russ Warner*
CA-45: Julie Bornstein
CA-46: Debbie Cook*
CA-50: Nick Leibham

CO-04: Betsy Markey

CT-04: Jim Himes*

FL-08: Alan Grayson*
FL-24: Suzanne Kosmas
FL-25: Joe Garcia*
FL-12: Doug Tudor
FL-13: Christine Jennings (crap Democrat)
FL-18: Annette Taddeo*
FL-21: Raul Martinez (crap Democrat)

ID-01: Walt Minnick

IL-10: Dan Seals
IL-11: Debbie Halvorson
IL-06: Jill Morgenthaler

IN-03: Michael Montagano (crap Democrat)
IN-06: Barry Welsh*

IA-04: Becky Greenwald
IA-05: Rob Hubler

KY-02: David Boswell (crap Democrat)

LA-04: Paul Carmouche (crap Democrat)

MD-01: Frank Kratovil (crap Democrat)

MI-07: Mark Schauer*
MI-09: Gary Peters*
MI-08: Robert Alexander

MN-03: Ashwin Madia
MN-06: Elwyn Tinlenberg (crap Democrat)
MN-02: Steve Sarvi

MO-09: Judy Baker
MO-06: Kay Barnes

NE-02: Jim Esch (crap Democrat)

NV-03: Dina Titus
NV-02: Jill Derby

NJ-03: John Adler
NJ-07: Linda Stender
NJ-05: Dennis Shulman*

NM-01: Martin Heinrich*
NM-02: Harry Teague
NM-03: Ben Ray Lujan

NY-13: Michael McMahon (crap Democrat)
NY-25: Dan Maffei*
NY-29: Eric Massa*
NY-26: Alice Kryzan

NC-08: Larry Kissell*

OH-01: Steve Dreihaus (crap Democrat)
OH-02: Victoria Wulsin*
OH-15: Mary Jo Kilroy
OH-16: John Boccieri
OH-03: Jane Mitakides
OH-07: Sharen Neuhardt

PA-03: Kathy Dahlkemper (crap Democrat)
PA-15: Sam Bennett*
PA-18: Steve O'Donnell

SC-01: Linda Ketner

TX-07: Michael Skelly
TX-10: Larry Joe Doherty*

VA-05: Tom Perriello*
VA-11: Gerald Connolly (crap Democrat)
VA-02: Glenn Nye
VA-10: Judy Feder*

WA-08: Darcy Burner*

WY-AL: Gary Trauner

So I'm predicting 39 Democratic pickups and 3 Democratic losses for a net of 36. And there are reasonable shots for 33 more Democrats. Tomorrow should be pretty exciting. (House candidates with stars mean they are Blue America-endorsed progressives)

Read The Full Article:
http://downwithtyranny.blogspot.com/2008/11/dwt-predictions-for-tomorrow.html

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FL GOP Promises No "Frivolous" Voter Challenges
in Legal Truce with Dems

post from TPMMuckraker on 03 November 2008 06:23:00 PM. © TPMMuckraker

Specters of the 2000 election have risen in Florida, with Democrats and Republicans engaging in legal wrangling just days before Election Day.

Last week, the Florida Democratic Party joined a suit against Republicans, asking a judge to clearly define what constitutes a challenge to a voter, in anticipation of problems tomorrow.

The suit makes multiple allegations, including claims that the GOP tried to ''cage'' a Duval County voter, and that a Republican sheriff's candidate challenged approximately 300 voters. Democrats also accused Republicans of planning a ''lose your home, lose your vote'' challenge, similar to the threats allegedly made by a GOP county leader in Michigan. "Caging" refers to the practice of sending mail -- marked "Do Not Forward" -- to voters to see who has moved and prompt removal from the rolls.

But today, with just hours until polls open in the state, the two parties have reached an agreement -- putting the lawsuit on hold in exchange for a promise from state Republicans to not engage in "frivolous mass voter challenges."

From the Fort Mills Times:

That came after the GOP filed sworn statements Monday saying the state and national Republican parties "have not and will not" engage in frivolous mass voter challenges.
Circuit Judge Kevin Davey, though, will remain on standby Tuesday in case Democrats present evidence that Republicans have broken their promise.

It's still not clear what this means for Florida Democrats, since it seems to hinge on a court's definition of "frivolous."

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A Word From Harris Martin

The latest...

Neighbors,

Just 3 days to go before this historic election. If you live in the 18th House District, I ask for your vote on Tuesday. To vote for me, push button 6A on the bottom row of the new voting machine. To my friends outside the district, please wish us well.

I apologize for not sending out more campaign emails. I have been holding down 3 jobs trying to keep up with my mortgage and family obligations. I certainly understand where folks are with this economy because I am there too. We are very happy, however, that my first grandchild, Taylor Elizabeth Martin, was born on the 15th of October and is doing well.

My opponent and I have had 3 debates--at the Bensalem Senior Center, Tifereth Israel Synagogue, and St. Mathews Methodist Church. I have gotten some good press coverage and an almost endorsement from the Courier Times.

For those of you who received my opponent's latest deceptive and dishonest direct mail piece, please be advised that Peter Waitze, former BDO chair and traitor, is no longer a Democrat. He has campaigned for the local Republican candidates and against the local Democratic candidates for the last 3 years. Last year he campaigned for Rs Ed Kisselback and John Knowles and against Ds Mary Jeffery and Alex McDowell. Also, Governor Ed Rendell is not supporting my opponent, he is supporting me. DiGirolamo used this same dishonest ploy 2 years ago and the Governor's campaign press spokesman issued a renunciation at that time (the press did not publish it).

Remember where I and my opponent stand and have stood on these issues:

Illegal handling of official election night returns:

* I put a stop to it as soon as I heard about it in 2003.

* DiGirolamo must have known of this illegal and corrupt practice which went on for at least 15 years and he did and said nothing.

Greg Young racial harassment case:

* I worked with the NAACP in 1994 to provide background information to Greg's attorney.

* DiGirolamo did nothing.

Republican attempt to take away the right to vote of former prisoners:

* I initiated a successful effort by the Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and national NAACP, along with ACORN, to get this racist House-passed amendment out of the Senate version of the bill.

* DiGirolamo said and did nothing.

Televising candidate debates on Bensalem channel 22 (BCT):

* I asked the township to do this.

* DiGirolamo could have asked the township to do it but refused.

Enforcement of gambling laws in Bensalem:

* I have spoken out publicly about the mayor's corrupt refusal to enforce this law and have our police prosecute the 4 or more Bensalem businesses found by police to have illegal gambling machines.

* Gene DiGirolamo has said and done nothing about this, even though he claims credit for the slots casino that we now have.

Creekside polling place change:

* I have worked from the beginning as part of the team devoted to reversing this racist and illegal action by the Bensalem and Bucks County Republicans.

* DiGirolamo's party and his uncle the mayor caused the problem while my opponent said and did nothing to help the residents of Creekside put the polling place back where it was.

What we are:

* I am a dyed in the wool Democrat and proud of it. I have been a fierce watchdog for the residents of Bensalem.

* My opponent claims to be a moderate but has an A-rating from the NRA. He uses dishonest means to deceive less informed voters into thinking he is a Democrat who supports Ed Rendell. He is the mayor's lapdog. He is the smiling face on the racist and corrupt Bensalem Republican monster.

Tough talk but it is JUST THE TRUTH.

Please make sure the young voters in your family get to the polls. Vote for Patrick Murphy for Congress and Barak Obama for President. Vote straight Democratic.

It's great to be a Democrat in Bensalem! GO BIG D!!!

Harris Martin
Democrat -- Liberty and justice for all

To help, click here.

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Workers hired by Republican Party told to lie and
claim they were volunteers

post from AMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth on 03 November 2008 06:22:00 PM. © AMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth

Even more proof that the Republicans will lie about anything:

Four employees hired by a temporary staffing agency to encourage absentee voting for Sen. John McCain in Wisconsin say they were instructed to tell people they were Republican volunteers.

The employees told The Associated Press in interviews on Monday they were hired by Allstaff Labor Group to go door-to-door in the Milwaukee suburbs locating McCain supporters and distributing absentee ballot request forms.

Allstaff recruited the workers under a contract with a consulting firm hired by the Republican Party of Wisconsin to run its absentee ballot program.

The workers claim they were told to say they were GOP volunteers even though they were getting paid $10 an hour for the work. They were required to sign agreements stating they would not speak publicly about their work with anyone including reporters, but they decided to speak out because they were angry they had not been paid for their final few days.