Tuesday, November 7, 2006

Still Watching...

When I posted the previous message, three states were in doubt — Virginia, Missouri and Montana — and the Democrats need all three to take the Senate. In Missouri, Claire McCaskill (the Democrat) just claimed victory and her opponent conceded so we're down to two.

In Montana, the Democrat (Tester) is at 51% and the Republican (Burns) is at 47% with 64% of the precincts counted. In Virginia, the Democrat (Webb) is at 50% and he's claimed victory while the Republican (Allen) is at 49% and has gone to bed. They're saying 100% of the vote is in but there are apparently provisional ballots and a recount ahead and those could take weeks.

I'm not posting these numbers because I figure you're coming here for your election totals. I'm just quoting them because the dramatics of the situation intrigue me and I want to remember this moment. I mean, if you scripted this to make it a nail-biter, you wouldn't dare write something like this. It would be just too contrived.

Sure hope this doesn't come down to another Florida/Ohio battle, this time in Virginia, where it looks like it's been decided by lawyers and judges instead of by voters. But it probably will.

• Posted at 11:23 PM · LINK

Watching the Returns...

Boy, if you wrote this for The West Wing, it would seem hokey and obvious. There are three Senate races that are up for grabs. The Democrats need to take all three to win the Senate and at just this moment — it may be different by the time I finish typing this — the Dems are ahead in all three races...but not by much. Any one of them could go G.O.P., in which case the Democrats would have had a great night but not the greatest night. (Seeing some of the victory speeches, one gets the idea that a lot of Democrats don't know how to celebrate a win. Obviously, they're way out of practice.)

It's going to be interesting to see what tonight's outcome does to the dynamic of Washington. Earlier this evening, I saw Chris Matthews hit some Republican — I think it was Bill Frist — with an interesting remark. The Republican, conceding that the Democrats would probably control the House, spoke of the need for the two parties to work together on a "bi-partisan basis" and he described some of what he hoped would happen. Matthews said something like, "You're not describing a bi-partisan basis. You're talking about them giving in to you on everything."

The G.O.P. guy — I'm pretty sure it was Frist — looked surprised. I get the feeling that a lot of Republicans are going to be surprised that way. It'll be interesting to see if Bush thinks anything has changed.

By the way: I think Rick Santorum was a terrible blight on the Senate but, contrary to my earlier posting, he gave a classy concession speech. Most of the speeches tonight have been pretty classy. Maybe politics doesn't have to always be as dirty as it sometimes seems these days.

• Posted at 10:46 PM · LINK

I'm Even More Upset...

Joe Lieberman seems to have retained his Senate seat. This is horrible. It could lead to a lot of man-on-dog sex.

• Posted at 6:26 PM · LINK

I'm So Upset...

Rick Santorum seems to have lost his Senate seat. This is horrible. It could lead to a lot of man-on-dog sex.

• Posted at 5:29 PM · LINK

Back From Voting...

...and if someone had done an exit survey at my polling place in the last fifteen minutes, they would have come to the conclusion that 100% of the voting turnout consists of tall males wearing New Balance shoes. It was just me and some other guy but we were the only ones there. A precinct worker was very thorough in telling me how to work the voting apparatus so as to make certain that my ballot could be counted. Years ago, I might have been annoyed at the Kindergarten-level explanation but now I appreciate the attention to duty.

It was a grueling struggle to get to my polling place. A whole half a block. And now, I'm home watching Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews on MSNBC trying to anchor election coverage without any news to report apart from voting irregularities. They have Tucker Carlson participating in the analysis along with Republican lawyer Ben Ginsberg, who was a lawyer for the Swift Boat Vets and an advocate for Bush in the 2000 Florida mess. I have the feeling that Olbermann will not sit silent if stupid or dishonest things are said by either. (Carlson is already starting with the view that a loss tonight might be great news for Republicans. Somehow, if they won big, I don't think he'd be saying that was bad news for the party...)

I think I'll turn it off and start watching again when there's some news. Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert are doing a live hour on Comedy Central at 8 PM, Pacific Time and I'm going to TiVo that in full and watch it later because it's more fun to surf the coverage.

Oh, wait. This is interesting. They just had an interview with Tom DeLay, who was on a live remote. Olbermann was sitting next to Chris Matthews in the studio but didn't ask a single question, didn't challenge DeLay's claim that all the polls were showing this will be one of the closest elections ever. (Neither did Matthews.) Wonder if that's the new MSNBC policy...Olbermann isn't allowed to talk to any guest who wouldn't voluntarily come on his show.

Okay, back to work. I'll check in later.

• Posted at 3:19 PM · LINK

Tuesday A.M.

I awoke this morning to the following thoughts...

• Thank God...no more of those repulsive political commercials. Until the next election.
• Voting irregularities in Ohio and Florida. Who would have imagined such a thing?
• Hey, we just went through another October where the big October Surprise was that there was no October Surprise.
• Or maybe it was that Karl Rove arranged for John Kerry to say something dumb that Republicans could twist into an issue.
• The Katherine Harris concession speech oughta be a keeper. Unless the Rick Santorum vow to fight on and never give up tops it.
• Somewhere at this very moment, there's a pollster who's going to be proven so far wrong tonight that he ought to get out of the business...but won't.
• And lastly: Dick Cheney says he's going to spend Election Day hunting. Good day to stay off the streets.

Vote early. Vote often. And if when you're watching the returns, you see that a person you voted for is at some total that ends in a "1," point at the screen and say, "Hey, that's me!"

• Posted at 8:48 AM · LINK

Tuesday Morning Possum Blogging

This possum just dropped by to urge you to exercise a precious right that we as Americans have...the right to vote. People in many nations cannot vote. Felons cannot vote. Even possums cannot vote. But if you're an American and not a felon — which applies to at least a third of you reading this — you can vote...so you should.

You also have a right to have your vote counted and to have it counted accurately. This may or may not happen and even if it does, the procedures may be so slipshod that you'll never be certain. So just look at it this way: If your guy wins, the election can be presumed to be honest and if your guy loses...hey, get over it, you sore loser.

I may or may not be blogging this evening, depending on whether I think I have anything useful to say. Not that this usually stops me but tonight, I'll have to compete with a lot of talking heads on TV who won't have anything useful to say. You might find it more enlightening to just go to the previous item here and play the "Banana Phone" number over and over until it's time to go to bed. Matter of fact, I think I'll do that now...

• Posted at 1:28 AM · LINK

Today's Video Link

You know what the commonest thing is to find on the Internet? I mean, besides porn and people who want to sell you erection-inducing drugs, which is sort of the same thing. Right: It's homemade music videos of the song, "Banana Phone." At last count, there were 7,338,841 of them and that's not counting the one you'll probably make one of these days, whether you want to or not.

Why is everyone making videos of "Banana Phone?" Easy. Because none of them are very good so it's not hard to think, "Hey, I could do the best 'Banana Phone' video on the web." At the moment, this is probably the one you have to beat. I have every confidence that you will.

• Posted at 12:02 AM · LINK