Good Morning?
Here's a screen-capture from cnn.com taken at about 1:00am (CST):
does this result hold?
Do the Dems take Montana and Missouri?
Will Webb survive a seemingly inevitable recount?
And if so, what direction for this new Democratic Congress?
Both houses--seems quite possible right now, though much precinct reporting (and probably much legislating) remains outstanding. . . .
How did it happen?
Was it Iraq?
Perhaps "frustration and unease"?
Or, on a less jubilant note, was it that the Dems ran candidates opposed to abortion rights, in favor of the war in Iraq, and not really all that different in the end than those whom they replace?
(Someone's got to be disappointed by this (apparent) sweep; might as well be me.)
posted by Unknown @ 11:03 PM
5 comments
5 Comments:
Ah, one more down: they're now calling Missouri for McCaskill.
Huzzah!
Misgivings aside, I much prefer this 110th Congress to its predecessor.
It will definitely be a conservative freshman class of Democrats, not ideal "in a perfect world of Yancies."
Still, it's nice to see some right-wing sacred cows go down in flames: Santorum, Katherine Harris, Ken Blackwell, Phill Kline, Jim Ryun, Pres. Bush, and the Maestro himself, Karl Rove.
That was a good night.
These new conservative Dems just prove the point that the Democractic party is the liberal and conservative party.
The Republicans are just wing-nuts.
There was a lot of pipe dreaming on msnbc last night, with Dick Armey, Joe Scarbrough, and Pat Buchanan noting how conservative these Dems are and how that means the country is getting more conservative.
Let's look at Webb. He was a Republican until Iraq and Katrina shamed him into switching. Heath Shuler was technically independent, but the Republicans have been trying to get him to run for years - now he's a Dem. Wes Clark was a Republican until the 90's - and I'd bet the veterans and military culture as a whole starts tilting Democratic.
Did the Dems just get conservative? Or did the Republican party not only lose Congress but also most of their moderates in the party? I mean, they are shut out of the Northeast as much as Dems have been shut out of the South.
They are becoming a regional party.
Also, brilliant move on Webb to declare victory. The heat is on Allen. He's got every right to recount away, but he has a hill to climb. I knew Allen was in trouble when he came out in measure tones and talked of the importance of the process. Allen's not a process guy and he's not prone to understatement, so I figured he knew he was in trouble.
Webb came out and sounded like his usual stiff self, then came to life: "I want to say that I appreciate what Senator Allen said not long ago, we all need to respect the process . . . but I also would like to say that the votes are in, and we won!"
Another funny moment was when Chris Matthews was critizing Hillary's behavior at her victory speech. She and President Clinton were clapping rhythmically onstage. As best as I can recall, Matthews said "Why is she up there clapping for herself? That looks so weird! So Chinese!"
Keith Olbermann, who was sharing a desk with Matthews, broke into a giggling fit. It was an odd comment, but the image was a little strange.
Well, if a party with almost no moderates has 49 (let's hope) seats in the Senate and, what, like 195 seats in the House, then I'm hard-pressed to be elated about that.
(Again, I of course prefer this to the 109th Congress, but whether the country's more conservative or the Republicans have lost their moderates but continue to get nearly as many votes as the moderates-cum-Democrates, I'm bound to feel down.)
I agree, by the by, on Webb--great move; having the lead going into the recount sure puts him (and Tester, as I understand it) in a good spot.
Oh, and the tighter and more legalistic the Virginia race becomes, the more of a problem it is for Allen.
The FBI is already investigating charges of voter suppression in Virginia. He needed to win convincingly and move on. The more time we have to suss out the vote via recount, the more time we have to pay attention to that investigation.
You should feel elated, Yancy. The Dems finally won an election after three hearbreakers in 6 yrs - '00, '02, '04.
We got the House, we're ahead in the Senate, so far we're beating the projections. There's really very little to be disapointed with from last night. Maybe there are larger trends to be concerned with, but apart from Tennessee and a some right wing ballot measures, last night was a big V.
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