Tuesday Open Thread [11.13.2012]
It is now one week since Election Day and there are still races out there that have not been called. Check these out and tell us what you think.
In Arizona, the Senate race between Richard Carmona (D) and Jeff Flake (R) seems to still be within the realm of a win for Carmona. Arizona (to its eternal shame) still has a lot of votes to count — more than 486,000 as of Saturday. As of yesterday, Carmona trailed Flake by 78,000 votes. It is amazing that they could have so many votes uncounted and this looks like the result of having more early voting ballots and more provisional ballots than ever. Plenty of groups are watching this counting, especially since AZ made a full scale press to get more Hispanic voters registered and to the polls. I haven’t read any projections of what votes are in those ballots, but do you think there is any chance Carmona could pull it off? So far, the Rs in the AZ legislature have lost their supermajority due to more Ds winning locally.
Arizona has been under fire since last week, when a number of votes went uncounted due to issues at the polls. Voters reported showing up only to be told they were not registered or they had been issued absentee ballots, and were instead given provisional ballots that are now being counted by the state. (The Arizona Republic lays out the possible reasons for votes to go uncounted here.)
As of last Thursday, more than 600,000 ballots had yet to be counted — out of 3.1 million registered voters — more than any other recent presidential election, The New York Times reported.
TPM reports on seven outstanding House Races:
Rep. Ron Barber (D-AZ) has retaken the lead by a mere 330 votes in this seesawing contest to serve a full term in the Tucson-based seat formerly held by Congresswoman Gabby Giffords. Barber held the lead through most of election night, only to see it flip for a time to Republican challenger Martha McSally, a retired US Air Force colonel, as more and more voters were counted.
The Associated Press called a victory on Monday afternoon for Democratic candidate Kyrsten Sinema, who had a lead of about 5,800 votes over Republican Vernon Parker for this Phoenix-based district. At issue was that Maricopa County, which contains Phoenix and some outlying suburbs, still had 120,000 ballots to left count […]
It’s a similar story in the two outstanding California seats. Incumbent Republican Brian Bilbray was down 1,334 votes to Democratic challenger Scott Peters for San Diego-based 52nd Congressional District.
Republican Rep. Dan Lungren is down 1,779 votes to Democratic challenger Dr. Ami Bera. [California 7th]
Counting is over in South Florida. President Obama won the state and Rep. Allen West (R-FL) lost his bid for re-election to Democratic challenger Patrick Murphy. Except that West hasn’t conceded the (particularly nasty) contest, and is seeking a recount based on “disturbing irregularities” with the vote. The final margin, 6-tenths of a percent, was not small enough to trigger an automatic recount.
Eight-term Congressman Mike McIntyre (D-NC) has a tiny 420-vote unofficial lead in his contest against state Sen. David Rouzer, down from the 507-vote lead McIntyre held after the dust settled on Election Day.
The 3rd Congressional District in Louisiana isn’t headed for a recount, it’s headed for a run-off. Fellow Congressmen Charles Boustany and Jeff Landry, both Republicans, were forced to run against each other by redistricting.
The whacko Allen West is just a sore loser. He should just retreat to whatever contract Roger Ailes will offer him and stop embarassing his (old) constituents.
What interests you today?
Did some quick calculations…
Alex Pires paid $23.20 per vote
Carper paid $7.29 per vote
Smooth like Suede Kevin Wade paid $1.24 per vote
Of course, this is as of mid-October, more will probably have been paid after, but I have no idea when they will report that.
Where’s my twenty-three dollars?! I want my twenty-three dollars! Oh wait. That’s right. I didn’t vote for Pires. Nevermind.
.
John Young posted a story about how some of those at freak out central are circulating petitions for these state to secede the Union. Today, there is a petition up at the White House site to let Texas peacefully go.
If you think about it, why not? Puerto Rico wants to be a state and we’d have the better deal in a swap.
Bonus – The wignut GOP house would lose 15 votes, and Texas would be back in 10 to 15 years when the Demographics make a solidly Democratic state.
I’d love to see the expression on the faces of seceding Texans when they ask for their share of the Social Security trust fund, and they finally understand it is paid in real time by current workers.
It looks like that link is the wrong one.
But I will say that getting rid of Texas is somewhat tempting. But they are trending blue anyway, so they might be back.
And if they left, that would seal the deal on the trans-Canada pipeline. Permanently rejected. In fact, I think we should put it on indefinite hold pending the resolution of the secessionist movements that may impact the pipeline.
Fixed the link, sorry about that!
Rolling Jubilee – A bailout of the people by the people
“How Does Rolling Jubilee Work?
Banks sell debt for pennies on the dollar on a shadowy speculative market of debt buyers who then turn around and try to collect the full amount from debtors. The Rolling Jubilee intervenes by buying debt, keeping it out of the hands of collectors, and then abolishing it. We’re going into this market not to make a profit but to help each other out and highlight how the predatory debt system affects our families and communities. Think of it as a bailout of the 99% by the 99%”
http://rollingjubilee.org
Speaking of secessionists I noticed that Delaware was amongst the roll call of shame. Who is the human garbage who filed this petition and where in Sussex does it live?
CREATOR
Patricia C
Millsboro, DE
November 10, 2012
Signature # 1
Is that Pat Fish?
I like the petitions which suggest that these traitors should have thier citizenship stripped.
This is cute. Espn’s NFL kickoff tried to see how many Princess Bride references they could stuff in a half hour program.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/jpmoore/an-espn-nfl-show-cant-stop-talking-about-the-pri
For all of the people who want to take women’s health care decisions out of her hands — this is what happens when she can’t make her own choices.
Tragic — a grown woman can’t choose to save her life.
OMG that princess bride clip. Obvi that one guy is a HUGE fanboy.
http://jezebel.com/5960219/joe-biden-was-once-on-carmen-sandiego-failed-to-sing-with-rockapella
Also this happened.
Cassandra – that Irish pregnancy story is heartbreaking. You can totally hear someone telling a pregnant woman, “Sorry, honey, this is Texas. We got Christian rules we got to abide by.”
I read the Irish pregnancy story last night when Cassandra linked to it and was too upset to comment. That poor woman. Make no mistake, they killed her after torturing her.
Geek, your comment is bone chilling and, I fear, where we are heading.
My daughter is making a list of all the places she won’t live based on their reproductive laws. I haven’t showed her this article yet, but I bet her list grows.
I didn’t sleep much last night thinking about this. Seriously, outsourcing your decision-making to conservatives means that lots of women will die like this.
And I better never hear anyone say that it is somehow hyperbolic to be concerned about this.
I’m not sure how much I’ll sleep tonight after reading it. This is exactly the sort of religious stupidity that the Taliban was pulling (and to an extent is pulling again in areas they control). I am also disturbed that this happened in Ireland. If it can happen there, it CAN happen here.
I’d like Paul Ryan to explain the personhood movement to someone like this woman’s husband.
If we can keep Austin, lets give Texas back to the Mexicans.
@jason330
Questions about petitions
1. I see folks from other states have come in and signed the petition for DE – how can folks outside De aske for De to secede……does that then mean we can help to jettision Texas and Georgia and Alabama and Mississippi?
2. Well hell, im not for infringing on the liberty of others….they want to secede i will but the bus ticket…..but delaware stays rightnwhere it is…..THEY dont like it THEY can leave
3 are they REALLY that stupid ? I mean really? Its not hyperbole of anything?….