Wednesday Open Thread
Welcome to your Wednesday open thread. I don’t know about you but I’m exhausted. I think I worked harder that I worked in 2008 to GOTV, but it was worth it! What a night, at least for Democrats in Delaware anyway. As of writing there’s still some races not decided but a few surprises: Bennett will probably hold on in Colorado, Quinn will hold on in Illinois and Murray will probably hold on in Washington. I’m not at all surprised by Harry Reid’s win. I am a bit surprised a Lisa Murkowski’s apparent win but Miller just imploded at the end. It’s interesting that the Tea Party candidates that got the most scrutiny – Angle and O’Donnell both lost. I don’t think it’s a coincidence but it allowed some truly rightwing candidates to avoid scrutiny, like Pat Toomey and Marco Rubio.
It’s tough trying to find some non-election news to discuss. I thought you might find this interesting – Nate Silver discusses the Rasmussen polling:
While waiting for the remaining results to trickle in from states like Colorado and Alaska, I did a quick check on the accuracy of polls from the firm Rasmussen Reports, which came under heavy criticism this year — including from FiveThirtyEight — because its polls showed a strong lean toward Republican candidates.
Indeed, Rasmussen polls quite consistently turned out to overstate the standing of Republicans tonight. Of the roughly 100 polls released by Rasmussen or its subsidiary Pulse Opinion Research in the final 21 days of the campaign, roughly 70 to 75 percent overestimated the performance of Republican candidates, and on average they were biased against Democrats by 3 to 4 points.
Every pollster is entitled to a bad cycle now and again — and Rasmussen has had some good cycles in the past. But their polling took a major downturn this year.
Remember – Ras gave Coons an 11% lead, and he won by 16.5%. So in the case of Delaware Rasmussen was off by 5.5%.
The DADT repeal fight is gearing up again and the Log Cabin Republicans are trying to push some Republican Senators. What excuses do they have? The survey results will come out in early December but early results indicate a majority of servicemembers support repeal.
“We have to go back,” Cooper said. “There are a number of senators who were not fully comfortable being vocal for repeal before adjournment.”
There are a handful — four or five, he said — of Republican senators who he expects to be very persuadable. Those are the ones, he said, who asked for data from the Pentagon’s review of DADT before making a decision.
“Those are the ones that are gonna be very open to the idea of actually voting in favor of repeal,” he said. “These are senators who have been very amenable to the conversation, and have put forth positive indicators … but just need a little more.”
The push they might need, he said, is the report the Pentagon will release in early December on its review.
“With that being done and the election being under everyone’s belt, we can finally get this done,” he said.
This could get interesting. McCain is still vowing to filibuster and there will be one more Republican in the lame duck session, Mark Kirk.
Tags: Open Thread
In my little neck of the woods I will be removing political signs to aid the clean-up of all parties. If you want your signs, just let me know on this blog. I’ll keep ’em stacked for about a week. I’m not removing any big ones, only those pesky yard signs. Thanks.
Please destroy forever the Christine O’Donnell signs. It is an act of human necessity. If you are uncomfortable with that, I will stop by this evening to take them off your hands, and then I will drive to the neareast incinerator.
DD–Don’t trouble yourself–I have a call into HAZMAT for those. 🙂
All. Can say is, America Fuck YEAH!!!! I’m so happy ODonnelll lost I’m on cloud fucking 9
Arkansas went from the most attractive Senate visage to the ugliest:
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/gallery/2010/11/meet-your-new-us-senators-1.php?img=8
The Denver Post has just declared Michael Bennet the winner of the Senate race in CO. There are about 30,000 votes uncounted in Boulder County, which is a Bennet stronghold.
I collected the Democratic signs at a polling place last night. When I finished, all of the signs were gone except for one lonely Christine O’Donnell sign that the Republicans at the polling place apparently had no interest or responsibility for removing it. I am keeping it as a souvenir.
What’s Next for Feingold?
William Kristol: “Russ Feingold, now freed of his Senate responsibilities, is liberated to consider a Gene McCarthy-like run against the president in the 2012 primaries on an end-the-war platform — pre-empting Howard Dean, who is undoubtedly also considering such an effort.”
Interestingly, Ben Smith notes that at the conclusion of Feingold’s concession speech, he says, “It’s on to our next adventure. It’s on to 2012! Forward!”
http://politicalwire.com/archives/2010/11/03/whats_next_for_feingold.html
Here’s a very cool map of yesterday’s election results in Delaware.
Just enter a statewide race and see how each ED voted:
http://delaware-ms.esri.com/ElectionResults/
Feingold in 2012?
That’s when fellow Wisconsin senator Herb Kohl will turn 77. It’s also when Kohl’s seat is up.
Bill Kristol hasn’t been right often. If Feingold still has the taste for the Senate, I’ll wager my Harvey Catchings bobblehead that he seamlessly becomes Wisconsin’s junior senator on Jan. 3, 2013.
What will become of Coons’ position as NCC executive?
Is there an appointment or a special election, and if so… can we PLEASE get COD to run for it?
I cant get enough! She, and her merry band of idiots are just too amusing to let got for 2 years.
Good point, belinsky. He does have a pretty good national following and he considered running in 2010 but then said he preferred his work in the Senate. I’d love to see him run for POTUS in 2012, but it would be great to have him back in the Senate, too.
And I hate to quote Bill Kristol about anything. 🙂
Obama/Biden 2012 !!!! Fuck Yeah!!! The reveal is on bitches!!!
have a call into HAZMAT for those
Hang on a minute. I forget what the DelDOT fine is for having signs in the wrong part of the RoW, but I’m thinking we could get a bunch of them to violate the rule and start chipping away at her cash hoard…..
It’s a little late for Mischief Night, but hey.
Jason, what are you going to do without Castle to beat up on anymore???
Maybe Castle and I will go on the road like Dean & Rove? Does anyone know who does the booking for the Mamie Warren Senior Center?
Come see my cutest story ever. Really.
http://sites.google.com/site/brookebovardforsenate/classroom-news/postelectionpostwithgreatstory
What will become of Coons’ position as NCC executive?
Clark ascends without election (grrrrr). Clark’s position as NCCo Council Prez goes up for a special. The major parties are to “appoint” their candidate. How they do that is up to them (open selection, some committee, short-straw, etc.). There is no open-filing for the special via the major parties. Don’t know the process for minor parties.
thanks, smitty.
looks like we’ll have to wait a year to start hearing from the One again.
Maddening. More of the same behavior that got us to this point:
Nope, wouldn’t want to be in conflict with Republicans.
It can’t happen, but I like the idea of COD running for county exec. First order of business: Answer Jensen’s “what would you have done if you were Chris Coons” question.
Where’s El Som’s pick post? I wanna compare. 😉
Right here:
http://delawareliberal.net//2010/10/21/el-somnambulo-predicts-em-all-for-you/
Wrong on three races: Counihan/Cloutier, Dennis E. Williams/Rhodunda, and Bennett/Miller.
Otherwise, a clean sweep.
And in unrelated news, my youngest just informed me as I requested a certain Halloween candy—“you try going out there, and getting this stuff…it’s not easy….”
I heard today that it is expected Tim Sheldon will become the County Council president. Please, somebody with a brain throw your hat in the ring. I will volunteer for your campaign and contribute the maximum allowable amount of money! That man is as dumb as dirt!!
Joanne: LOL. Any details on the horrors?
Not only is he dumb as dirt, he and Clark are deep into the pockets of the developers. Sheldon b/c all he’s interested in are the union construction trade workers who he (incorrectly) believes will get lotsa jobs with lotsa projects and Clark, well, b/c he’s an amoral greedy SOB.
Sheldon would be a disaster, plus he’s being played for a fool by the development community, who know a fool when they see one, and who know a thing or two about screwing the unions.
No horrors–actually I thought it was a great “take”. My sister took her around and commented everyone kept saying ” we’ve had hardly any kids tonite”, and loaded her up. Even the big bars like we used to get!!! One person had a sign on their door “We’re next door”. Kinda funny. Maybe Sunday threw the Halloween crowd this year–or people are sticking to mall treats, and “trunk” or treating people do with their community/church groups. I don’t know.
Show me a NCC politician who ISN’T in the pockets of the developers. It’s a scandal. I miss the places I grew up with. ;(
Christine O’Donnell for NCC Council President, then NCC Exec.
What a great way for her to get experience in government, win over NCC voters, and demonstrate she’s serious about the full breadth of governance not just social issues.
It’s that or law school or gov. school, if she’s serious.