I am blogged out. Go vote.
Blah blah blah. I am sure there is something to be outraged about, but I can’t muster any.
Go Vote
by John Cole| 80 Comments
This post is in: Politics, Previous Site Maintenance, Blogospheric Navel-Gazing
Go Vote
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zzyzx
Just wait until tomorrow night and I’m sure there will be plenty to say…
Zifnab
Things to be outraged about
Before Paul L, Bender, Darrel, or SCS can pile on, I’ll just come out and say that Clinton Did It Too(tm).
Sstarr
I’m sitting at my desk blocks from Qwest Field only hours away from the Monday Night Football clash between the hopless Raiders and the denuded Seahawks and I’m outraged at the weather. This may be the foulest weather I’ve ever witnessed for a football game – heavy rain, swirling wind. If only we had Shaun Alexander today…
zzyzx
Am I the only one in the Seattle area who doesn’t think it’s been raining that hard?
Barry
I’m watching an episode of ‘Gray’s Anatomy’ on DVD, and it isn’t raining there. It’s set in Seattle. Perhaps your TV is on the wrong channel – change it, and see if the weather changes :)
Andrei
What? You aren’t unhinged that the Steelers are 2-6?
Ok… that was a low blow… even for me.
Dave
Saw that Zifnab. Truly disgusting. Anyone who is involved should have their voting rights revoked and spend time in jail.
As for the Steelers…well the don’t suck as bad as my Niners.
demkat620
John,
I really feel for you tonight, friend. I am filled with trepidation myself. May god grant you peace. And may you be given the full and joyful feeling of schadenfreude over Rick Santorum tomorrow.
ThymeZone
I’m ppGaz and I approve this message:
Darrell has repeatedly supported amnesty for illegal aliens, and supported the rights of the Man Boy Love Association over the safety of our children. Darrell is wrong for BJ and wrong for America.
Hi, I’m ppGaz. I paid for this ad to send you this important message: Vicious terrorists hate America and will do what it takes to rob us of our lives and and our freedom. I need your vote to make sure that our government has the power to rob you of your liberties before the terrorists do.
I appreciate your support.
demimondian
You’re in center city, though, aren’t you zz? It’s rained plenty hard out over the Cascade suburbs today. FDDD and I were wakened a couple of times during the night by the pounding of rain on our skylights.
ThymeZone
Book jacket material from the new book “What Happened in Ohio” by Bob Fitrakis, Steve Rosenfeld, Harvey Wasserman.
(Amazon, $12.21, ISBN 1595580697)
jcricket
I’m with you. This weather blows. Even my dog hates it. Side note: I wonder how many WA-based commentators there are on this blog.
Zifnab, Republicans tried to do an even more sick kind of thing in WA state (filing mass voter registration challenges based on bad web searches of people’s addresses and what-not). Luckily WA is a blue state and the judge smacked them down pretty hard. I think it even lead to a law requiring voter registration challenges have more proof and be filed no later than a month before the election.
jcricket
The problem I have isn’t that I disagree with the facts about Ohio, it’s that I think politically it’s a non-starter, except as a call for further election reform.
Everyone should vote by mail, with paper optical scan ballots, ideally aided by computer-assisted voting[1]. Literally 80% of the Republican dirty tricks would lose their effectiveness overnight. No more Diebold/e-voting issues either. You can always do a hand-recount with paper ballots (so even if they scam the optical scan machines, you can easily find that out).
[1]CAV = You get one secure envelope and then can print out a “perfect” ballot with help of a computer. This way ovals are filled out nice, you don’t have stray marks, no over-voting or unintentional under-voting, etc.
Sstarr
Zzyzx, I think I may have been unlucky the few times I stepped out of the building – I was soaked through my coat in three blocks. I think the rain is slacking off a bit, but I bet they won’t be doing any panoramic shots tonight.
ThymeZone
I think that’s the point. Election reform. As opposed to doing nothing and letting crooks give it to us in the ass.
jcricket
Ah yes, here’s more detail on the WA state Republican disenfranchisement attempt
As we’ve all seen from the quagmire in Iraq, Republicans are poor students of history. They are trying to re-game the voting system the same way they did when they illegally acted to suppress and harass black voters 30 or 40 years ago. Here’s a primer, for those that care to learn from history.
Gold Star for Robot Boy
Rain in Seattle? Not good – I need Darrell Jackson to go off tonight.
Ryan S.
Here let me help you.
jcricket
So then, this This will be a good thing
Take the AG and Secretary of State positions and you can do a lot (see Spitzer) of good. Democrats needs to take their gains and make voting issues a priority, especially at the state legislative level. That’s what will help Democrats in the long run. Everything from what type of voting machines should be used, when the primary is held, how the voter rolls are maintained, what types of challenges are/not legal, prosecutions against other suppression techniques, etc.
It’s all good for us, and it’s all bad for them. There isn’t any way they can use voting rights improvements against us.
Sstarr
Anyone want to do predictions for tomorrow’s election?
My gut tells me: Democrats take the house by two seats.
Republicans hold on to the Senate by one seat.
However, I bet that if you aggregate the entire number of votes cast for Repblicans Vs. Democrats in the house votes, you would get a 58% ish majority for Democrats. That’s the power of gerrymandering.
leefranke
Here in Texas I early voted last a week ago Sunday.
It’s not going to help much as Texas will remain red for the foreseeable future.
zzyzx
Well the girl is explaining to me that I managed to magically miss all of it. She’s been ranting about it ever since she got home.
LLeo
Predictions: 30+ in the House, 6+ in the Senate.
However, that is wishful thinking. Truely I’d love to see Kyle go down in AZ cuz I can’t play poker online anymore.
Against my prediction:
Gerrymandering
GOP GOTV
Anti-Gay Marriage referendums
For my prediction:
11+ generic vote advantage for Dems
People who rely on cell phones only/primarily don’t get polled, and break Dem by over 2:1
George W. Bush on the campaign trail
I think I am full of shit, I just hope I am not.
LLeo
BTW, someone on a blog I read talked about a Leiberman-Safe majority in the Senate means that you need 7+ dem pickup in the Senate. The scenario is that Leiberman wins CT, the president firest Rummy, Nominates Leiberman, and the Republican govenery of CT appoints a Republican to fill Leiberman’s seat.
That sounds like a Rovian strategy to me. Hence, I think it is quite plausible.
LLeo
s/govenery/governor/
zzyzx
I think 4-6 Senate, and a 10 or so seat D majority.
Tsulagi
I hear you. My ballot is already in so no waiting in a poll line for me. I’m done.
Even if Dems take the House (very likely), the Pubs will still say they failed because it wasn’t by x-sized margin. Bushturd will claim his mandate. Then promptly begin blaming the new Dem controlled House for six previous years of failure and two more to come.
jcricket
I think Dems pick up between 3 and 5 seats in the Senate (3 seem a no-brainer, and then maybe 2 of the remaining 5 contested seats). Lieberman wins, and then becomes a IINOBAAR (independent in name only but actually a Republican)
Dems pick up between 20 and 30 in the house, leading to a slim majority.
Hyperion
i’m in n seattle. this precip reminds me of the fla rain. and the numbers (>4″ since thursday) bear that out.
ThymeZone
D House 25+ seats.
D Senate 5+ seats.
cd6
Wait, has it stopped raining in Seattle in the past 4 days?
Down in Auburn where I work, there are now little lakes where the road used to be.
Also, as a new resident of Seattle who’s zabasearch does not list my current address, I eagerly await my republican vote challenge. I already got a letter on Friday (two business days before the election) saying “your voter registration is incomplete”. I went ot the elections office today and filled out the exact same form the exact same way, and the guy said I’m registered now, but I can’t vote at the polls normally; either I have to do it absentee OR provisionally. Hooray!
cd6
To answer your question, apparently about half of the commentators haha
jcricket
In another year or so, pretty much everyone in WA state will be voting absentee. We’re going all vote by mail, except county-by-county (not all-state-at-once like Oregon did).
I think the other blue states should start pushing all-vote-by-mail pretty quickly.
zzyzx
Well I was one of the few Hawks fans here after the Superbowl.
cd6
I’m a steelers fan who just relocated to seattle. I hung up a terrible towel at work and somebody stole it from me briefly
Tony Kornheiser just commented on the rain by saying “Get the ark, baby! Starting loading up the animals”
Perry Como
Can we relabel the GOP GOTV to GOP STV?
I think it needs fliers:
Come join the GOP Suppress The Vote effort!
For too long, not-white people have had an easy time voting, and voters have seen how institutionally corrupt we have become. That’s why the GOP is looking for your help to Suppress The Vote.
You can choose from one of many of our Suppress The Vote operations:
– Call up Known Democrats(TM) and tell them that their polling location has changed
– Post fliers letting heavily Democrat areas know that the voting date has been changed
– Call Known Democrats(TM) and tell them they will be arrested if they show up to vote
– Challenge not-white people at the polls to prove that they are eligible to vote
– Take photos of people that go into Democrat leaning voting stations
– Pass out fliers that claim to be from the Democrat party, but really list the names of Republican candidates
And many, many more!
So step up and help the GOP maintain our majority, by hook or crook. Call today: 1-800-FUCK-YOU
This flier is sponsored by the National Republican Cocksucker Committee. Any resemblance to actions taken by the National Republican Congressional Committee (cocksucking or otherwise) are completely intentional.
Krista
I can’t get too worked up about rain — we had snow today.
I just hope it’s not like last winter, where we had just enough snow to make everything messy and slushy, but not enough snow to actually get out and ski, snowshoe, or haul out the snowmobile.
Dave
My prediction (or wishful thinking):
D 6 Senate
D 40 House
Why not.
CaseyL
I’m a Seattelite and, yes, there do seem to be quite a few of us Washingtonians here.
I don’t mind the rain, actually (though driving in it can be a pain) because in autumn and winter the overcast skies keep the heat in. Sunny autumn days are gorgeous, but usually biting cold.
A few years ago, I went snowshoeing at Mt. Rainier. We were told to expect the worst, weather-wise, so we dressed in many layers. I wore a ski jacket over a jumper-style ski suit over polypropylene longjohns, with rain-gaiters over my hiking boots. While we were out on the slopes the sun came out and the temp had to be in the upper 40s, if not higher. And snow-shoeing is strenuous, heating us up even more. There’s a picture of me from that outing, stripped down to the ski suit and the polypro, with everything else tied around my waist. It was a *glorious* day. We didn’t get rained on at all.
ThymeZone
I’m sorry … where is that picture again?
Pb
I’ll stick with the polls and predict a divided Senate, and a 29 seat lead in the House.
ThymeZone
I think you mean a 29 seat gain and a 14 seat majority,right? A 29 seat majority would require a 43 seat gain. Even when I give myself the electric shock, I can’t see us gaining that many seats tomorrow.
Pooh
Dems end up with a 15 seat edge in the house (+26 net, IIRC)
5-6 Senate. (Losing are Burns, Man-on-dog, Chafee, George Felix Allen and DeWine.) McCaskill-Talent, I have no idea. Corker wins by about 7, because I’m cynical about my fellow man.
Are we there yet?
Pb
ThymeZone,
I mean what I said, and I’m just going by the poll numbers–someone else who’s apparently doing the same, albeit in much more detail, is Larry Sabato, who is essentially saying the same thing–“THE HOUSE: +29 Dems = 232D, 203R”.
demimondian
I’m predicting a 30-34 seat D pickup in the house and a five seat D pickup in the Senate. IF there’s a huge landslide, MO might go D, giving the D’s the Senate and Holy Joe as chairman of the foreign relations committee.
The Sanity Inspector
I am sure there is something to be outraged about, but I can’t muster any.
Influential Blogger Discourages Base, Cites Burnout
…devious scoundrel!
ThymeZone
Okay, you meant a gain of 29, which is what I thought.
I just screwed up the math to get to the 29 seat majority.
29 is doable, although I think my guess of 25 is on the optimistic side based on what we know now.
Pooh
Great, let’s put Marty Peretz in charge of our ME policy. What could possibly go wrong?
Pb
ThymeZone,
There are a few factors that throw a wrench in it all–GOTV, suppression/fraud, early voting… for the sake of my analysis, I’m going to assume that they cancel, but we’ll see!
Perry Como
My prediction:
Republicans gain 26 seats in the House and 9 seats in the Senate. You moonbats are going to be really upset tomorrow night.
CaseyL
I don’t think we can post pix here :D
Oh – predictions? I’m scared to make any. I’ll be biting my nails down to the elbows tomorrow night.
Hey, Seattleites! Do you know of any good election night parties? I’ll bring booze!
demimondian
I hear that Dave Reichart’s is going to be great. Somehow, though, I don’t expect you to be attending that… :)
demimondian
Think of it this way…it’s better that what we have now.
Zifnab
The more I hear about it, the more mail voting sounds like a preferable alternative to the current system.
That isn’t to say I think it is “tamper proof” by a long shot. I can definitely see a senario in which duplicate mail ballots are flooded into a location, ballots are “lost in the mail” from enemy single-party districts, election night has multiple votes per person/dead people voting/votes being cast for non-voters. If the system itself is corrupt (as it so often is in the southern states) nothing short of the Hand of God will keep the election clean. However, if they can take mailed votes further and put additional oversight into place, I would support it as it looks like a sound system in the long run.
demimondian
The best thing about vote by mail, at least as our neighbors to the south implement it, is that at 8:15 pm on election evening…the count is done, all recounts are scheduled, and every body gets to go home.
Of course, the TV networks hate it…
Bob In Pacifica
I don’t mind losing, but what happens if the Republicans steal it, again?
Tulkinghorn
Who is the Tennessee Secretary of State?
Richard 23
I live in Whatcom county, right near the Canadian border (WA State). So I voted friday and mailed my ballot on saturday.
Whatcom is a vote by mail only county. I’ve voted absentee the last two elections. Plenty of time to read the voter’s guide and vote accordingly. No hassles.
Why are there so many WA state commenters here?
jcricket
Hey, I was here back then, although I had to give props to the Steelers. Reminded me of the last time they were really good (my youth).
All-vote-by-mail is great. Sure, votes could go missing, but tampering with the mail is pretty hard to do en masse, and it’s so distributed it tends to prevent that kind of thing. Plus you don’t want the postal service to go all… well… you know.
There are laws that require ballots to actually be received by election day (not just post-marked). While I’m not a huge fan of that (how can you control receipt), it certainly helps eliminate the last minute flooding thing.
Just the de-centralized, paper-based, at-home nature of voting by mail in itself eliminates most dirty tricks’ effectiveness. I’d say all-vote-by-mail with existing systems is an 80% solution.
Then I’d say 10% can come from basic improvements like: reforms like preventing spurious voter registration challenges, making the primary earlier, having the envelopes be postage paid and working on their “UI” (especially important with super long ballots).
The remaining 10% requires something like the computer-assisted-voting I keep mentioning, felon re-enfranchisement, a web site for you to check your vote was received and properly counted.
And, eventually, you can figure out a way to make it secure, you just shift from computer-assisted-voting, to computerized voting.
But just start by having everyone vote by mail and the GOP loses huge voter suppression “advantages” they currently take advantage of. Of course we’ll still require vigilance against the kind of crap laws they passed in Arizona, but it’ll be a start. You hear far less about voter suppression bullshit in places where everyone can vote by mail.
And yes, WA is over-represented here. When did you all start reading? I came here like many, during the Terri Schiavo debacle.
Perry Como
Mr. Cole gets a shout out from the Kung Fu Monkey.
searp
Just voted, second in line. Number one was ADM (Ret) Jerry Tuttle, since we both are defense types had a nice discussion.
I feel better than I have in two years. Jim Webb is going to be my next senator, and if there is any rationality in the political world Judy Feder will be my representative.
Decided FenceSitter
Nah, Wolf is too good. Feder’s basically an also run, to keep Wolf honest. Plus she’s an academic, and even up here people don’t trust professors who want political power.
Now Webb, Webb has a good chance. We’ll find out tonight.
searp
I thought highly of Wolf until I heard his pathetic speech on Iraq on the House floor. The worst sort of babble. Wolf may be too entrenched, but he votes with the majority that gave us huge deficits, the war, and the super-secret can’t tell you I am listening to you all anti-terrorist surveillance act.
Lee
My prediction.
15 House seats
4 Senate.
Paul Wartenberg
I voted.
It was on one of those touchscreens. *shudder*
I left a Comments note insisting that the voting machines print out paper receipts to ensure our votes do not get lost or altered. I doubt the Supervisor of Elections will care much, so my next step is to contact one of the advocacy groups here in Florida about getting a state amendment lined up to insist on paper receipts.
searp
My prediction: Dems take the House and the Senate. Allen is gone in VA, we replace Chaffee in RI, McCaskill wins in MO. Probably have to depend on Joe in the Senate, he will fall into line.
Pb
Riley Darnell
Pelosi For President...bwahahaha!
Hi to all the Washingtonians…we down here in California can’t wait for the results to come in! Once Nancy Pelosi is only 2 steps away from the presidency, we can unleash our “San Francisco Values” on the helpless God-fearing nation of America! As of this time next week, gay-marrying your cat will not only be legal, but mandatory! That, along with forced conversion to both atheism and Islam (I know that makes no sense, but we’re mostly just doing it to get at James Dobson.) will help to remake America in our graven image! As for the abortionmobile, construction’s a bit behind schedule, but we hope to have it up and running by Monday. Also, we’re still a bit divided as to whether institute a national ID system that uses barcode tattoos…some people have been calling for implantable chips instead, but I’m worried that they might short out…what do you think? Anyhow, only a few short days until we take over the country! -grins evilly-
Zifnab
Dems pick up only 8 seats, and lose all six pick-up Senate races plus Maryland and New Jersey. Chaffee prevails in RI, but is taken into “protective custody” by the Bush Administration. McCaskill loses by a landslide and the Governor exiles her to Canada as a political dissident. Allen leaves a sawed off deer’s head in Webb’s mailbox.
Liberman, in a sick sort of triumph, peals off the mask that reveals himself as none other than the re-animated corpse of Lee Atwater and then he, Bush, Cheney, Ashcroft, Rumsfield, McCain, Rove, and James Dobson fuse into a seven headed dragon that devours the moon as it sings the terrible song that ends the earth.
tBone
No kidding. Unless the Dems end up holding 434 seats in the House and 99 seats in the Senate, it shows the country isn’t really behind them and their nutty moonbat ideas.
mrmobi
Here in Elmwood Park, Illinois, we have very nice weather (40s, a little damp, but no rain). At my polling place the one electronic device was on the fritz, so my daughter and I voted on paper ballots. (I’m so proud of her. I built me a progressive genius nerd!) Not very busy for 6:45 am, but I remain optimistic for the Dems chances nationwide.
Personally, I think the House is a lock for us, but the Senate looks like it could go either way. I hope Webb demolishes Allen, we don’t need guys who think a hangman’s noose is a decoration to be proud of in the Senate, or anywhere else, for that matter.
As for Holy Joe, it looks to me like we’re going to have to learn to live with his DINO bullshit, if the polls can be trusted.
Memo to John Cole: go do what you have to do. There are some politicians waiting to be sent to the woodshed. It’s the right thing to do, and, in the long run, it will make your party a better one.
searp
Zifnab: I have been waiting for that deer’s head in MY mailbox. I have sent several notes to Sen. Allen, as a concerned constituent. There may not be enough deer to go around…
The Other Steve
My predictions:
Democrats lose 12 seats in the House and 2 in the Senate.
Katherine Harris will win in florida. Mark Kennedy will win in Minnesota.
Punchy
I was screaming this back in ’04. Everyone I knew who was cell-only was going Dem. Figgered Kerry was a lock ‘cuz of it. Whoops.
Mr Cole–Please let us know if you kept to your word, or had a terrible, last-minute Republican relapse. Many of us are very impressed with your honesty, and we’d like to know if you followed up with it in the booth. Grassy-ass.
PREDICTIONS:
Dems only get 11 seats in the House, and 2 in the Senate. Liebs wins, and crosses over into R-Land. Sorry, but when it comes to (electronic) voting, I have no doubt that the R’s know how to hack the machines.
The Other Steve
People who only have cell phones don’t vote though. They’re too busy drinking the night before the election, oversleep and figure since everybody else voted their guy is gonna win.
Zifnab
And in a true shocker, Mark Foley wins his Florida district back in a landslide of write-in ballots from the always underestimated but never underrepresented members of NABLA.
The Asshole Formerly Known as GOP4Me
Take THAT, Osama!
Perry Como
Historically in midterm elections, there’s a 1000 seat shift in the House away from the Presiden’t party. Anything less than 1000 seats and the Democrats are doing poorly.
RSA
Unless the leftward shift is enough to sink California into the Pacific Ocean and produce a wobble in the Earth’s rotation, the Democrats are doing poorly.
The Other Steve
Very good point.
Tom Delay is clearly going to win in Texas.