British Expatriate Network

Ohio appears to have seen the error of its ways in 2004 and has elected a Democratic Governor, according to a couple of media sources and exit polls.

Of course, this is the same Ohio that had more voters than were physically alive in some districts in 2004 so anything could happen between now and the final result, Diebold allowing razz

What's going on in your area?

Our results will be released later tonight or early tomorrow morning. It's all quite subdued and easy going here in Oregon as everyone votes by mail and only the complete knobs wait until the last minute to drop off their ballots, probably just so they can get on TV or something.

Looks like the Repugnanticans are not going to take the Governorship here and I'd be surprised if they get any of the Democrat house seats either. The Republican Governor candidate had the fuzziest math for explaining how he was going to cut taxes and provide funding for services - even an idiot could see that it wasn't going to add up and sounded like empty promises.

Still, looks like a fun rest of the evening and tomorrow could be even better, as we get to enjoy some concession speeches from some famous names who'll have to go get a real job soon.

I'm glad Mr Lieberman won his seat. Who knows, he could end up wielding a lot more power than those that wanted him out could have ever dreamed of.

Glad that Rick Women-Should-Stay-In-The-Kitchen Santorum got his just desserts.

I'm hoping that our Governor is Bill Ritter who actually has Colorado Health Plan. The Republican opponent wanted to leave healthcare "up to the markets".

You know I can't stand Lieberman. The man is a muppet, and listening to him just makes me want to throw something at the teevee.

That said, If there's one thing about living here that is more annoying than everything, is the incessant "thanking god" that goes on. So friggin lame, and it's only become a marketing tool in the last few years.

People are so scared that if they don't mention god/tinkerbell that they'll not get elected.

What's even more ironic is that Jefferson was an atheist.

Go Keith O!

Leiberman will be the swing vote just like justice o.conner was in the supreme court .

and he is midddle of the road democrat ,just what the doctor ordered .he is well liked and seems to be one of the most honest ( if there are any ) politians around

the house and senate wil be more evenly divided so no more extreme measures will go though basicly as with a lot of presidents in the second half of there second term they become lame ducks ..


still its not over till its over and the fat lady sings.
i remember the pundits calling the 2000 electon way before the polls had closed in some states that could have had a bearing on the late to vote growd .

As the night goes on all the news channels seem to predict the same as each other . i switch from one to the other and the only differance is the talking heads

it's a beautiful night....

John..you're kidding yerself right now mate...

Allen pretty much gave a concession speech

Things here might start to look up.

First off, a woman runs the house. THAT has to be cool.

Andrew )

I'm just sitting with fingers crossed we get the house too. Democracy takes a long time to work, in real time.
Nice one for Nancy though!

What am i kidding myself about must have missed something .

Rick Santorum looked like he really needed some meth to throw away. I'm pissed that Harold Ford Jr looks to have not won though - I don't agree with him on alot but he seemed a good prospect to me. I'm not a big Pelosi fan but a female House speaker has to be good. And, dare I say it, Hillary's speech was very good - is she making a power grab?

Hils - I don't think so. I think it's just maybe a "we did good"tonight thang

So can we say this was a "value voters" election or not then? Most of the British press is calling this a direct rebuttal to President Bush - I think that's selling the whole shabbang short. I don't think it is, it's a rebuttal of Republicans as a whole.

And of course the good news is that there are only 2 years to go till the big elections. Silly season is here!

And how in holy hell did George Allen make it neck and neck?

Oh - and this is a fun "how to hack a Diebold" clip that surely highlights why "machine" isn't an option in rock, paper, scissors.

http//diebold.cf.huffingtonpost.com/DieboldElections/Diebold.html

(Sorry for hogging the thread but...)

I have never been a big fan of Nancy Pelosi - in a shallow way really though. I always found her to be fairly inept at getting the message across, and more so for seemingly having no way to challenge Republicans on the obvious stuff. But about a year ago I saw her give a town hall meeting on C-SPAN and she was quite impressive. Handled the protestors who stormed in brilliantly. Heard her speech last night and it was pretty darn good. But more impressive, in my view, is this piece she stuck up on HuffPo -

http//www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-nancy-pelosi/one-hundred-hours_b_33529.html

"In 100 hours, the top five oil companies will take in $4.3 billion in profits. In 100 hours, $1.1 billion will be spent on the war in Iraq. In 100 hours, the public debt will grow by $4.9 billion. In 100 hours, the top 10 pharmaceutical companies will gain $2.6 billion in profits. In 100 hours, the top CEOs will earn an average of $2 million each.... If you honor Democratic candidates with your vote today, in the first hundred hours of a Democratic Congress We will restore civility, integrity, and fiscal responsibility to the House of Representatives."

Now that's good stuff. Hopefully her and Harry Reid can prove me wrong.

It was more a rebuttal of of both parties in both houses, and the way they have failed to do the people's business. It was vote against the incumbent day. That always hits the ruling party hardest.

With each of these sweeps, the new rulers swear to drain the bog, and they make a start on it, but then they enjoy the power. They stretch the rules a little and repeat until it's the norm, and then they stretch it again..........until hubris and the arrogance of power set in.

Then we have to purge the hives again, remove some of the drones in order to remind the others of the fact that they are there at our forbearance.

I've enjoyed reading through Republican and conservative blogs on what really happened (read, "how can I spin this bugger?") and I have to say some of it is completely delusional.

The spin of a brown-noser who thinks it's good news for Santorum...
http://hughhewitt.townhall.com/g/dc3a68c...5a0e18fbe8
"President Bush will not flag in the pursuit of the war, and Senator Santorum is now available for a seat on the SCOTUS should one become available. GOP senators will have the chance to select leadership equal to the new world of politics which, as the past two years have demonstrated, does not reward timidity."

The utterly bonkers...
http://www.balloon-juice.com/?p=7586
"Tomorrow, Nancy Pelosi, Ted Kennedy, and Chuck Schumer come over to my house, and, at taser-point, I am forced to give all my money, have an abortion, and promise I will never ever enjoy gun violence on TV. Afterwards, they hand me the new National Anthem- in Spanish. Afterwards, we are we are all forced to attend a mandatory rally for the Democrats and Al-Qaeda, because, after all- the terrorists have won."

The "even though we lost we won!" spin...
http://corner.nationalreview.com
"The changeover in the House may well be a conservative victory...Look at blue dog conservative Dem victories, and look at Northeast liberal GOP defeats. The changeover in the House may well be a conservative victory, not a liberal one. Blue dogs are rabid budget balancers."

The Catholic betrayal argument..
http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/a...008466.php
"I just received a release from the Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good with some potentially disturbing news. They claim that large numbers of Catholics switched their votes from the GOP to the Democrats in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Virginia.... That would explain Santorum's loss in Pennsylvania."

Poor loser of the day....
http://www.riehlworldview.com/carnivorou..._news.html
"The Democrat Platform that isn't there, save for the usual pandering with our tax dollars.... In other news, the Dems are up to their usual BS - crying and whining about everything. Because if Liberals don't win, why there must be something wrong. I don't think I've ever heard anything more arrogant than Pelosi the other day when she basically said, "The numbers are there. If we get an honest count." That, before the polls opened. These people are a disgrace to democracy."


Nice.

Isn't it marvellous? We have a new Democratic senator too! The election machines still seemed screwy. Michelle said that one of her selections 'mysteriously' selected the Republican candidate without her even touching it.

Time to get rid of those machines.

Postal votes are about 10,000% better than anything else out there.

The problem (for some candidates) is that you actually get to sit down, with a voters' guide about two weeks before the election and go through the issues in detail.

It seemed very silly and a complete waste of money for the AARP to advertise in Oregon with that dumb "Don't Vote" campaign (the premise being "don't vote until you read and understand the issues"). The Secretary of State here runs a tight ship, makes sure everyone gets voters guides (I even got them and I'm not registered) and there's no question of fiddling the votes or reprogramming voting machines.