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NEXT: My election night diary. | NEXT: My election night diary. | ||
2006 Election Night Diary | |||
By Joe Michaels | |||
Hey, it’s the most significant midterm election day in recent memory, or so the mainstream media keeps telling us, so I figured I’d keep a diary for all you libertarians and others out there in blogland. Here’s what transpired: | |||
8:00 EST : We’re coming to you LIVE from my living room in Worcester, Massachusetts!! | |||
Deval Patrick has been named the projected winner of the governor’s race here, ending 16 years of Republican rule. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss…. | |||
8:05 EST The big Allen-Webb race in Virginia is too close to call. | |||
8:09 EST Republicans seem to be holding their own so far in the nationwide congressional races. The mainstream media is wrong again! No word on the Libertarian candidates. Actually, those early returns are misleading because (a) the polls just closed on the East Coast, so only like 1% of the votes are in, and (b) every House seat is up for grabs, so even if the Dems capture the House, the GOP will end up winning about 200 races, so there. | |||
8:16 EST According to CNN, Florida Gov Jeb Bush is more popular than his brother, the President. Well, duh! Florida doesn’t have a standing army, so Jeb can’t send anybody to war. Plus, I vacation in Florida often. They have sand, blue skies, sun, the ocean, palm trees……what’s not to like? | |||
8:22 Delahunt has a 72-28 lead in his Massachusetts House district. | |||
8:23 Ellsworth (D) beats Hostetler (R) by a projected 62-38 margin in Indiana’s 8th district.. The first pickup by the Dems. They need 14 more to take the House. Ellsworth is, according to CNN, a social conservative, a plus in rural Indiana. Not great news for the national Dems in my opinion. He’ll probably vote with the GOP on social issues. Let’s see how Pelosi handles him. | |||
8:31 Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah……………… | |||
8:33 Harold Ford, Jr, is getting creamed in Tennessee 56-43 in the Senate race. | |||
Big blow to the Dems if this holds. Oh well, two statists running against each other….I hope they | |||
BOTH lose. | |||
8:40 Allen 50 Webb 49 in Virginia. Hoo boy! | |||
8:41 CNN: blah, blah, blah, blah…… | |||
8:46 William Bennett, on CNN, talks about a conservative/evangelical trend among Democratic voters for Webb in Virginia, and a rejection of “Kerry-ism†( an unfair label since John Kerry never stood for anything in 2004). Whatever. Just stop taking my tax dollars, please. Pray to whatever God you choose. Just leave me alone. | |||
8:56 Libertarian Bea Jones wins the Hardeeville, SC City council seat! Woo Hoo! | |||
Meanwhile, Mike DeWine (R) is going down in the Ohio US Senate race. Things are | |||
pretty glum at DeWine headquarters in Columbus. Just wait until Michigan beats Ohio State | |||
in football. They don’t even know what pain is yet. | |||
9:01 Rick Santorum goes down in PA! Democrat Bob Casey, Jr wins. I’m glad; Santorum | |||
I can do without. Too statist for me. Casey is no prize, but this is a small step in the libertarian direction. | |||
9:09 Lots of close races………more later. | |||
9:14 Joe Lieberman lost the US Senate Dem primary in Connecticut to Ned Lamont, reentered the race later as an Independent, and is now the projected winner over Lamont in the general election by about a 9 percent margin. Has this ever happened? | |||
9:20 The Dems just picked up a Senate seat in Maryland! Wait, here’s Nancy Pelosi!! | |||
9:21 blah,blah,blah,blah,blah, blah, get out the vote, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah……….Nancy Pelosi, ladies and gentlemen! | |||
9:23 Dems pick up another House seat, Ann Northrup’s, this time in Kentucky. Let’s go online for a new Libertarian update… | |||
9:28 Libertarian Sara Chambers wins the election for Juneau, Alaska assembly! Today, Juneau, tomorrow the world! Meanwhile, Republican Lincoln Chafee, US Senator from Rhode Island, loses to the Dem challenger. Three Senate seats picked up by the Dems. I feel bad that a principled Republican like Chafee was lumped together with the others in his party. I hate politics sometimes. Meanwhile, the Dems pick up another House seat in Indiana. | |||
9:37 Libertarian Charles Norwood wins election to the Rapides Island Water Board in Louisiana. Feel the excitement! | |||
9:40 Libertarian Mary O’ Connor, with 1 percent reporting, has 36% of the vote in the Hennepin County (Minn) Commissioner’s race, District 1. Very good. | |||
9:46 tired………very tired…..pundits babbling…..can’t focus…..must….type…… | |||
9:53 a blogging event! Wow, CNN, you are SO today. | |||
9:55 Arizona just made English its official language. The ballot question passed. | |||
9:57 So far, not one Dem incumbent has lost. It’s 1994 in reverse. | |||
10:03 Wow, Candy Crowley has a big head! Just thought I’d share that. | |||
Don’t ask me why. | |||
10:05 JC Watts is a class act. Agree with him or not, he seems like a genuine guy. | |||
10:08 Bill Bennett urges us to forget about Rick Santorum’s random comments about gays ,etc, and consider the “totality of the man’s actions.†OK. I’ll do that, and I’ll say this: F****king good riddance to bad rubbish. He sucked up to K street lobbyists and voted for the war. Bye, bye, Rick. Not that I have an opinion. | |||
10:13 Allen-Webb still a dogfight!! | |||
10:18 Libertarian Robert Rosenthal wins election as a Durham, NC Soil and Water District supervisor. Congrats! Hey, a 100 mile journey begins with a single step, or something like that. But seriously, Libertarians will be more effective at the local level anyway. I’m psyched! | |||
10:23 Two Libertarians just won county offices in Tennesee. The ball is rolling. | |||
10:26 Dems need 11 more seats to take the House. | |||
10:33 Ted Kennedy is re-elected. Ho hum. John Kerry is making a speech. BOOOring!!! | |||
10:40 Dems pick up two more House seats. Curt Weldon goes down for the Republicans in Pennsylvania. This is big. By this time of the night in 1994, though, the GOP had already taken control of Congress, so this is hardly a mandate for the Dems. Not at this time. | |||
10:48 Heath Shuler wins another House seat for the Democrats. The 7th pickup in the House. Another social conservative, though. Pelosi’s job just got harder. | |||
10:54 According to CNN, the Dems just took Mark Foley’s seat in Florida. That’s eight. | |||
10:55 Make that nine. Don Sherwood ® lost in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania is repudiating the Republicans; being a GOP candidate in Penn tonight is like being a Red Sox fan in the Bronx. | |||
10:57 Hillary is re-elected. Of course. | |||
10:59 Ahh-nold looks like he’ll win in Cali. Dianne Feinstein back again. | |||
11:00 Nancy Johnson, Republican, loses in Connecticut. That’s 10 seats picked up by Dems in the House. Let’s check on the Libertarians again. | |||
11:04 And the winner of the Carrabus County Soil and Water Conservation District Supervisor’s race in NC is: Libertarian Jeff Goforth! | |||
11:07 Dems just picked up 4 House seats. They are one seat shy. | |||
11:08 The Dems just took over the House! Nancy Pelosi will be the new Speaker of the House! The first woman to hold the Speakership. Where this will lead I don’t know. More social freedom (good), more taxes (bad)? One day at a time. Good luck and best wishes to you, Nancy Pelosi. May you exercise you new power judiciously. | |||
11:15 The Senate is still up for grabs. And no matter what, we will have a divided government in Washington. My prediction: status quo for at least two more years. Slim majorities for the Dems. The veto threat by Bush. And all the more cause to get the Libertarian message out. Now more than ever. Stand up for liberty!! | |||
More to come……on the Allen-Webb race later. | |||