Hot damn! CNN has the Dems up by a decent margin in both the contested states (VA and MT). I heard last night there was an auto-recount last election cycle in VA, and the difference was only 27 votes, so X-fingers everyone but it looks like the Senate might have swung blue too.
Figuring that Leiberman and Sanders will cancel each other out (as Droopy is likely to be supporting the Repubs as per usual - and how much did I love Jon Stewart's impression totally cracking Dan Rather up), we might be OK with the tie in critical votes if one of the two goes the other way, as some of the moderate Republicans (I know this is true for the two from Maine at least) have very little love for the current group of thugs in charge of the GOP.
Is that who that was, Lee?? I couldn't place him. Hilarious.
Hey, I thought I heard something that Deval Patrick will be the 2nd black governor anywhere. Is that right? Was Doug Wilder (? VA) previously the only one?
I'm still crossing my fingers for Webb. Fucking Greens.
Gotta correct a misconception here. I looked at the Independent Green candidate. Imagine an environmentalist with a hard-right social agenda. So I can't assume that IG voters would have overwhelmingly supported Webb.
On the bright side, even if Allen (ptui! let us never speak of him again) pulls the Senate race out, his chance at the White House in 2008 is gone.
Where did the phrase "Blue Dog Democrat" come from? I never heard it before yesterday or today....
eta: context:
Party politics will be shaped by the resurgence of "Blue Dog" Democrats, who come mainly from the South and from rural districts in the Midwest and often vote like Republicans.
And to answer an xpost --
Jesse, I know Wilder was the 1st. I think he's still (until Patrick's inauguration, of course) the only.
Wikipedia:
Blue Dog Democrats are social and economic conservatives and centrists in the United States Democratic Party. The term is a reference to the "Blue Dog" paintings of Cajun artist George Rodrigue of Lafayette, Louisiana; the original members of the coalition would regularly meet in the offices of Louisiana representatives Billy Tauzin and Jimmy Hayes, both of whom had Rodrigue's paintings on their walls (and both of whom later switched to the Republican Party).
Not to be confused with "Yellow Dog Democrats", Dems who'd vote for a yellow dog if that's who the party was running.
Jesse, I know Wilder was the 1st. I think he's still (until Patrick's inauguration, of course) the only.
I guess it shouldn't be that surprising, but Wilder was a long time ago!
The Blue Dog thing is Clinton-era, I think, but I'm not sure where it actually comes from. A Yellow Dog Democrat is someone who would vote for a yellow dog if it were running as a Dem.
I just like the imagery of this Salon article:
And on the other side of the Capitol from Dole, the scene at the shared headquarters of the Republican National Committee and the National Republican Congressional Committee wasn't just glum, it was desolate. The Republicans had set up a small stable of folding tables in the lobby of their building. A half-dozen reporters crowded around laptops, watching a television that had been propped up on a windowsill. A discarded cardboard box, half-full of unused pamphlets extolling the virtues of Virginia Sen. George Allen, kept a door propped open. The press was left with little more than a soda machine in the basement. "Is there a coke machine, or any way there is caffeine in this building?" one reporter asked the security guard sitting at the front desk. The reporter then speculated aloud as to why the GOP had made it so hard for the press to get substance or color from their party on election night. "You get the feeling they don't really want us here, don't you?"
I am personally grateful that all eyes are on Montana and Virginia instead of Florida for a change. I have more confidence that they will get it right in the end.
