New Developments III

[Big Magilla]

No Sharron Angle, no Carly Fiorina, but on the other hand we still have Jim Dement and now we have Rand Paul.

A 65 seat gain by the Repubs in the House, half of them Tea Partiers. It's gonna be fun.

[Damien]

Harry Reid wins. Democrats hold the Senate.

Joe Sestak's loss breaks my heart. And Russ Feingold -- the majority of people in Wisconsin are idiots.



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[Sabin]

Yay. Jan Brewer was somehow reelected. So proud of my home state. Maybe next time she'll reenact 2 Girls, 1 Cup, just to see if she can get a landslide.

[Okri]

I do hope Tee does one of his trademark summations after this is over.

[OscarGuy]

So, since it's been 80 years since the senate and house were split, does anyone know really what happened the last time it occurred? Was it utter gridlock?

[Damien]

Alan Grayson is done.

[Sonic Youth]

Alan Grayson is done.

[Greg]

NBC predicts the Republicans will pick up the House, thereby leading to a split Congress.

[Greg]

The Democrats have held on to West Virginia, and with it, their majority in the Senate.

[Sonic Youth]

O'Donnell loses. Rubio wins.

[Sonic Youth]

Paul is a guaranteed win. I don't care how well Conaway's doing in Kentucky, it's a heavily Republican state and the polls are not closing for Conaway.

Done.

To be honest, it's not such a loss. He's taking over Jim Bunning's seat. Seems to me, Rand Paul for Jim Bunning is an even trade, maybe even a little better since Paul doesn't seem enamoured with the right-wing fundies. Plus, Conaway also came across as a dickhead.



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[Sonic Youth]

If you can't stand the gasbags on TV, here's a good minute-by-minute update on Politico.com.

There's also Talkingpointsmemo.com

And here's the real tragedy in this year's election:

Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold set to fall, according to exit poll
By John Byrne
Tuesday, November 2nd, 2010 -- 6:35 pm
RawStory.com

Russ Feingold, the iconic Democratic senator from Wisconsin, is set to lose his Senate seat in tonight's election, according to an exit poll published Tuesday by The Drudge Report, and recent polling conducted for his seat.

Polling in the race between Feingold -- a Democrat -- and Ron Johnson -- the Republican, appears below.

In any other election year, the three-term incumbent from this Democratic-leaning midwestern state should have easily beat opponent Ron Johnson, a wealthy businessman with no previous political experience and little in the way of specific policy proposals.

But voters were frustrated with the slow pace of the economic recovery and Democrats -- who control Congress and the White House -- bore much of the their ire.

Further complicating matters was a recent Supreme Court decision to overturn the campaign finance law Feingold co-authored and allow corporations to essentially spend as much as they want on political advertising.

While Feingold stuck to his principles and told outside groups to stay away -- including the Democratic Party's Senatorial Campaign Committee -- Johnson did not.

The plastics manufacturer spent millions of his own money on the race and outside groups spent more than two million dollars on ads either supporting Johnson or attacking Feingold, according to the Sunlight Foundation.

One cartoonish ad paid for by a group called Speech Now painted Feingold as a double-talking Washington insider who voted for "government run health care, huge tax increases and record debt."

"He's trying to buy this election but we're not going to let him do it," Feingold recently told an enthusiastic group of a few hundred supporters who huddled under umbrellas at a Milwaukee early-voting rally.

"We will be outspent, but we will never be out-organized. This seat will not be bought. It has to be earned. And we'll earn it right now before the rain gets worse by going to vote!"

It may be, however, that money --and election advertising -- ultimately ruled the day



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[Sonic Youth]

This has nothing to do with the American election, but it's just a brief respite before tonight's festivities. It's proof that things could be much worse or more entertaining, depending on your perspective.


Berlusconi: Better to love women than gays
By NICOLE WINFIELD, Associated Press Nicole Winfield, Associated Press
30 mins ago

ROME – Premier Silvio Berlusconi dismissed calls Tuesday to resign over his involvement with an underage Moroccan runaway — and even created a new uproar by claiming it was better to love beautiful girls than gays.

His comments sparked outrage from gay rights groups and fueled new calls for him to step down.

Opposition politicians have charged that Berlusconi abused his office by calling Milan police in May when the then-17-year-old runaway nicknamed Ruby was detained for alleged theft. Newspapers have reported that Berlusconi told police that a local party official would take custody of the girl, who had visited Berlusconi's Milan villa on at least one occasion.

Even center-right commentators in Berlusconi's family-owned newspapers have criticized him for intervening in a possible criminal case. Berlusconi's now-estranged ally, Gianfranco Fini, said his antics had embarrassed the country.

But Berlusconi again defended his lifestyle and fondness for young women, telling a trade fair in Milan on Tuesday it was "better to be passionate about a beautiful girl than a gay."

Gay rights group Arcigay demanded an apology for causing offense to both women and gays. Later, about two dozen people holding signs with a photo of Berlusconi and denouncing homophobia demonstrated across the street from the premier's office.

The premier's comments "represent a dangerous incitement to prejudice and helps legitimize discrimination, injustice and suffering," Arcigay president Paolo Pantane wrote in a letter to Berlusconi's minister for equal opportunity, Mara Carfagna.

In response, Carfagna defended Berlusconi's record on anti-discrimination measures and said he had just been joking.

"(He) absolutely never intended to offend women or homosexuals," she said.

Another prominent supporter, Daniela Santanche, a government undersecretary, also rallied to the premier's defense, saying there was nothing disturbing in his comment.

After noting that she "esteems homosexuals," Santanche said: "I am sure that all Italian parents hope to have heterosexual children."

She added that "the hope of every mother is to some day become a grandmother and have their children avoid the problems of a life inherent in the homosexual condition," the Italian news agency ANSA quoted her as saying.

Berlusconi assured supporters on Tuesday that his government still had a majority and would last the remaining half of its five-year term. He said early elections would be a disaster for a country grappling with economic crisis.

He contended that the Ruby scandal was whipped up by hostile, deceptive newspapers and again defended his decision to intervene in her case. Ruby was let go by police with no charges after Nicole Minetti, a party official who is also Berlusconi's dental hygienist, took custody of her.

Berlusconi said Tuesday he'd do the same thing again.

"You will see when this is over that there was nothing more than an act of solidarity," he said.

Ruby, meanwhile, told Libero, a conservative newspaper close to Berlusconi, that she would tell her version of the story Thursday on a popular state-run TV talk show, but her lawyer later said there were no such plans. Ruby's comments have been inconsistent and prosecutors have reportedly questioned her credibility.

She repeated she never had intimate relations with the premier, though she said she "adored" him. She clarified that while another young woman linked to Berlusconi, Noemi Letizia, referred to him as "papi" ("daddy"), she called him "premier."

Berlusconi's relationship with Letizia, an 18-year-old would-be model from Naples, sparked a scandal last year that prompted Berlusconi's second wife to file for divorce.

Soon after, a high-end prostitute, Patrizia D'Addario, claimed she had spent a night with the premier and had tape recorded their encounter.

The conservative leader has said he has never paid anyone for sex. Prosecutors have said Berlusconi is not under investigation in the scandals over his dalliances with women.

[Sonic Youth]

As I said, my earlier "prediction" was a bit of a provocation. For some reason, I'm feeling very optimistic today. I agree that it's not going to be nearly the bloodbath everyone's predicting. I think both parties are going to be relatively happy with the outcome. The Republicans will gain more power and the Democrats will retain more seats than expected. And that may not be such a horrible thing.

I have a suggestion for a nationwide ballot question. How about not hiring the senile and/or the imbicilic to work at polling places? The guy at the table asks me "Name?" He then spends three minutes looking on the registration list, which he couldn't find. He then asks for my number. I think he means my district number, so I give him that. He finally gets fed up and asks "What's the number you live in?" I tell him. He asks, "On what street?" I tell him. "That's what I asked you in the first place!" No, I say, you just asked for my name and I gave it to you. "We don't go by name. We go by street address." Hey, I'm not on your side of the table. How am I supposed to know that? "Well," victorious smile, "now you know!" Asshole. There's another great argument for absentee ballots.

[Greg]

Not much came of that election except that it helped Democrats in 2008 in terms of gaiing a wider majority. Then they squandered that by pushing too much, too fast for the American public.

I'd argue that Obama and the Democrats in Congress squandered what they won in 2006 and 2008 by not pushing far or fast enough to turn the economy around.