As of this writing (7:30 am on Wednesday), there is no official decision on which party will control the United States Senate for the next 2 years. It's currently 49-47-2 for the Republicans, with the 2 Independents (Lieberman, Sanders) expected to caucus with the Democrats, leaving the fate of the Senate in the hands of the vote counters in Virginia and Montana, currently too close to call. At this point, the Democratic challenger in both races holds a slight lead -- Jim Webb by about 8,000 votes in Virginia and Jon Tester with about 1,600 votes in Montana. Webb has already claimed victory after a late overnight surge pushed him past Senator George Allen, but Allen has refused to cede the race at this point. In Montana, a recount is underway in Yellowstone County after computer software issues forced them to start over from scratch. The results of this race should be known within a few hours. Tester is trying to oust one of the most scandal-plagued, pro-Bush idiots in the Senate, Conrad Burns, but Montanans are a pretty staunchly conservative lot, and not as anti-Bush as say, the rest of the country. Tester had big leads coming into the final weeks, but they had closed at the end. The fate of the country - or at least the Senate - may hinge on whether Burns is sent back to office to take more money from lobbyists and taxpayers and screw the American public. We'll see.
In the House, the Democrats pulled out pretty large gains, winning at least 28 seats at this writing, with some races still undecided. Nancy Pelosi is about to become the first female Speaker of the House, as the Dems won well over the 15 needed to take over control, so at the very least, one body of Congress will be anti-Bush. Minimum wage increases, stem cell research funding, and fixing the Medicare drug plan that the Republicans let the drug companies write are among the immediate legislative goals of the new Congress. Here's hoping that the Iraq war also pretty quickly becomes a topic, and we can bring our soldiers back home ASAP.
On the local front, Bob Menendez won quite easily over Tom Kean, Jr., New Jerseyans too angered by George Bush to put a Republican into office, even if Menendez may not be the most honest Senator around himself. This was not the year to send a message to him, not when the fate of control of the Senate was at stake. So congratulations to New Jersey and its voters for not being stupid. The senators really have nothing at all to do with NJ or local government; they are voting on national issues and laws only - and Menendez opposes Bush and the war in Iraq. That's all any intelligent voter needed to know about him. Too bad Connecticut voters didn't think the same thing.
Go Tester. Go Webb. F Bush. Go America.
WASHINGTON (12:40 pm) - Democrats erased the Republican Senate majority Wednesday with a cliffhanger victory in Montana, hours after taking control of the House in an election that delivered a rebuke of GOP scandal, the Iraq war and the course of a nation.
With Democrats now assured of 50 Senate seats, the battle for outright control came down to Virginia, where the party's candidate, Jim Webb, held a small lead.
woo hoo! Montana's in. Now only Virginia to go, and Webb thinks he's won.
Posted by: Bill | November 08, 2006 at 12:45 PM
More news if anyone's reading... looks like Virginia is all sewn up except for a possible recount (which could also happen in Montana, even though both senators (Allen & Burns) are on record against Gore calling for a recount in 2000). Anyone, as of right now (1:15 pm), the Senate is going to the Democrats. Bush and the Republicans lost EVERYTHING yesterday. Nice, nice...
(here's the report on Virginia)...
Senator-Elect Jim Webb currently leads by 7046 votes with 99.84% precincts reporting.
The SBE website has the following outstanding precincts:
1. James City County Absentee (C003)
2. One of two precincts in James City County called "Roberts B (0502)"
3. Raynor in Isle of Wight County.
4. Fairfax City Central Absentee Precinct (C011)
Now, I just spoke with the James City County registrars office. I was told there are no voters left to count in their county. Long story short, all of the voters in James City County live in Virginia's first district. The uncounted "precincts" of that county that are in VA-03 are part of the James River. There are no more votes for anybody outstanding here.
The last two districts will - at best for Allen- add only a few dozen votes for him. Based on '04 turnout numbers, Raynor only had 170 total voters (+17 for the GOP) and Fairfax City absentees went heavily for the Dems. Most likely, Webb's lead will grow slightly.
Expect Sen.-Elect Webb's current lead to remain largely unchanged - he will be certified the winner of this Senate seat. After that, Allen will be allowed to call for a recount.
Posted by: Bill | November 08, 2006 at 01:16 PM