Admittedly this district is of interest to me because it’s local but I have a feeling it could get some national attention. Right now incumbent Jerry McNerney (D) trails challenger David Harmer (R) by 23 votes. There is part of one county to report and assuming the rest of the county votes more or less the same as the rest of the county did it would gain McNerney about 200 votes. So that would give him a 175 vote lead, though with absentees still to count it could grow or shrink. But 175 votes...

People often joke about the ‘left coast’ and how the Pacific states are pretty darn blue. If you needed any proof of that look at this election. Nationally the GOP gained 50-60 House seats, 5-6 Senate Seats, 10 Governors Mansions and a myriad of legislative seats. In the 5 Pacific States (CA/OR/WA/AK/HI) it looks like the GOP will not gain a single House seat and will thus end up down 1 with a loss in Hawaii. They will not gain a single Governors mansion and will lose one in California. They...

One thing not getting covered (except on CNN, hat tip to them) is how big the sweep has been for the GOP at the State Level. Consider the following In North Carolina both Houses of State Legislature are going GOP for the first time in 140 years In Alabama both Houses going GOP for first time in 136 years Both Houses of Wisconsin Legislature go GOP Indiana, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio, Iowa and Montana House of Reps go GOP New Hampshire and Main Senate go GOP In Texas they go fro 50/50 ties in House...

Although the numbers are still in flux it is looking likely the GOP will at minimum have the most House members since 1946. And in West Virginia, the GOP won 2 out of 3 seats, giving them control of that delegation for the first time since 1946. But before the GOP celebrates, remember that in 1948 the Democrats took back Congress and kept the White House. So history goes both ways.

Although Buck does now have a slight lead, my number crunching shows that we have enough votes out in Democratic strongholds of Denver and Pueblo for Bennet to win in the end. Another ‘win’ for the Tea Party…..

An amazing night for big losses Earlier Congressman Spratt of South Carolina, chair of the Budget Committee lost after 28 years in office. Now Rep Skelton of Missouri, chair of Armed Services Committee has lost after 34 years. Some major losses here folks.

I’m ready to call the race for Reid and it seems the networks agree (I was literally typing this as they started to call). I’m pleased to see Angle lose but I wish Reid could have lost too somehow. But regardless this is a good outcome. Though I suspect my reaction will confuse some of the more partisan around here who don’t see how it is possible to support people on both sides or think someone on your side is bad or someone on the other side is good (for example I am pleased to...

Speaking as a numbers/election geek I can’t help but doing my own crunching on election night. In Florida I am projecting Republican Rick Scott the winner. In Illinois I am giving the edge in the Senate race to Kirk In Georgia I think Deal wins. In Ohio I give the race to Kasich In Connecticut the race goes to the GOP Foley In Nevada I think Reid wins for Senate but loses for Governor. And in Illinois I’ll go on a limb and give it to Democrat Quinn but that could go either way. So go...

I’m sure that some on the left will use it to beat him up, but I was pleased to see Speaker to Be John Boehner show his emotional side. It was clear this was a very special moment for him and given the plastic politicians we get on TV most of the time I was happy to see a human being. I may well disagree with some of his decisions in the future, but I am impressed with this tonight.

The networks have not called it yet, and probably they are sensible to keep it out given the closeness of the race. But with 90% or more of the vote counted in all of the Sestak strongholds and many Toomey areas at a lower level, I don’t think Sestak will pull it out. With the caveat that absentees could change things, I am giving this one to Toomey.   Forget the caveat…. Toomey up by over 100k with only 2/3rds of Amish vote in. He wins.

CNN, MSNBC and Fox are all now saying that the GOP will have at least 240 seats in the next House, a gain of 63 seats. This would be the highest number of Republicans in the House since the 1947-49 House where they had 246 seats. If they outperform that, which is at least possible, we’d go back to the 1929-31 Congress with 270 Republicans.

He’s been trailing for much of the night though it is tightening up. Often even in a wave election you see a surprise outcome and this could be one

On my cable network Fox and MSNBC are right next to each other so it’s easy to flip. It is amazing how different the perspectives are. On Fox of course they are celebrating while on MSNBC you would think that they just announced a meteor was going to destroy all life in the next 5 minutes. Every GOP victory is hailed on Fox, downplayed on MSNBC Every Democratic win vice versa. Hannity and Olbermann are by FAR the worst in terms of partisanship. Keith can barely hide his anger and disgust that...

CNN and MSNBC have made it official. CNN is talking about a 60 seat gain which would give the GOP the highest showing in 60 years And man are Olbermann and company pissed

With the outcomes in Connecticut. Delaware and West Virginia the Democrats are now certain of holding on to control of the US Senate. Seems like this post is deja vu….

Ok it was an obvious joke to make but someone had to do it. Christine O’Donnell has lost.

The early results do not look good with most of the networks showing 3 key Indiana seats (2nd, 8th and 9th) swinging to the GOP but Kentucky 6th is leaning to the Democrats and that could show it’s not a complete blowout. Over at 538.com the projections are up to the mid to upper 50 seat gain for the GOP which would be a bad outcome for the GOP. Nate is liberal but generally fair in his analysis, though if it was tilted any direction it would be for the Dems, so a mid 50′s loss is bad...

It’s not surprising that we are all burned out on political ads and as a prior post notes, the rhetoric in the 1800′s was even worse. But still I can’t believe some of the commercials out there “Democrat Elmer Fudd wants to give Viagra to child molesters and then put them in charge of day care centers” “Republican Bugs Bunny wants to take your grandma’s social security away so Donald Trump can buy gold plated toilet seats” Obviously the above is a tad...

I had been working on a post to offer our readers some House districts to keep an eye on to gauge how the night was going, what seats would offer a hint that the night was bigger or smaller than expected. But Nate Silver of 538.com has beaten me to the punch. His election guide post is amazingly detailed and well worth your attention Election Night Guide

Doesn’t seem to be causing issues in their military.

The answer might surprise you.

That was one of the the topics on Hardball today, just how many Senate seats would probably have gone to the GOP with a more moderate or mainstream nominee ? The most obvious pick is Delaware, a state that was 99% certain to go Republican with Mike Castle but is now equally certain to stick with the Democrats in their battle against “Not A Witch”. I can think of four other seats that are at least in play because of the Tea Party Nominee Nevada: Reid would be toast against any rational...

I didn’t watch all of the Rally To Restore Sanity but I did catch Jon Stewart’s closing speech which think is worth reposting. “I can’t control what people think this was. I can only tell you my intentions. This was not a rally to ridicule people of faith or people of activism or to look down our noses at the heartland or passionate argument or to suggest that times are not difficult and that we have nothing to fear. They are and we do. But we live now in hard times, not end times....

An interesting look back at just how nasty things used to be. Everything in the ads was actually said during the campaign.

Every time we get closer to an election it becomes clear that some of the candidates out there are what might charitably be called dim bulbs, one taco short of a combo plate, etc. I’m not talking about the people you simply disagree with. In California for example I am not particularly happy with either Jerry Brown or Meg Whitman. I think both have serious problems and I disagree with them on a number of issues. Indeed from my perspective some of the things they say and some of the positions...