This morning, I don’t entirely understand the crowing and chest-beating from ultra-conservatives, nor the smattering of headlines re: a “wake-up call” for, or “warning” to, Democrats. Sure, governors might comment on federal policy, and they might some day run for federal office. But while governors are governors, they don’t cast votes in the Chambers of Congress on a President’s...

Check out the Colbert video above. Funny, as always, it’s a strident mocking of the Mormon Church for a gay kiss incident in Salt Lake City last summer. Police handcuffed and cited a gay couple for “kissing and hugging” on the city’s Main Street. That part of the street, it turns out, was bought by the church. Main Street in downtown Salt Lake is church property. Lesbian and Gay people won...

A note of caution, I am not an expert on Maine politics and the way the results are being tallied make it a bit harder for me to analyze things. However with 76% of the vote counted  the Yes vote is leading by a 52-48 margin which means that once again loving couples are denied basic human rights.

Not a huge shock given that CA-10 is heavily Democratic but Lt. Governor John Garamendi is headed to Washington. This means that Governor Arnold will get to nominate a successor to the Lt. Governor post but the nominee must be approved by both houses of the heavily Democratic legislature. Obviously the GOP would like a strong candidate in statewide office while the Democrats would like to avoid it. So look for...

It’s time to call the race for Democrat Bill Owens. With 84% of the votes counted the tally is as follows Bill Owens (D): 57,845 or 49.2% Doug Hoffman (C): 53,603 or 45.5% That’s a margin of 4,200 votes and based on the trend we only have about 20,000 votes left. For Hoffman to win he would need to beat Owens by 20 points with the remaining voters. As one of my favorite readers, Elrod, has pointed...

UPDATE #5:  Looking increasingly likely that Owens will win. Almost 80% counted and he leads by 3,600 votes. For Hoffman to pull it he will need to pick up about 4,000 votes and based on current returns there are about 33,000 left to count. It looks like a big loss for the hard right in New York. UPDATE #4: With 71% in Owens still leads 49.1-45.2 or 3.9%. Getting closer to the point that Owens is called the...

UPDATE: All the major networks are also calling it for Christie, guess they were waiting for Hudson too. Now that Hudson County has finally pulled the trigger and turned in the vote we can project Chris Christie the winner of the race for New Jersey Governor. It’s somewhat comic really that they waited at 57% for more than an hour before jumping in an instant to 97% of the vote. With 81% of the vote in...

UPDATE #6: Now up to 71% of the vote and Christie leads 49.8 to 43.9 or about 105,000 votes. Based on these figures Corzine now needs an edge of 14.41% among the remaining 29% of the vote. If you assume those voters casts the same 6.25% of their votes for the other candidates that leaves 93.75% of the vote. So Corzine would need about 54% of the tremaining vote. Obviously nothing is impossible and Hudson county...

So much for Beijing’s past pronouncements about the exclusively peaceful use of outer space. Days ago, the commander of China’s Air Force, Commander General Xu Qiliang, made a number of comments that have created a genuine tumult amongst defense analysts and China watchers. According to Malaysia’s Straits Times, with some additional quotes from the People’s Daily, General Xu said in...

It looks like marriage equality is going to hold up in Maine — obviously not guaranteed yet, but Politico reports that voter turnout greatly exceeds expectations, and that’s probably going to work against the Mainers who want to repeal the state’s law allowing same-sex marriage.

He and his wife don’t think it is. But it’s all water under the bridge now, because he’s resigned.

Some news stories are now reporting that exit polls in various states suggest that President Barack Obama has not been a major factor in the voting (but don’t expect the Democrats not to use that point if they win some and the GOP to use it as a key point if they win some). But — to be sure – -the economy is. Here are some links to the original source material: Exit Polls: Obama as (non) factor? Exit...

UPDATE #6: CNN, Fox, AP and NBC all project the sweep for the GOP. Only remaining issue is margins in the State House of Representatives but the GOP should retain control. UPDATE #5: Initial returns show McDonnell winning the trio of Loudoun, Prince William and Fairfax counties though it’s just 10% or so of returns. But it this holds up it would be a huge switch. It’s looking like the GOP may sweep...

Right up front, I should let you know that we’ll be bringing you some live, election night coverage this evening over at Rick Moran’s radio show, where I will be co-hosting a two hour extravaganza of this … ummm… exciting event. Be sure to stop by with your own thoughts and comments. But on with the news: On election night, the usual silliness is already breaking out in the blogosphere...

Coming from a state-controlled mouthpiece of Muammar Gaddafi’s despotic regime, some may scoff at this article calling for President Bush to be brought before the International Criminal Court and charged with war crimes. The unfortunate truth, however, is that the sentiments expressed by OEA Libya’s Ali Mar’i al-Ahad are by no means out of the norm in the Muslim world and beyond. For OEA...

The Syracuse Post-Standard talks to Dede Scozzafava:

Tell your friends you read it here first. Don’t bother watching the wall-to-wall cable television coverage of today’s handful of odd-year elections. Robert McDonnell, the Republican candidate, will be elected governor of Virginia. Barring a minor miracle, incumbent New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine will lose to Republican Chris Christie. Douglas Hoffman, the Conservative Party candidate, will trounce Democrat...

This point has been made before, but not usually as bluntly as here (emphasis in original):

I just finished reading a fantastic and timely book. Fantastic because of how the writer, Doug Stanton, brilliantly and in gritty, sometimes grisly detail describes the unprecedented actions of a band of American Special Forces heroes who rode into Afghanistan after 9/11 during the opening days of what is now the Afghanistan War. Timely, not necessarily because of what these magnificent men did on horseback...

Attention deficit disorder:

It’s not what you might think. It’s not dying in battle. It’s not losing your life. It’s losing your mind, your heart, your soul, and the life force inside you that makes you want to survive.

Joe already touched on tonight’s HBO documentary. Two other Obama-related items today add some context. The first is Jeff Zeleny’s report for the NYT re: Iowa voter attitudes a year after the election. The second is a Daily Beast exclusive excerpt from David Plouffe’s memoir. The NYT article cites, among others, John Sager a “retired electrical engineer who became a Democrat to support...

Bill Schorr, Cagle Cartoons This cartoon is copyrighted and licensed to appear on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. All rights reserved.

Biden, Absolutists, Irony and NY-23 by Jon Wells Vice President Joe Biden was in upstate New York today stumping for Bill Owens in the heated NY-23 Congressional special election. You know, the one that doesn’t matter and has no national portent whatsoever, except if Owens wins, of course. In any event, Biden had a few words to say about Scozzafava’s departure and the GOP: We aren’t asking...

What Physicians Know by Joel S. Hirschhorn I had a long conversation with my favorite physician, who has operated on me twice successfully. He is an incredibly kind person without an ounce of greed or pretense. Like other physicians I have spoken to, he spoke eloquently about the terrible times he consistently has with private health insurance companies. While he praises Medicare for its simplicity and certainty,...