The Masticator's Election Coverage
10:20 pm
I love elections. One of my favorite things to do is watch the returns on tv and check the web for conservative commentary. Everyone's favorite intellectual conservative and erstewhile New York Mayoral candidate William F. Buckley Jr. has his pundits at the National Review Online blogging the returns. One of the best caustic comments so far comes from John J. MIller:
Sometimes I look in the mirror and talk to myself in a nasal tone, speaking from the back of my throat, Kermit the frog-like, pretending I'm Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman. Whither Joe Lieberman?
Fox 5 New York is reporting on problems with voting machines in Brooklyn, Queens, and New Jersey. I didn't have any problems voting this morning, but I was confused. In New York, we use very old school mechanical voting machines. I've actually used them before, but not since the late 70s, when my mom let me pull the levers in the machines for the elections that Jimmy Carter won and lost in. I needed a little refresher.
I noticed that in New York you have very few conservative options. My congressman, Anthony Wiener ran unopposed. And many of the Democrats were on the ballot under other parties, too. Parties like Working Families endorsed Democrats like Eliot Spitzer (for NY governor) and Hillary Clinton in order to try to gain some legitimacy and to try to get some leverage to influence Democrat policy.
10:35 pm
Hillary Clinton is on the telly right now telling us it's time for a change. Is that the right thing for an incumbent to say when she's won?
Back to the National Review guys. This just in from Kathryn Jean Lopez:
10:40 pm
Anthony Wiener, my congressman here in Brooklyn is taking questions at Fox 5 New York. A viewer was asking what Dems are planning to do to prove they're not soft on terror. Easy question for a New York politician. New York got the shaft in federal anti-terror funding ealrier this year, and the Bush administration is the most logical target for blame. Any Democrat here can shout about that and look great. Remember, the city of New York has its own anti-terrorism unit (read all about it in the New Yorker) with agents all over the world. Whatever the feds are doing about terror, NYC has its own plan.
10:50 pm
I wanted to check in with my friends at the neo-con Weekly Standard, but they don't appear to following the returns. But Fred Barnes has an editorial explaining why Republicans may be in trouble this midterm:
11:00 pm
Bob Menendez seems to have won the senate race in New Jersey, in spite of his being the subject of a federal investigation, something his opponent, Tom Kean Jr. made sure no one forgot. It also looks good for another Democrat accused of corruption, New York state comptroller Alan Hevesi, who allegedly had a state car drive his wife around on taxpayer money, something his Republican challenger, the bow-tied Chris Callaghan, capitalized on. Hevesi is beating Callaghan 1.6 million votes to 1 million votes with about 75% reporting.
11:10 pm
Kare 11 News in the Twin Cities is reporting that Amy Klobuchar beat that nasty weasel Mark Kennedy for the senate seat in Minnesota. Quite a relief. Maybe more interesting is that Keith Ellison of Minneapolis will be America's first Muslim member of congress. And Wisconsin voted to ban gay marriage.
The big Minnesota question is the governor's race. Will Pawlenty win re-election? Did the fact that Democrat Mike Hatch called a female reporter a "republican whore" have any negative impact?
11:15 pm
The Minneapolis Star-Tribune is projecting the Republicans will hold on to the Senate and lose the House. CNN agrees about the House, but isn't giving the Senate to the Republicans yet.
11:23 pm
On the Daily Show's blog they're showing a creepy Missouri ad with Patricia Heaton (Everybody Loves Raymond) and Jim Caviezel (aka Mel Gibson's Jesus) telling Missouri voters not to pass the stem cell research amendment. Caviezel actually speaks in Aramaic on the ad. So far it looks like Missouri is falling for it.
And while the Daily Show has its own former congressional pages that you can send instant messages to, Mark Foley is just barely losing in Florida. Wow.
11:33 pm
Mike Hatch seems to be doing great in Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Duluth, and he's ahead generally, but Pawlenty's not even close to out yet. Hatch is leading by about 40,000 votes with about 1.2 million votes in so far. According to CNN's county maps, Pawlenty is strongest in the western suburbs: Wright, Macleod, and Carver.
11:40 pm
CNN reports Hatch's lead just got cut down to 20,000. By the way, am I the only one totally shocked that Britney is divorcing K-Fed?
The Masticator may be going to bed now.
I love elections. One of my favorite things to do is watch the returns on tv and check the web for conservative commentary. Everyone's favorite intellectual conservative and erstewhile New York Mayoral candidate William F. Buckley Jr. has his pundits at the National Review Online blogging the returns. One of the best caustic comments so far comes from John J. MIller:
Party labels aside, Chafee deserved to lose more than any other incumbent. What a lousy senator, a man who is utterly unpredictable because he has no real beliefs.Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island is the anti-Lieberman. Or his middling twin. As Joe Lieberman of Connecticut (who seems to have won the race as an independent after the Dems refused to endorse him) is a rather disappointing liberal, Chafee is a sorry excuse for a conservative. As I write this, Chafee is a little behind.
Sometimes I look in the mirror and talk to myself in a nasal tone, speaking from the back of my throat, Kermit the frog-like, pretending I'm Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman. Whither Joe Lieberman?
Fox 5 New York is reporting on problems with voting machines in Brooklyn, Queens, and New Jersey. I didn't have any problems voting this morning, but I was confused. In New York, we use very old school mechanical voting machines. I've actually used them before, but not since the late 70s, when my mom let me pull the levers in the machines for the elections that Jimmy Carter won and lost in. I needed a little refresher.
I noticed that in New York you have very few conservative options. My congressman, Anthony Wiener ran unopposed. And many of the Democrats were on the ballot under other parties, too. Parties like Working Families endorsed Democrats like Eliot Spitzer (for NY governor) and Hillary Clinton in order to try to gain some legitimacy and to try to get some leverage to influence Democrat policy.
10:35 pm
Hillary Clinton is on the telly right now telling us it's time for a change. Is that the right thing for an incumbent to say when she's won?
Back to the National Review guys. This just in from Kathryn Jean Lopez:
A Minnesota gov. update just forwarded to me: With 15 percent in, Hatch up 47-42 percent. However, most of the precincts reporting so far are from the metro area where Hatch is stronger. Pawlenty's campaign saying they are expecting to do strongerOh no!
in rural Minnesota, not doing as well in the suburbs as they had hoped.
10:40 pm
Anthony Wiener, my congressman here in Brooklyn is taking questions at Fox 5 New York. A viewer was asking what Dems are planning to do to prove they're not soft on terror. Easy question for a New York politician. New York got the shaft in federal anti-terror funding ealrier this year, and the Bush administration is the most logical target for blame. Any Democrat here can shout about that and look great. Remember, the city of New York has its own anti-terrorism unit (read all about it in the New Yorker) with agents all over the world. Whatever the feds are doing about terror, NYC has its own plan.
10:50 pm
I wanted to check in with my friends at the neo-con Weekly Standard, but they don't appear to following the returns. But Fred Barnes has an editorial explaining why Republicans may be in trouble this midterm:
But Republicans have made matters worse by abandoning the reform agenda that animated their capture of Congress in 1994 and helped George W. Bush win the White House in 2000 and keep it in 2004. With scarcely a fight, Republicans gave up on Social Security reform in 2005, immigration reform in 2006, and never really got started on tax reform. Bush also cast aside the overarching theme for his domestic policy--the Ownership Society--without an explanation.Does it occur to Freddy that the Republicans gave up domestic issues because of certain pressing foreign ones? Or does he not notice we're in a war his guys declared? It's inexplicable, but Barnes is wondering why Bush didn't plow ahead with the tax cuts and such.
11:00 pm
Bob Menendez seems to have won the senate race in New Jersey, in spite of his being the subject of a federal investigation, something his opponent, Tom Kean Jr. made sure no one forgot. It also looks good for another Democrat accused of corruption, New York state comptroller Alan Hevesi, who allegedly had a state car drive his wife around on taxpayer money, something his Republican challenger, the bow-tied Chris Callaghan, capitalized on. Hevesi is beating Callaghan 1.6 million votes to 1 million votes with about 75% reporting.
11:10 pm
Kare 11 News in the Twin Cities is reporting that Amy Klobuchar beat that nasty weasel Mark Kennedy for the senate seat in Minnesota. Quite a relief. Maybe more interesting is that Keith Ellison of Minneapolis will be America's first Muslim member of congress. And Wisconsin voted to ban gay marriage.
The big Minnesota question is the governor's race. Will Pawlenty win re-election? Did the fact that Democrat Mike Hatch called a female reporter a "republican whore" have any negative impact?
11:15 pm
The Minneapolis Star-Tribune is projecting the Republicans will hold on to the Senate and lose the House. CNN agrees about the House, but isn't giving the Senate to the Republicans yet.
11:23 pm
On the Daily Show's blog they're showing a creepy Missouri ad with Patricia Heaton (Everybody Loves Raymond) and Jim Caviezel (aka Mel Gibson's Jesus) telling Missouri voters not to pass the stem cell research amendment. Caviezel actually speaks in Aramaic on the ad. So far it looks like Missouri is falling for it.
And while the Daily Show has its own former congressional pages that you can send instant messages to, Mark Foley is just barely losing in Florida. Wow.
11:33 pm
Mike Hatch seems to be doing great in Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Duluth, and he's ahead generally, but Pawlenty's not even close to out yet. Hatch is leading by about 40,000 votes with about 1.2 million votes in so far. According to CNN's county maps, Pawlenty is strongest in the western suburbs: Wright, Macleod, and Carver.
11:40 pm
CNN reports Hatch's lead just got cut down to 20,000. By the way, am I the only one totally shocked that Britney is divorcing K-Fed?
The Masticator may be going to bed now.
posted by The Masticator at 11/07/2006 10:19:00 PM
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