2010 midterm open thread: the Slurpee edition (UPDATED...again)

Full disclosure:

We pulled the trigger for Whitman.

Both Lieutenant Governor and the congressional rep for our district (CA-53) got the "none of the above" treatment.

Screw Crimmins (Rep. candidate for the 53rd). Did not get a single flyer from this clown and only in the last week did we see a few campaign signs of his... and even those were on street medians and other "public places" - none on the lawns of houses - never a good sign.

Depending on our motivation, we may update this post from time to time as the election results roll in throughout the evening so please feel free to check back. Our friend, Leslie at Temple of Mut has been live-blogging all day so go on over and see what is unfolding with respect to these, hopefully, historic midterms.


(UPDATE #1) 4:15 PDT: An update on Prop. 19 (marijuana legalization) here in California:

I’m told by organizers on the ground that youth turnout is so high that the polling location at San Diego State University has completely run out of provisional ballots. We’re hearing that it will take 3 or 4 more hours to re-stock the ballots there…

For those of you familiar with M.O. of SDSU, this should really come as no big surprise. However, if you want high youth turnout, putting something like 19 on the ballot will do the trick.


Also, does March really seem that far away? Here's Obly on his "Countdown" just after ObamaCare passed:

Failed Mr. Boehner. You lost. You blew it. . . . I would think the “will and desires of your fellow countrymen” should be pretty damn clear by now: Your countrymen think your policies are of the past, and your tactics are of the gutter. . . . And so I offer this olive branch to the defeated Republicans and Tea Partiers. . . . You are rapidly moving from “The Party of No,” past “The Party Of No Conscience,” towards “The Party of No Relevancy.” You are behind the wheel of a political Toyota. And before the mid-terms, you will have been reduced to only being this generation’s home for the nuts.

We're not really sure how it is that Boehner blew it - the President had everything in his favor and we felt that for the most part, the Republican leadership performed very admirably in keeping the ranks in line against this abomination of legislation.

Anyway, as always, the take-away is that Olbermann is very odd and bitter man.


(UPDATE #2): Fox has called Florida for Rubio, Connecticut called for Blumenthal and Delaware for Coons.

Nevada still too close to call, though Reid's people say they are liking the early returns. The Dems have thrown everything they had in the final few days into Nevada. And not to start hedging or anything but is having that human punching bag, Harry Reid, in a weakened leadership position such a bad thing? The Republicans can continue to hammer away at Obama and his policies via Harry. Of course, if Angle winds up winning that would be epic but we don't believe the alternative is so bad.

Barney Frank over Bielat (MA-2) by a 63-35 margin with 59% reporting. Nice work, Massachusetts. One of the masters of the housing disaster returns to Congress.


(UPDATE #3) 7:30 PM PDT: The narrative is being established for the Democrats who are projected to lose mid-50s seats in the House and perhaps 6 in the Senate: Golly, it could've been a lot worse. And we certainly hope they take some positive messages away from tonight with respect that maybe their policies aren't so bad after all. Keep believin', guys, keep believin'.


(UPDATE #4) 8:20 PM PDT: Wisconsin called for Republican Ron Johnson over long-time Senator Russ Feingold, 57%-42% with 33% reporting.

And in the perhaps inevitable category: California called for both Jerry Brown and Boxer over Whitman and Fiorina, respectively.

Brown's victory was called a "gain" for the Democrats. Conservatives chuckle.


(UPDATE #5) 9:10 PM PDT: Couldn't take it. Had to switch over to Tony Barnhart's show on CBS College Sports. Did you know that LSU under coach Les Miles is 14-1 after a loss?

And then switched over to the joy that is MSNBC. Good lord. We never in our life want to hear about Fox News bias until MSNBC is mentioned in the same breath. MSNBC's election analyst panel contained 3 liberals: Lawrence O'Donnell, Eugene Robinson and Tingles Matthews which was anchored not by their news people but by their opinion stars, Olby and Rachel Maddow. Fox had 2 liberals, Joe Trippi and Juan Williams to balance out Karl Rove and Brit Hume for their panel which was anchored by news man Bret Baier and Megyn Kelly.

Boy, do they love them some Harry Reid and the fact that it looks like he will be able to hold on to his Senate seat. Ed Schultz, out in Nevada, slammed all the outside money that poured into Nevada on behalf of Sharron Angle and then proceeded to rattle off union after union that poured into Nevada to... presumably not spend money on Reid's race.

The snark is unbearable and the professionalism is completely non-existent. Olby referred to Daniel Inouye's retaining his Senate seat (HI) as an "inoculation" to the Republicans taking the Senate which we knew was never going to happen in the first place.

There is constant off-camera cross-talk, the graphics stink and they don't even broadcast in HD! 20 minutes spent with these amateurs and we understand why no one watches them.

Again, Good Lord.


(UPDATE #6) 10:45 PM PDT: Lakers dispatched the Grizzlies with ease, so... onto some local stuff. Great news: looks like local (San Diego) Prop. A (open labor competition - labor union kick in the balls) "yes" and Prop. D (sales tax increase in return for dubious pension reform) "no" are run-away victors.

Bad news: looks like both Prop. 25 and Prop. 19 (sorry, blazers) are going down to defeat.

This may wrap it up for this evening as morning (0500) comes electra.