The official Election Day 2006 thread!

[dazzledbylight]

*grabs u2dem & sula's hands and jumps & up down!*

i just heard that all the networks called it for Web...so Allen did concide?......i'll spin my walkman around - i just got outta the subway to come here and celebrate some more!
it was as my library session was closing 8:45 P that's when u2dem said station X called it for Web.............. so i had to come up here.

also i have a sinsus thing that's on the way out, but my voice is still croaky.....SO I can use typing & smilies to express myself instead!

sweet blue states dreaming U2dem.
and hallo India! Good Morning!

 

[Varitek]

NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA HEY HEY GOODBYE

 

[Ormus]

i just heard that all the networks called it for Web...so Allen did concide?

I see that FOX News has not conceded it yet.

However, I am of the impression now that Allen has not conceded yet. However, the state of Virginia has stated that an ongoing canvass of the votes has revealed no changes in Webb's lead, and Allen has stated that he has no intention of dragging this out, implying that he will not push for a recount.

As such, the AP has declared the seat a Democratic victory.

 

[Irvine511]

well done my fellow VA fans.

now, let's get that stupid marriage amendment repealed sooner rather than later ...

(while i live in DC -- rather, rent a room -- i am an official VA voter)

 

[Varitek]

Can this week just stop being awesome for even a few hours??? I'm tired of shitting fireworks in excitement.

OMG I can't believe it. I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! New U2 song, Dems rockin The House, and now Rummy peacin out??????

I love the irony (even if unintentional) in your use of the word "peace." If he is indead doing it peacefully (bush claims he was gonna be out either way and Rummy finally offered to resign, but who can be sure) it's the first peaceful thing he's done in many years.

 

[phanan]

Wow, the Democrats really did it.

I can't wait to see how things go now.

I hope great strides can be made with Bush, although I don't know how realistic that can be.

 

[ladywithspinninghead]

Wow, this is very surprising but great news!
Congrats to all my Democratic friends in the US!

 

[redhotswami]

well done my fellow VA fans.

now, let's get that stupid marriage amendment repealed sooner rather than later ...

(while i live in DC -- rather, rent a room -- i am an official VA voter)

I hear Fairfax was one of only 2 counties to vote against the marriage amendment. So...if you're still lookin to move to VA, FF is the way to go! There's hope there.

 

[redhotswami]

I love the irony (even if unintentional) in your use of the word "peace." If he is indead doing it peacefully (bush claims he was gonna be out either way and Rummy finally offered to resign, but who can be sure) it's the first peaceful thing he's done in many years.

WOW! I did not even see the irony in that when I typed it, but you're right!!!! The best thing he has done in his position is step down

 

[dazzledbylight]

dance: NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA dance: HEY HEY GOODBYE

I forgot about that song!
been having various "victory" songs in my head.

Buh-byeeeeeeeeee Neo-cons

 

[I'm Ready]

being somewhat of a political novice, can someone explain to me the house and senate can now prevent bush from doing in the final two years?

I'm not really affiliated with any party right now, but Its not hard to see that the Republicans turned our country into a terrible direction, so I'm glad the Dems won

 

[dazzledbylight]

Ready..........

AH.let's see............... pulling up her civics lessons

OK a bill[law] can be introduced into /by either the House [of Representitives] or The Senate by any member . Or a few people co-sponsor one.

It gets sent to the apropriate committee within either chamber...
...........Health, budget, defense, et al. there are SUb-committees too.

if it gets voted/approved of in the particular comittee it goes to the full chamber to be voted on.
Along the way amendments can be added, fought over, struck down etc.

ok i think this is right........which ever chamber a bill originates in-- the Other chamber has to come up with their own version.
Sometiimes there';s little difference. SOmetimes there's alot.
They then have to form another committe to wrangle out and compromise if they can on a agreed upon version.

WHen that is completed the finished bill is sent back to both houses to be voted on.

If it is passed by both houses....it goes to the President to be signed.

The president can sign it. He can Veto it.

IF he vetoes it -- it takes 2/3rd s of ?each house to override his veto { unless it's only one of the chambers...i forgot }

then other stuff, manuvering but this id the most basic..


IF i GOT ANYTHING WRoNG........ please correct or add on to this please,

gotta go!

 

[A_Wanderer]

Libertarians are a generally Republican-leaning constituency, but over the last few years, their discontent has grown plain. It isn't just the war, which some libertarians supported, but the corruption and insider dealing, and particularly the massive expansion of spending. Mr Bush's much-vaunted prescription drug benefit for seniors, they fume, has opened up another gaping hole in America's fiscal situation, while the only issue that really seemed to energise congress was passing special laws to keep a brain-damaged woman on life support

http://www.economist.com/debate/democracyinamerica/2006/11/libertarians_emerge_as_a_force.cfm

a right thats secular, low government and strong on defence is a a good bit better than christian socialists.

 

[Teta040]

I saw on ABC a few hrs ago....At the "official" celebration of takeover of the House, they were playing Beautiful Day. LOL. No lie! I laughed.....this reminded me: Nancy Pelosi is a huge U2 fan....And Bono has referred to her a few times in interviews. They're big fans of each other, I guess. Heck, Bono has probably been on the phone with her already, from Oz...LOL. How many new Democrats will he press the flesh with for DATA now?

I share in your joy, U2Dem. Since you are still unable to talk in coherent syllables, how about another language? To wit, in Armenian (which I have been jumping around the house the past few hrs yelling) :

"ASDVADZ IM!!!!!!!!!!!!(OH MY GOD)!!!!!!!!"

I've spent the past 5 hrs reading blogs and articles from papers around the globe. Incredible.

It seems Empress Teta's Rule Of Thumb For Guarunteeing Good Headlines has worked--again!

The Rule is: if you know a vote is coming up for an issue you are interested in, enforce an embargo on all media for the 2 weeks prior to the vote. No TV, no papers, no magazines, and no Internet. Not for the front pages anyway. Read only entertainment blogs and the "Life" sections of USA and the NY Times. Close your eyes when you pick up the paper, and open them only when you have flipped past Section A. I've been doing this for a decade or more, the first time it really worked was when the US Supreme Court voted to uphold Affirmative Action.

All other things, including the past 2 elections, I couldn't resist sneaking looks at the paper, and it was a nightmare....

Well, I managed to get by since October 15 by tracking the Box Officeof my current favorite movie, Martin Scorcese's The Departed.

Well, now that tile has a double meaning...LOL.

I was more discouraged by the results of 2000 and 2004 than a lot of people. For me, yesterday was nothing less than areferendum on Democracy itself, for the US and the world. The voting outrages and flagrant abuses that Bush and Rove et al so ably--and tragically-- exported (I suspect) or attempted to export to places like Russia, the Ukraine and Mexico could not in justice and fairness be repeated. It was a time when "whatever happens in America, happnen in the world" took on a tragic meaning. To see illegal practices and voting methods adopted by dictators and would-be dictators everywhere....

I have been going arounf telling everyone I know all week that a Republican victory was assured, no matter how bad things were, because of a lack of oversight of Diebold voting machines that could be "taken home for safekeeping" or hacked, that there could be another Great Depression in this country and the Reps would cling to power not only b/c of this, but because THE MEDIA was just as crusty and dug in, knowing where its bread was buttered, and would not examine fishy resuls, like it didn't in 2004. If the polls had showed the Reps headed for victory, and Dems winning, I'd be sad too, if I suspected they'd stooped to same methods.

But, miracle of miracles, maybe that newfound post-Katrina mood of empowerment and scrutiny ennerved them (the media) as well.

Maybe I should have a new Rule: go around the week before the election predicitng doom and saying it's all "fixed." I've been doing that the past week!

The people I most rejoice for are African-Americans. They may feel a measure of hope now, not because the Dems won, but because the Reps apparently aren't able to "rig" elections anymore. Again, results can come out as polls predict they will. They were the ones who were going to stay home and perhaps, may of them did. I can't wait to find out.

I was so discouraged and heartbroken after the ultimate scandal for democracy that was 2004 that I deciced 2006 would be the referendum on democracy for me. Much as you all will lambaste me, for the first time in my 37 yrs, I did not vote. I was putting democracy on probation. It's a scandal, I know, but 1) I live in NY State, and thank God Spitzer won, and 2) my sister had turned 20 and her vote would temporarily make up for mine.

Now, I can hope again. Not becuase I am a Democrat, but because I am a Patriot.

As Bono sang so memorably, 25 yrs ago, in "Scarlet":

"REJOIIII--OIIIII-OIIIICE!"

PS: Najeena, if you are reading this, I guess our recent phone conversation was was (happily) WAAAY off the mark! Who would have knew!

 

[A_Wanderer]

I love it how it's only democracy when your party wins, this election was just as valid as 2004.

 

[Teta040]

Hey, A Wanderer: you're mssing the point. I said that if the polls has indicated that the Republicans would win yesterday, and the Dems ended up winning, I would not have regretted my decision to sit out the voting process this time around. I didn't think the abuses of 2000 would be repeated in 2004, but they were, and by BOTH parties. I monitored the vote tallies on this site has they came in that night. When evidence surfaced of systematic Democratic abuse, I decided that I would skip voting in '06. I did. Now, maybe there were irregularities....I will wait to see....but this time, (unlike in 2004, when people were trying to warn us) there were monitors etc. And in my mind, if a Democratic victory in Virginia was achived in a razor-thin race with Diebold voting machines that left no paper trail, how much abuse could the Dems have pulled off?


I will wait and see if there was abuse, but it seems that mostly, things are back on track....and I might vote agian, 2 yrs from now.

 

[BonosSaint]

being somewhat of a political novice, can someone explain to me the house and senate can now prevent bush from doing in the final two years?

What we have right now is a stalemate (a little better than a stalemate if the Democrats do get the Senate). In practical matters:

1. The House controls the money.
2. The Senate can block the confirmation of any nominee
that it finds inappropriate. (Justice Stevens is feeling
a little poorly) The President will find it a little more difficult
to get his way in his picks.
3. The President may be more cautious in pursuing heretofore
persidentially approved activity because the chance of
investigation has just gone up 100%.
4. The President, who does not like to compromise, will
have to compromise if he wants to get anything passed.
Although the President can veto (or get around a veto
by his infamous signing statements), injudicious use of
veto guarantees that he will not be able to work with
Congress to get anything he wants. If nothing else
(and I hope it's more than this), Congress can sit on its
tail and just block everything the President wants to do.
Having expended all his political capital (even with his
own party), the President is in for a very lonely two years
unless he is willing to work with the President.
5. It reduces the chance of the Republicans tacking on
dumbass political agenda codicils to bills the Democrats
want (ie, estate tax abolishment tacked on to minimum
wage increase) It also increases the chance of Democrats
doing the same.

All this, of course, is dependent on the respective new Majority Leader and Speaker being able to keep the Democrats in line, which is why you will be seeing these novice moderate and conservative Senators and Representatives being given plum committee assignments and pork to take home.

My guess is that the Democrats will run a very tight ship.

 

[BonosSaint]

I'm reeeeally excited about the results of this election, but I'm already nervous to see whether they can actually- say- put together a cohesive image/policy? I know that'd be a lot to ask of them.

I'm as giddy as the next person about this election. But I think I'm happier about the voters finally showing muscle and starting to take back their influence. (For the record, I thought the Democrats deserved losing the House in 1994.)

But this is a complex electorate. It is not just about the Iraq war
(although I think that was hugely significant). It's about many conservatives looking and saying "Hey, these aren't conservatives; we've been had." It's about the religious right starting to realize they were being used by politicians who only mouthed their values. It's about a base that began to think it was being taken for granted. It's about liberals (and many moderates) who think this guy is dangerous. And it's about a growing number of people who think he's delusional. It's about the war, incompetence, scandal, executive power usurping well beyond comfort level, misdirection, betrayal, the sharp drop in our standing around the world and an arrogance divorced from reality about its own performance. The President and the Republicans forced the hand of even the previously indifferent voter to say "Stop!"

The one thing I've found consistent is that the electorate does not like the country moving too far left or too far right and they will come out to vote to make a correction.

U2democrat, your party's going to have to deliver. You've got your work cut out for you.

 

[BonosSaint]

Lieberman is going to be a very interesting wild card in all this.

 

[all_i_want]

Hey, Webb won Virginia! Democrats won the Congress! I am not even an American but I am pretty happy, I must say.

Democrats win control of Congress

WASHINGTON - In a rout once considered almost inconceivable, Democrats won a 51st seat in the Senate and regained total control of Congress after 12 years of near-domination by the Republican Party.

The shift dramatically alters the government's balance of power, leaving President Bush without GOP congressional control to drive his legislative agenda. Democrats hailed the results and issued calls for bipartisanship even as they vowed to investigate administration policies and decisions.

Democrats completed their sweep Wednesday evening by ousting Republican Sen. George Allen (news, bio, voting record) of Virginia, the last of six GOP incumbents to lose re-election bids in a midterm election marked by deep dissatisfaction with the president and the war in Iraq.

Democrats had 229 seats in the House, 11 more than the number necessary to hold the barest of majorities in the 435-member chamber.

"In Iraq and here at home, Americans have made clear they are tired of the failures of the last six years," said Sen. Harry Reid (news, bio, voting record) of Nevada, in line to become Senate Majority leader when Congress reconvenes in January.

As watershed elections go, this one rivaled the GOP's takeover in 1994, which made Newt Gingrich speaker of the House, the first Republican to run the House since the Eisenhower administration. This time the shift comes in the midst of an unpopular war, a Congress scarred by scandal and just two years from a wide-open presidential contest.

Allen lost to Democrat Jim Webb, a former Republican who served as Navy secretary in the Reagan administration. A count by The Associated Press showed Webb with 1,172,538 votes and Allen with 1,165,302, a difference of 7,236. Allen was awaiting the result statewide postelection canvass of votes and did not concede the race.

Democrats will have nine new senators on their side of the aisle as a result of Tuesday's balloting. Six of them defeated sitting Republican senators from Pennsylvania, Ohio, Missouri, Rhode Island, Montana and Virginia. The other three replaced retiring senators from Maryland, Minnesota and Vermont.

Their ideologies are as varied as their home states. Bernie Sanders, an independent who will replace Vermont Sen. Jim Jeffords, is a Socialist who has served in the House and voted with Democrats since 1990. Bob Casey Jr., who defeated Republican Sen. Rick Santorum (news, bio, voting record) in Pennsylvania, is an anti-abortion moderate. Webb once declared that the sight of President Clinton returning a Marine's salute infuriated him.

Besides the Webb-Allen race, the Montana Senate contest also was too tight to call early Wednesday. But by midday, Democrat Jon Tester outdistanced Republican Sen. Conrad Burns (news, bio, voting record), who had to fight off campaign miscues as well as his ties to Jack Abramoff, the once super-lobbyist caught in an influence-peddling scheme.

In the House, 10 races remained too tight to call, with three of them leaning to the Democrats. Rep. Nancy Pelosi (news, bio, voting record), who would become the first female speaker in history, called for harmony and said Democrats would not abuse their new status.

She said she would be "the speaker of the House, not the speaker of the Democrats." She said Democrats would aggressively conduct oversight of the administration, but said any talk of impeachment of President Bush "is off the table."

In the Senate, Sen. Charles Schumer (news, bio, voting record) of New York, the head of the Democrats' Senate campaign committee, said, "We had a tough and partisan election, but the American people and every Democratic senator — and I've spoken to just about all of them — want to work with the president in a bipartisan way."

http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rs...p/20061109/ap_on_el_ge/eln_election_rdp:wink:

 

[U2democrat]

U2democrat, your party's going to have to deliver. You've got your work cut out for you.

Trust me I know...following 12 years of GOP control is never going to be easy. Hopefully people will be patient as the Dems get their bearings. They've got to get to know each other, too!

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

(Reuters) Young Americans voted in the largest numbers in at least 20 years in congressional elections, energized by the Iraq war and giving a boost to Democrats, pollsters said on Wednesday.

About 24 percent of Americans under the age of 30, or at least 10 million young voters, cast ballots in Tuesday's elections that saw Democrats make big gains in Congress. That was up 4 percentage points from the last mid-term elections in 2002.

"This looks like the highest in 20 years," said Mark Lopez, research director of the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, which compiled the data based on exit polls. "Unfortunately, we can't say if it's a record because don't have good comparable data before 1986."

Rock the Vote, a youth-and-civics group, said young voters favored Democrats by a 22-point margin, nearly three times the margin Democrats earned among other age groups and dealing a potentially decisive blow to Republicans in tight races.

"The turnout was awesome," said 21-year-old Katryn Fraher, a political science major at the University of New Mexico who helped build a giant map of local polling stations for her school and was among a group of students walking the campus on Tuesday with a blackboard that counted down the time to vote.

But despite the big turnout, it may not be a record.

In the 1982 mid-term election during the Reagan administration, youth turnout reached 27 percent, but that was among voters aged between 18 to 24 instead of under 30 as measured by Wednesday's exit poll estimates.

Republican pollster Ed Goeas said young voters could have swayed a number of tight races on Tuesday, noting that of 28 seats Democrats picked up from Republicans in the 435-member House of Representatives, 22 were won by less than 2 percent of the vote and 18 were won by just 5,000 votes or less.

"The increase in the youth vote did come into play," he said.

GETTING OUT THE VOTE

As Republicans fought to keep control of Congress, both parties sought to rally young voters who turned out in record numbers in the 2004 presidential election.

At the University of Iowa, some students doubled as "Human Vote Billboards" with messages exhorting students to vote in the battleground state where Democrats won several races.

"It went well," said Brant Miller, 24, at the University of Iowa. "We got a bunch of students to get out there and vote."

Added Kelly Dolan, 24, at the University of Rhode Island: "The only way we can make politicians pay to attention to people our age is if we turn out in record numbers."

A poll by Harvard University's Institute of Politics last week showed that by a three-to-one margin, young Americans said the country was on the "wrong track."

Forty-six percent favored a total troop withdrawal from Iraq within a year, while a third said troops should be withdrawn after the Iraqis take full control.

Future elections could also be at stake. The "Generation Y" of Americans born from 1977 to 1994 -- shaped by the September 11 attacks, the Iraq war and Hurricane Katrina -- in nine years will make up a third of the electorate.

 

[redhotswami]

I love it how it's only democracy when your party wins, this election was just as valid as 2004.

I'm not sure if the democrats who have posted here necessarily believe that. It's democracy if EVERYONE's vote has been counted and the outcome is the reflection of the public opinion of the voters. We're celebrating because we yearn for change, and this brings us hope for the future and the possibilities that lie ahead.

 

[Ormus]

I love it how it's only democracy when your party wins, this election was just as valid as 2004.

The Justice Department has already stated that the claims of fraud were sharply down in this election versus 2004. So there seems to be something different this time around, even if it is something as simple as software and updates for the touch screens and an expectation that they will fail, so now there's a rehearsed backup plan for paper ballots.

 

[U2democrat]

(Reuters) Young Americans voted in the largest numbers in at least 20 years in congressional elections, energized by the Iraq war and giving a boost to Democrats, pollsters said on Wednesday.

For once I'm not disappointed in my generation's participation!

Future elections could also be at stake. The "Generation Y" of Americans born from 1977 to 1994 -- shaped by the September 11 attacks, the Iraq war and Hurricane Katrina -- in nine years will make up a third of the electorate.

Look out world...here we come...

 

[redhotswami]

(Reuters) Young Americans voted in the largest numbers in at least 20 years in congressional elections, energized by the Iraq war and giving a boost to Democrats, pollsters said on Wednesday.

About 24 percent of Americans under the age of 30, or at least 10 million young voters, cast ballots in Tuesday's elections that saw Democrats make big gains in Congress. That was up 4 percentage points from the last mid-term elections in 2002.

"This looks like the highest in 20 years," said Mark Lopez, research director of the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, which compiled the data based on exit polls. "Unfortunately, we can't say if it's a record because don't have good comparable data before 1986."

Rock the Vote, a youth-and-civics group, said young voters favored Democrats by a 22-point margin, nearly three times the margin Democrats earned among other age groups and dealing a potentially decisive blow to Republicans in tight races.

"The turnout was awesome," said 21-year-old Katryn Fraher, a political science major at the University of New Mexico who helped build a giant map of local polling stations for her school and was among a group of students walking the campus on Tuesday with a blackboard that counted down the time to vote.

But despite the big turnout, it may not be a record.

In the 1982 mid-term election during the Reagan administration, youth turnout reached 27 percent, but that was among voters aged between 18 to 24 instead of under 30 as measured by Wednesday's exit poll estimates.

Republican pollster Ed Goeas said young voters could have swayed a number of tight races on Tuesday, noting that of 28 seats Democrats picked up from Republicans in the 435-member House of Representatives, 22 were won by less than 2 percent of the vote and 18 were won by just 5,000 votes or less.

"The increase in the youth vote did come into play," he said.

GETTING OUT THE VOTE

As Republicans fought to keep control of Congress, both parties sought to rally young voters who turned out in record numbers in the 2004 presidential election.

At the University of Iowa, some students doubled as "Human Vote Billboards" with messages exhorting students to vote in the battleground state where Democrats won several races.

"It went well," said Brant Miller, 24, at the University of Iowa. "We got a bunch of students to get out there and vote."

Added Kelly Dolan, 24, at the University of Rhode Island: "The only way we can make politicians pay to attention to people our age is if we turn out in record numbers."

A poll by Harvard University's Institute of Politics last week showed that by a three-to-one margin, young Americans said the country was on the "wrong track."

Forty-six percent favored a total troop withdrawal from Iraq within a year, while a third said troops should be withdrawn after the Iraqis take full control.

Future elections could also be at stake. The "Generation Y" of Americans born from 1977 to 1994 -- shaped by the September 11 attacks, the Iraq war and Hurricane Katrina -- in nine years will make up a third of the electorate.

This really warms my heart. Very few of my students voted, even though I was reminding them to even since I applied for my absentee ballot

But I'm glad to see that so many young people let their voice be heard. In my program we read a lot about "The Millenials" (what we call this generation of college students), and that although they are passionate about their causes, they don't participate much in politics. This article really turns that around!!!

 

[Varitek]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWwspZJnXSQ

MSNBC's news coverage of the resignation, with "hey hey goodbye" chanting in the background. it's funny stuff.

 

[Butterscotch]

Trust me I know...following 12 years of GOP control is never going to be easy. Hopefully people will be patient as the Dems get their bearings. They've got to get to know each other, too!

The Dems were put out in 94 the same way the Rep were put out now, because the people were fed up and wanted 'change.' When will the American people ever learn there will be no 'change' with the stagnant two party system? In a year or two everyone will be fed up with the Dems again. The cycle never ends.

 

[U2democrat]

Your user name makes me hungry. But that's beside the point.


What do you suggest? 3 party system? Multi-party? What makes you think that would be so much better, politics will still be politics, factions will still be factions.

 

[redhotswami]

When will the American people ever learn there will be no 'change' with the stagnant two party system?

I don't understand what is this change, or rather lackthereof, you are speaking about. Even recent history shows us that whenever a leader is in power, they tend to make policies that conform to their party affiliation, and thus move the country toward that direction. How will this be any different if there was a third party? What is it you are looking for? Maybe I am misinterpreting your post...so hopefully you can clarify for me, but I am kinda confused about it.

And I just want to add that I respect your frustration with both parties, but not voting isn't going to make the Dems & Reps disappear. I don't consider myself a democrat, but I still vote on the issues I care about, and the Dems are a bit closer to my ideals than the Reps are.