Tom's Blog of News-y Goodness

It's Mid-tastic!

2:12 am The Missouri Senate race has gone to Democrat McCaskill, giving the Democrats yet another pick-up from Republican incumbent Talent.

Virginia has been declared for Webb, except that was by Webb himself. Nobody is willing to declare an actual winner there, although it looks like Webb does have the advantage. All signs are pointing to Allen requesting a recount.

And Montana's Senate race is still too close to call. Both candidates could still take it at this point, meaning that a Democratic majority of the Senate is very much within the realm of possibility.

Tennessee went to Republican Corker, giving the Republicans their first big victory of the night. Whatever happens in Virginia and Montana, it's clear that Democrats have had an amazingly successful night. It should be interesting to see the President's reaction to a Congress that isn't strongly controlled by his party.

11:14 pm Multiple media sources have projected the Democrats as officially taking the House. Senate races in Montana, Missouri, Tennessee and Virginia are still too close to call. The Democrats need three of these seats in order to take a majority in the House.

10:52 pm The Senate races are coming in as expected, but the Democrats are now up six spots in the House.

Interestingly, Mark Foley's seat has gone to GW alumnus Tim Mahoney. To be fair, Foley's name had to be on the ballot even though Joe Negron was running.

9:28 pm CNN is projecting that Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse beat the Republican incumbent Lincoln Chafee, giving the Democrats another pick-up. This was another critical toss-up.

Oddly, Chafee was as moderate as a Republican can possibly get. According to CNN, he didn't even vote for Bush in 2004 - the Democratic victory thus far is definite.

9:09 pm So far it's all good for the Democrats. CBS just projected Ben Cardin beating Republican Michael Steele for the critical Maryland Senate race.

Joe Lieberman is predictably being projected to win, and I suppose that counts as a Democratic victory of sorts. It's certainly not good news for the Republicans.

8:25 pm CBS just projected Democrat Bob Menendez for New Jersey.

8:17 pm No big calls yet, but the close ones are indeed looking close. Democrats have picked up a Senate seat in Ohio with Sherrod Brown beating Mike DeWine. It also looks like Bob Casey (D) has beaten Rick Santorum in Pennsylvania.

The big races still appear to be Maryland, New Jersey, Virginia, Rhode Island, Missouri and Montana for the Senate.

7:34 pm In the spirit of the day, I'll be doing time-stamped entries for the election! So far, nothing too big decided. Apparently the electronic polls weren't as hot as people were hoping, so Indiana even extended its hours. The Dems need 15 for the House (possible, probable even) and six for the Senate (er, let's just say possible).

More to come.

posted by tromano @ 7:39 PM