Quote a Ultra-Right Blogger - Really? REALLY?

I didn't think I'd ever quote one of the most conservative bloggers I can find - Erick Erickson of Redstate.com  While I don't agree with this ultra-conservative blogger,
I do find this analysis strangely... accurate. 

Why Mitt Romney Will Not Beat Barack Obama

You’d think that given the economy, jobs, and the present angst about the direction of the country that the GOP would have an easy path to victory. You would be wrong.
...
Mitt Romney, on the other hand, is a man devoid of any principles other than getting himself elected. As much as the American public does not like Barack Obama, they loath a man so fueled with ambition that he will say or do anything to get himself elected. Mitt Romney is that man.

Inspiration

Inspiration is the only word I could come up with to describe the overwhelming emotion when watching Obama's speech in Grant Park last night. It was beyond words. Seeing Jesse Jackson in tears watching in the crowd, history unfolding in front of him, you couldn't help but do the same. Nor could many others. I could only think how lucky I am to witness and be a part of this turning point in American history.

True to form, Obama made his moment about all of us. About all of his supporters, and all that supported McCain too. It was a call to service, a reminder that this is the beginning, not an end, and that history will judge us for what happens next, not for what has just transpired. The real work is coming, and it's time to think about what each of us can do to contribute in the new era that has just now begun to unfold.

There were disappointments too last night. Prop 8 passed in California, with 2 similar propositions passing in other states. It wasn't all bad. Connecticut voted down an attempt at a constitutional convention to reverse their gay marriage laws. New York now recognizes gay marriages from Massachusetts. Today's news is that the 1st lawsuits have been filed with the state supreme court here in California. To allow the majority to strip rights away from the minority by a simple majority vote through the initiative process is antithetical to the role of the judiciary in protecting minority rights. This use of the initiative process to strip away constitutional rights, if allowed to stand, sets a dangerous precedent and would destroy the foundational constitutional principle of equal protection. What would be next? The right to free speech? Could the majority use the same process to say, disallow dissent by minority groups or make it illegal to have an Islamic temple in our state, simply by a majority vote to change the constitution? Scary stuff.

In other news, Michigan became the 13th state to allow the medical use of Marijuana. Life isn't all bad! Hopefully, with the new era, federal arm twisting by the DEA will go away.

About the down-ticket races:

Dole lost. Her "Godless" Sunday school teacher (and democrat) opponent, Kay Hagen, put her in her place. Yes, Dole actually called her "Godless".

There are still Senate races out there in limbo today. There will be some recounts. Franken in Minnesota was within a couple of hundred votes. His incumbent Republican opponent declared victory anyway. In Georgia, Jim Martin (D) held the incumbent Saxby Chambliss (R) to only 49.9 %. to his 46.7 A third party candidate got the rest. This means that there will be a run-off election in 30 days. You need 50%+ to win in Georgia. Forces are gathering to wage this campaign. It's just starting there, and it's all about turnout during a run-off election. In Oregon, Jeff Merkley(D) and Gordon Smith(R) are even. Another recount, and also some issues there with ballots being damaged.

And, of course, there is Ted Stevens in Alaska. Convicted, and re-elected? It's anybody's guess as to what happened there. Beglich was ahead in the polls, but from the MudFlats blog in Alaska:

At last count with 99% of precincts reporting Begich trailed Stevens by only 4000 votes, 46.5% to 48%. But don’t write off Begich just yet. There are tens of thousands of votes yet to be counted - almost 50,000 in all. Absentee ballots have yet to be tallied, and more are arriving daily. In addition, any early votes that happened between last Thursday and Election Eve, are still to be counted. What does all this mean? We won’t know the outcome of this race for two weeks.

Despite what the Pundits on TV say, Palin cannot appoint someone to fill the seat. That issue has been decided by the Alaska Supreme Court. There will be a special election if Stevens wins this one because he'll get expelled from the Senate when his appeal is lost, or he ends up in jail. More drama and bad headlines for Republicans. It would have been so much better if he had bowed out last week. One way or another he won't be seated. It's just a question of who will eventually get that post. Hopefully the Dem will just win, and Alaska can move on.

If for some reason the democrats sweep all these Senate races, they will get to the magic 60 if you include the two independents that caucus with the Dems. I have the feeling that Leiberman will get the boot from the Democratic Caucus unless they need him for this purpose.

It seems there will be no shortage of things to blog about over the next few weeks!

The Election night jitters

5:07pm PST
I can't help it. I'm excited and nervous at the same time, and nothing will settle my stomach until we see the results from Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, Virginia and North Dakota.
The big guns at FiveThirtyEight and RealClearPolitics are slowly coming in. They seem to be very careful about results.
5:10 pm
I just checked the map at MSNBC - they update every 2 minutes. They are calling PA, IL, NH, VT, MA, CT, NJ, DE, MD and DC for Obama.. KY, TN, SC, and OK for McCain - 103 to 34 Obama. Amazing since there are no vote tallies on their site. Especially interesting is PA.

5:16 pm
MSNBC shows an 8 pt lead in FL for Obama, with 24% reporting, but isn't calling. Not suprised.
They show a McCain ahead in VA by 13 so who knows. I think a lot of this is exit and Absentee data. The VA number is out of sync with the pre-election polls, so I'm thinking you can't trust any of this much... arrgh!!

5:32pm
Flipped back into fivethirtyeight.com and they have Hagen beating Dole in North Carolina - that's good news for Obama too. AP has called NH for Obama. MSNBC has ME for Obama now, and I'm looking at the state data for VA. It seems they've had a lot of problems polling in the south-east today. There's also a report on CNN about voter suppression activities in the same area that are being investigated. In any case, this is going to be a long night for results for VA.

5:38
McCain is planning his post-election for the Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix. Most guests in the ballroom, but he won't speak from there - he's got a stage set up outside in a rather small area. It looks like a 'designed for media' type event. Small space - specially picked crowd to fill it, while the rest watch on TV. Obama, on the other hand has got Grant Park in Chicago. Space for 70,000 in the secure area - and probably 1,000,000+ total expected to attend. Some rally.. the coast guard is protecting the lake side, and the Secret Service has swept the secure area. They have snipers on the rooftops and the whole bit. That's going to be a heck of a party.

6:48
Well, MSNBC was wrong about Virginia. It's now all tied up - 7,000 votes out of 3.8 Million.
Some of these early projections seem to be just shadows. Georgia is being flagged for McCain based on rural voting results - but the big suburban counties aren't reporting. I think it's going to look like another Virginia.

6:55
What ever happened to not reporting the results until ALL the polls are closed? Western states are still voting !! This year Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado are all in play.
Well, maybe Colorado was decided yesterday.. they had early voting there that was a very large part of the total vote count.

Anyway - I'll be back to continue this blog later - after the dust has settled a bit.
My nerves can't stand it anymore!