We Won the House

I’m listening to Governor-Elect Eliot Spitzer give his acceptance speech, and CNN reports that so far tonight the Dems have taken 16 House seats away from the Republicans. We’ve got the House.

Oops, I almost forgot the dancing banana —

As of 11:30 pm the Dems have picked up 19 House seats, 18 of which were taken from Republicans and one from an Independent.

Just before midnight CNN says Webb is 3,000 votes over Allen. The Virginia state official vote count still has Allen ahead. There will be a recount, people here say.

They’re kicking us out of the Sheraton, so I’ll be shutting down. I think we’ll be 4, maybe 5 seats up in the Senate and probably about 25 in the House when it’s done.

Here We Go

[Update: We’ve got the House!!!]

Back in the Manhattan Sheraton, waiting for the Shindig to start. I don’t know anything yet. In fact, if you’re at home watching on television you may know more than I do, because the WiFi is so slow. So far Dems have one House pickup, Ellsworth in Indiana District 8. Fourteen to go.

Ken Blackwell is TOAST. I see that MSNBC is calling the Ohio Governor’s race for Strickland, the Democrat. Democrat Deval Patrick will be the new governor of Massachusetts.

More later. If you learn anything, please add to the comments.

Update: Two Senate seats — Menendez in New Jersey and Casey in Pennsylvania. And I will so miss Rick Santorum.

Update: Sherrod Brown wins in Ohio.

In New York, wins for Hillary Clinton, Eliot Spitzer (gov.), and Alan Hevesi for Controller.

Update: Lieberman wins, dammit.

Update: Senate races, so far (9:45 EST)–

Maryland — Democrat Cardin wins over Republican Steele

Michigan — Democrat Stabenow (incumbent) over Republican Bouchard

Minnesota — Democrat Klobuchar over Republican Kennedy

New Jersey — Democrat Menendez (incumbent) over Republican Kean

New York — Democrat Clinton (incumbent) over Republican Whoozits

Ohio — Democrat Brown over Republican Blackwell (yay!)

Pennsylvania — Democrat Casey over Republican “Man on Dog” Santorum (incumbent)

Rhode Island — Democrat Whitehouse over Reublican Chafee (incumbent)

Update: Although it hasn’t been called, Allen is ahead of Webb in Virginia by a hair. It appears the Green Party candidate is siphoning off just enough votes to give Allen the win. Thanks loads, chumps.

Update: In the Senate, it appears we’re going to lose Missouri, Tennessee, and Virginia, which I believe puts a takeover of the Senate out of reach.

Update: I just watched Senator Clinton give her acceptance speech. Julia of Sisyphus Shrugged says Hubby Bill has mastered the Nancy Reagan stare –he kept his eyes on Hillary with proper admiration.

Although the final vote counts aren’t in, it appears Senator Clinton has won with a wider vote margin than in 2000. She won easily in parts of the state that weren’t with her six years ago.

CNN says Dems have take nine House seats away from the Republicans. I understand other news sources are saying the Dems have taken as many as twelve seats already.

Today

For what it’s worth, my polling place seemed busy for a midterm. I can remember walking into the elementary school gym and being the only voter there in other elections. We’re still using the old lever machines; apparently they last forever. (And what is wrong with that?)

See Tbogg for predictions; I’m not making any, except that many races will be close and contested. All the signs point to confusion: dirty campaigning, Diebold machines, the moon is full, and Mercury (which transits the sun tomorrow) is retrograde (damn). The I Ching is ambiguous. I’m not optimistic the elections will turn out as well as we’d hoped. Josh Marshall is posting updates on voter problems around the country. Ezra Klein documents voter suppression in action.

This evening I’ll be blogging from a Democratic Party get-together in Manhattan. I expect some of the Big Guns of the party to be there, so it could get interesting. Until then, read the latest from Leonard Pitts, E.J. Dionne, and Dan Froomkin.

Update: Plus last night’s special comment from Keith Olbermann.