50 Democratic Senate seats — minimum

In Montana this morning, Jon Tester (D) declared victory in the closely-watched Senate race, and the AP agrees. Democrats won a cliffhanger race in Montana on Wednesday that brought them to the brink of control of the Senate, after Americans sick of scandal and weary of war ended the Republican majority in the House. With […]

We won’t have Rumsfeld to kick around anymore

Maybe the old saying is right, elections do have consequences. Defense Secretary Donald H. [tag]Rumsfeld[/tag], a key target of Iraq war critics, is stepping down, Republican officials said on Wednesday. Former CIA Director Robert [tag]Gates[/tag] will replace him, Republican officials said. Earlier today, a spokesman for Rumsfeld said he’d given no indication that he would […]

McCain ‘gained capital’ yesterday? I don’t think so

The 2008 presidential campaign effectively started long before yesterday’s elections shook up Congress, and it’s only natural that that every likely candidate wants to use the results to boost their respective chances. Some, like Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), have a very tough pitch to make today. Meanwhile, four Republican governors who’ve been thinking about the ’08 […]

Comments

I’m afraid I have no choice but to shut down the comments section temporarily. It pains me to do so, and we’ve tried everything else first, but at this point, it may be the only thing I can do to keep the site online right now. I had really hoped to avoid this and I’ll […]

The 50-state strategy is looking pretty good this morning

It’s a little disconcerting to see some progressive voices starting to address internal divisions within the Democratic Party. I don’t doubt for a moment that we’ll have some challenging details to work out in terms of agenda, leadership, and direction, but given the results, today is a day to enjoy a job well done. And […]

Making the world’s most deliberative body a little more deliberate

Less than a month ago, the Republican establishment recognized the precarious future of their Senate majority. They decided to throw a few incumbents overboard, and count on a “firewall” strategy that would prevent a Democratic takeover. They’d invest most of their energy and resources in three red states — Missouri, Ohio, and Tennessee — which […]

Had enough? Apparently so

It’s odd that one of the more memorable phrases of the 2006 election cycle came by way of Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), who ended up giving Democrats a fairly potent slogan. Way back in March, Gingrich told Time, “[W]hat [Democrats] should do is say nothing except, ‘Had enough?’” Dems quickly embraced it, and […]

Night-owl open thread

Well, that’s about it for me. I’ll be back in the early morning, answering the age-old question, “How coherent can political analysis be on a few hours sleep?” At this point, the House looks excellent, with Dems poised to have a solid majority in January. The Senate is still very much up for grabs, with […]

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi

As of now, Dems have a net gain of 15 House seats, including some key races many of us have been watching for months (in addition to other House contests mentioned earlier): Florida 16 — Mahoney (D) beats Negron (R) Florida 22 — Klein (D) beats Shaw (R) New York 20 — Gillibrand (D) beats […]

It’s 10:32pm; do you know where your party is?

If you’re a Dem, it’s in a pretty good spot right now. In New York, Eliot Spitzer, Hillary Clinton, and Andrew Cuomo were big winners. In Maryland, Baltimore Mayor Martin O’Malley (D) will beat Gov. Bob Ehrlich (R). In Pennsylvania, Gov. Ed Rendell (D) apparently beat Lynn Swann (R) by a large margin. In some […]