The 2006 American Midterm Election Day Thread

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We needed a new one by now, I think.

The background (on here):

2006 American Midterm Elections

The obvious theme song.

See you on the other side.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 7 November 2006 06:29 (nineteen years ago)

ihttp://img.waffleimages.com/786e48c870dd47a02b687b4c97ba01e39b7c1e3a/skub.jpg

― My Imperfect Cousin (MIC), Tuesday, 7 November 2006 06:35 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.codefun.com/Images/Genetic/coin_flip1.gif x http://www.codefun.com/Images/Genetic/coin_flip1.gif x http://www.codefun.com/Images/Genetic/coin_flip1.gif = 0.125

: (

― Dan I. (Dan I.), Tuesday, 7 November 2006 06:37 (nineteen years ago)

Vote Yes on Proposition Hang Saddam

― am0n (am0n), Tuesday, 7 November 2006 07:07 (nineteen years ago)

awww. i wanted a subtitle for this thread. "die bold with a vengence" or "and STAY OUT" or something.

Anyhoo, i finally did some phone banking tonight. Wasn't too bad, actually.

― kingfish prætor (kingfish 2.0), Tuesday, 7 November 2006 07:08 (nineteen years ago)

Has this been posted anywhere else yet? This is appalling!

Virginia voters receiving robo-calls from "The Elections Commission" stating that they'll be arrested if they show up to vote tomorrow.

― Trayce (trayce), Tuesday, 7 November 2006 07:25 (nineteen years ago)

Agh fucked the html a bit sorry.

― Trayce (trayce), Tuesday, 7 November 2006 07:25 (nineteen years ago)

on olbermann they said those robocalls were happening all over the country.

― GOD PUNCH TO HAWKWIND (yournullfame), Tuesday, 7 November 2006 07:40 (nineteen years ago)

maybe not that particular story, but yeah, GOP robocalls have been hitting the news a lot lately. They actually were ordered to stop in New Hampshire.

― kingfish prætor (kingfish 2.0), Tuesday, 7 November 2006 07:41 (nineteen years ago)

oh, wait, not the racist ones, the ones designed to make democrats look bad. the racist ones are even more atrocious - and the republicans whine about how much they have in common with the black community and why won't they vote for us and shit.

― GOD PUNCH TO HAWKWIND (yournullfame), Tuesday, 7 November 2006 07:42 (nineteen years ago)

Right, so, all the bits about dodgy voting machines and stuff that makes push polling seem mild, and partisan election officials - that's all known to Teh Foreigners.

But - early votes are counted early and the breakdowns are publicised? Jesus Christ, that's grossly, grossly improper. No decent election counting system would allow that.

― edward o (edwardo), Tuesday, 7 November 2006 08:01 (nineteen years ago)

grossly grossly?

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Tuesday, 7 November 2006 08:05 (nineteen years ago)

dr. grossly gross

― the 48 states competition (1939) (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 7 November 2006 08:07 (nineteen years ago)

It's 196 times worse than gross.

― edward o (edwardo), Tuesday, 7 November 2006 08:09 (nineteen years ago)

Bah. I mean 144.

― edward o (edwardo), Tuesday, 7 November 2006 08:10 (nineteen years ago)

So if the GOP steal a 4th election, are you guys going to complain about it or go back to naval gazing?

― Ed (dali), Tuesday, 7 November 2006 08:12 (nineteen years ago)

i'm going to move to bhutan

― the 48 states competition (1939) (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 7 November 2006 08:16 (nineteen years ago)

just 5 short hours south of vancouver

― kingfish prætor (kingfish 2.0), Tuesday, 7 November 2006 08:17 (nineteen years ago)

the breakdowns are publicised?

yes, in some cases, if by breakdowns you mean the party identification of voters (but not who they voted for)

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Tuesday, 7 November 2006 08:23 (nineteen years ago)

hey guys, Broward County is usually 2-1 Dem, but 8% of the country electorate voted early by a 3-1 margin, so democracy is over

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Tuesday, 7 November 2006 08:27 (nineteen years ago)

you should stop taking polls too

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Tuesday, 7 November 2006 08:27 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.toothpastefordinner.com/110706/disenfranchisement.gif

― kingfish prætor (kingfish 2.0), Tuesday, 7 November 2006 08:31 (nineteen years ago)

there's some good links up on metafilter right now, and by surfing a bit from there i found this bit about the ACLU of northern california suing GOP secretary of state bruce mcpherson regarding disenfranchisement of about 150,000 minority voters (linked to from cannonfire- overall credibility unknown, since he also has a story up about aleister crowley being GWB's potential grandfather). sorry if this was already brought up, i haven't been around much lately.

― viborg (viborg), Tuesday, 7 November 2006 10:35 (nineteen years ago)

Voted by absentee across the board DFL; will be VERY happy among other things to send Keith Ellison to Congress.

― suzy (suzy), Tuesday, 7 November 2006 11:46 (nineteen years ago)

this bloke seems interesting:

Bernie Sanders
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernie_Sanders

― DJ Martian (djmartian), Tuesday, 7 November 2006 12:24 (nineteen years ago)

actually on second glance there's not much directly linked on metafilter that references the election. i guess i was just smitten with that deconstruction of the "mission accomplished" clip with the doublespeak syntax hyperlink, but didn't want to link directly to that cause its obscure. carry on.

― viborg (viborg), Tuesday, 7 November 2006 12:52 (nineteen years ago)

Around what time do you think we will know what the deal is? Is it worth staying up for or should on waking up Wednesday morning with nothing being certain?

NB: I'm six hours ahead, much like many of the brits who may or may not be paying attention. But it comes out about the same since things don't seem to be clear until like 2am EST right?

― richardk (Richard K), Tuesday, 7 November 2006 13:14 (nineteen years ago)

R4 broadcasting through the night rather than making the switcheroo to World Service as per normal; cannot remember which of the Today people is covering.

― suzy (suzy), Tuesday, 7 November 2006 13:30 (nineteen years ago)

Jim naughite

― Ed (dali), Tuesday, 7 November 2006 13:32 (nineteen years ago)

bernie is a sweet dude - total folk hero in vt.

― jhoshea megafauna (scoopsnoodle), Tuesday, 7 November 2006 14:05 (nineteen years ago)

I hope Corker takes Tennessee at least.

― And Dolph Lundgren as Himself (Roger Fidelity), Tuesday, 7 November 2006 14:11 (nineteen years ago)

In the unlikely event any victory tonight makes me feel better than Daniel Ortega's, I will yell BINGO!

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 7 November 2006 14:12 (nineteen years ago)

I was listening to something about Wal-Mart voters, was that this morning? It was very interesting anyway. To me, at least, as I had no idea Wal- Mart was like that.

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller 68), Tuesday, 7 November 2006 14:31 (nineteen years ago)

The obvious theme song

― dar1a g (daria g), Tuesday, 7 November 2006 14:32 (nineteen years ago)

Cockburn:

As is the case with the American people overall, the majority of ordinary Democrats want US forces leave to quit Iraq in the immediate or relatively near future. This was not the posture of Democratic candidates approved by [Rahm] Emanuel, particularly in tight races. Most of them have talked about withdrawal as a matter of many months. The Democratic leadership would sign onto a McCain beef-up plan in minutes, flailing away at Bush for the next two years for losing the war...

Campaign 2006 has shown us clearly enough that about the outer limit of popular sanction is the ability to lodge a formal protest on Election Day. ...The fact that this protest is purely formal is attested by the adamant refusal of the Democrats to offer anything by way of a substantive alternative, beyond saying Bush is an incompetent fellow. Indeed, the substantive effect of Campaign 2006 has been to state in terms plain enough for a simpleton to understand, that resistance is futile, since both Republicans and Democrats agree that the Bill of Rights is a dead letter and that wars must go on, and jobs to disappear, despite overwhelming popular disagreement with such policies.

Pick a topic--the war, the economy, a two million-plus prison population, the environment, the condition of organized labor, the Bill of Rights--and can you recall any Democrat this fall having said anything suggesting that in the event Democrats recapture either the House or the Senate or both anything of consequence might occur?

...As things stand in organized politics today a purely formal protest is the most we can hope for, and the significance of this fall's campaign is that no one has pretended otherwise.

http://www.counterpunch.org/cockburn11062006.html

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 7 November 2006 14:45 (nineteen years ago)

Wal-Mart voters = another way of politely saying 'poorly-educated Republicans' as with NASCAR dads.

― suzy (suzy), Tuesday, 7 November 2006 14:57 (nineteen years ago)

Voting early, to set a good example!

http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/photo/homepage/hp11-7-06c.jpg

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 7 November 2006 15:15 (nineteen years ago)

(Apparently one must vote at a fop's crotch.)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 7 November 2006 15:15 (nineteen years ago)

Who is the non-Rep-non-Dem person who from the betting sites seems set to take Connecticut btw?

― The Vintner's Lipogram (OleM), Tuesday, 7 November 2006 15:16 (nineteen years ago)

Lieberman.

― Ed (dali), Tuesday, 7 November 2006 15:17 (nineteen years ago)

Ugh. Even the atheists are praying for Ned Lamont. ESPECIALLY the atheists.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Tuesday, 7 November 2006 15:19 (nineteen years ago)

xpost to Ed: Ah, right, cheers.

― The Vintner's Lipogram (OleM), Tuesday, 7 November 2006 15:19 (nineteen years ago)

there was a big thing last time with american media types trying to divine out which segment of the population(real or invented) would tip the thing. CJR Daily had a good time pointing out the twenty or so different slices of the population that were supposed to be key. "nascar dads," "security moms," etc.

― kingfish prætor (kingfish 2.0), Tuesday, 7 November 2006 15:20 (nineteen years ago)

I'm about to take my 87-yr old mother to the polls. The (still paper—small town) ballot has gotten confusing to her, but our politics are the same (good daughter) so I squeeze into the booth with her and go "him, not him, her, not him, yes on this question, no on that one." Totally illegal, I'm sure. Fuck it.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Tuesday, 7 November 2006 15:23 (nineteen years ago)

I voted Finger for Congress (no, I'm not a libertarian, but given the lying corrupt Yvette Clarke this was the best Finger available):

http://www.fingerforcongress.org

for guv and Senate, voted Green (Party, not Mark).

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 7 November 2006 15:26 (nineteen years ago)

Dr Morbius has convinced me to never vote again. Oh wait, I live in DC.

― LISTEN U TURBO CROUTON (TOMBOT), Tuesday, 7 November 2006 15:28 (nineteen years ago)

Corker or Ford in Tennessee, doesn't matter much to me. Though I'd rather see Corker win, both are ok by me.

But I'm in New York, and I'm really rallying for John Spencer by default.

Orange was a pretty good album, after all.

― Roger Fidelity (Roger Fidelity), Tuesday, 7 November 2006 15:35 (nineteen years ago)

And opposing Cockburn, Gore Vidal:

This is the last chance, really, by getting some new chairpersons to head committees in the House ... to have a clean sweep, which, in normal times, if we’d ever enjoyed them, would have happened by now. Now it has got to happen, or welcome to the Third Reich.

http://www.truthdig.com/avbooth/item/20061105_gore_vidal_the_most_important_election_in_my_lifetime/

(video interview in full)

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 7 November 2006 15:36 (nineteen years ago)

They were talking about Wal-Mart not stocking magazines with cleavage on the cover and things like that.

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller 68), Tuesday, 7 November 2006 15:36 (nineteen years ago)

I'm picturing the late John Spencer from The West Wing. I would vote for him!

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Tuesday, 7 November 2006 15:36 (nineteen years ago)

Skipping 1189 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

Allen concession on now.

― Ed (dali), Thursday, 9 November 2006 20:04 (nineteen years ago)

did W reveal his Pelosi nickname?

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 9 November 2006 20:05 (nineteen years ago)

Didn't catch it all.

― Ed (dali), Thursday, 9 November 2006 20:08 (nineteen years ago)

He's playing pass the football.

― Ed (dali), Thursday, 9 November 2006 20:12 (nineteen years ago)

What could it be - Pellet?

(xxpost)

― StanM (StanM), Thursday, 9 November 2006 20:21 (nineteen years ago)

pfff

― StanM (StanM), Thursday, 9 November 2006 20:24 (nineteen years ago)

Hot Lips

― Fleischhutliebe! like a warm, furry meatloaf (Fluffy Bear Hearts Rainbows), Thursday, 9 November 2006 20:25 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.viralmemes.com/images/midtermposter.jpg

― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy (Kerr), Thursday, 9 November 2006 20:30 (nineteen years ago)

Li'l Bitchy

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 9 November 2006 20:30 (nineteen years ago)

finally some sweet electronic voting snafu action!

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/001972.php

― jhoshea megafauna (scoopsnoodle), Thursday, 9 November 2006 20:31 (nineteen years ago)

florida will always be there for us

― jhoshea megafauna (scoopsnoodle), Thursday, 9 November 2006 20:32 (nineteen years ago)

from another board:

http://img355.imageshack.us/img355/820/santorumph7.jpg

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Thursday, 9 November 2006 20:33 (nineteen years ago)

you see other boards? *sniff*

― Sam rides the beat like a bicycle (Molly Jones), Thursday, 9 November 2006 20:36 (nineteen years ago)

From now on, you're only allowed to post here with a condom over your keyboard. If we can't trust you, then, well, you forced us into this.

― StanM (StanM), Thursday, 9 November 2006 20:47 (nineteen years ago)

Oh my word at Lord of the Rings, can't you squeeze a Bush/Gollum in there somewhere?

― Billy Dods (Billy Dods), Thursday, 9 November 2006 20:56 (nineteen years ago)

other board == fark!

― a.b. (alanbanana), Thursday, 9 November 2006 21:01 (nineteen years ago)

Maybe time for a new thread but C4 news is saying the US is going to talk directly to Syria and Iran about sorting Iraq out.

No real shocker there - feeling I'm gettting is that Bush II has been under heavy pressure from Bush I and other Republican big wigs to get with the program and a) replace Rumsfeld, and b) implement the Baker commission's recommendations, e.g. start dealing direct with Iran & Syria. They've got to arrange major changes before the Democrats force it on them.

Next thing you know, Condi will be out and Baker will be warming the assdent in her office chair.

― Edward III (edward iii), Thursday, 9 November 2006 21:49 (nineteen years ago)

eh Condi getting pushed out seems unlikely

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 9 November 2006 21:55 (nineteen years ago)

yeah, she ain't going anywhere. she's one of dubya's few support posts left

― kingfish prætor (kingfish 2.0), Thursday, 9 November 2006 22:00 (nineteen years ago)

not 2 mention they fuckin'.

― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 9 November 2006 22:01 (nineteen years ago)

my guess is less of the fuckin and more of the b&d

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 9 November 2006 22:02 (nineteen years ago)

(gotta remember to ask my Condi-bodyguardin' in-law about that)

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 9 November 2006 22:03 (nineteen years ago)

Just finished reading that article about Florida's voting problems. I don't understand how voting machines that don't leave a paper record behind were ever allowed in the first place.

― Thermo Thinwall (Thermo Thinwall), Thursday, 9 November 2006 22:22 (nineteen years ago)

And everytime i read about a party sending "teams of lawyers" somewhere I picture a 1920's paddy wagon weaving it's way down a dirt road at high speeds with a crew of loose-cannon lawyers hanging off the sides waving pitch forks and brief cases.

― Thermo Thinwall (Thermo Thinwall), Thursday, 9 November 2006 22:23 (nineteen years ago)

thank God

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 9 November 2006 22:52 (nineteen years ago)

also the boonies

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 9 November 2006 22:53 (nineteen years ago)

Y'know, i do feel a little better this week. After years of fearing that we were fucked forever, it seems like we have at least a small way out of it.

― kingfish prætor (kingfish 2.0), Thursday, 9 November 2006 23:12 (nineteen years ago)

I finally saw/heard this press conference and don't really see what everyone else did beyond the sorta awkward sourness (and Rove's Mr. Death act). He actually seemed more human/in-touch than he's been in years, though clearly still very much the same poliical/ideological animal.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Friday, 10 November 2006 03:58 (nineteen years ago)

He actually seemed more human/in-touch than he's been in years

Oh, on this point I'll fully agree.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 10 November 2006 04:01 (nineteen years ago)

if you want some feel-good material, check out the briefing by Dean (who makes clear upfront that he's read and internalized The Way to Win) and a DNC pollster on this page

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Friday, 10 November 2006 04:11 (nineteen years ago)

oh garsh, maybe Bush is just a closet moderate... he triggers hate in the world only because he hates himself. poor guy.

― gwynywdd dwnyt fyrwr byychydd gww (donut), Friday, 10 November 2006 04:12 (nineteen years ago)

C'mon, somebody put crying Santorum daughter with crying emo kid on chair at concert.

― daniel striped tiger (OutDatWay), Friday, 10 November 2006 04:21 (nineteen years ago)

if you want to know how we won, click on the Rahm presser on that page

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Friday, 10 November 2006 05:00 (nineteen years ago)

http://rawstory.com/news/2006/Affluent_men_showed_greatest_disill_11092006.html

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Friday, 10 November 2006 07:16 (nineteen years ago)

we did well this cycle in no small part because we ran some very non-'elite' candidates.

I'd ask for your definition of "elite," but who am I kidding. (The non-elites obv include the legless female Iraq vet who IS STILL PROWAR, but I guess her non-elite potential constituents found the Republican winner not quite that fucking stupid, which is plausible.)

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Friday, 10 November 2006 14:26 (nineteen years ago)

do you know how many people in Walter Reed are STILL PROWAR, morbs? why don't you go there and tell them how stupid they are.

Tammy Duckworth is more 'elite' than 'non-elite' because she's Thai (and has an Intl Affairs masters from GW and was working toward a doctorate), but so were her intended constituents because they are Chicago suburbanites. i'm talking about many of the Dem candidates in less metropolitan areas.

great moments in journalism...

Ohio Republican Rep. Jean Schmidt, who called Democratic Rep. John Murtha (news, bio, voting record) a coward, is ahead of her challenger by 2,862 votes. Rep. Barbara Cubin (news, bio, voting record), who threatened to slap her wheelchair-bound Libertarian opponent after a debate, is ahead by fewer than a thousand votes in her Wyoming contest.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Friday, 10 November 2006 22:01 (nineteen years ago)

did robocalls flip races?

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Saturday, 11 November 2006 00:07 (nineteen years ago)

wrapping up loose ends: harold, call me

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Sunday, 12 November 2006 07:53 (nineteen years ago)

if you want to know how we won

Aside from a disastrous war, unpopular President, populace with little confidence in the economy, boy-touching Republicans, cover-ups for boy-touching Republicans and just a few ethics scandals?

John Oliver OTM

― milo z (mlp), Sunday, 12 November 2006 08:01 (nineteen years ago)

Without whose help, etc.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 12 November 2006 20:59 (nineteen years ago)

He is a perennial loser in Montana politics, a kind of Harold Stassen of the interior West, a fringe candidate who sometimes has to sue to get invited to television debates. He is also a man who accidentally turned his skin blue by drinking a homemade antibiotic laced with silver.

This was the guy that Michael Medved was railing against in his rant I linked on the schadenfreude thread. For causing that alone, Stan Jones, I salute you -- blue skin and all.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 12 November 2006 21:00 (nineteen years ago)

Rahm porn

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Monday, 13 November 2006 17:04 (nineteen years ago)

gah, registration required, can you copy paste?

― Ed (dali), Monday, 13 November 2006 17:05 (nineteen years ago)

it's really long. the intro...

He was hurtling down an asphalt road in upstate New York on the 47th trip of his ferocious campaign to win back the House. A lecture, even from political consultant James Carville, was the last thing he needed.

In just 12 days, his campaign would end in a historic victory--a triumph that almost no one believed possible when he took the job nearly two years ago--or in colossal failure.

And here were Carville and pollster Stan Greenberg telling him he had to make each of his handpicked candidates shift from attack mode and strike a conciliatory note in their final campaign ads.

"James. No James, YOU LISTEN," Emanuel barked into a cell phone, about to release a string of profane invectives more intense than usual. "Can you listen for one [expletive] minute?

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Monday, 13 November 2006 17:07 (nineteen years ago)

xpost

You tell em for me the next time you hit Walter Reed with all the Dems who are gonna sign on to McCain's troop-level boost.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Monday, 13 November 2006 17:18 (nineteen years ago)

Rahm Emanuel is awesome. a friend & I ran into him (almost literally. open bar, what can you do) as the d-trip results party was clearing out and I def got the "slightly insane" vibe

― dar1a g (daria g), Monday, 13 November 2006 18:43 (nineteen years ago)

that rahm article was great!

― teeny (teeny), Monday, 13 November 2006 20:31 (nineteen years ago)

yeah. absurd, but great. good lord! someone at my work used to be a political fundraiser & this person is like, hyper intense, I have no idea how they do it, I'd need a ****load of drugs and I'd be able to keep up for maybe a week, tops.

"Since my kids are gone, I can say it: They can go ---- themselves!"

― dar1a g (daria g), Monday, 13 November 2006 22:05 (nineteen years ago)

this one's for gabbneb

― don weiner (don weiner), Monday, 13 November 2006 22:34 (nineteen years ago)

one year passes...

dude, where have the santorum.jpg pictures gone?

― The Real Dirty Vicar, Friday, 25 January 2008 23:06 (eighteen years ago)

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