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November 7, 2006

Election Day stuff -- LIVEBLOGGING

1:29am: No, not good night. The Fox News commentators are very animated about their desire for a united policy on Iraq. Juan Williams, Bill Kristol, and even -- KP -- what's her name, the Dem hottie female. I know that's not politically correct. But perhaps, just perhaps, if the kos crowd can be kept at bay, we can create a majority consensus on Iraq . . .

Perhaps . . .

12:35am: It looks like the Democrats have won the House. It looks like they may be within 1 seat of winning the Senate though it is impossible to tell.

No matter what happens, I want to be on the record: We must not abandon Iraq. We must not leave the Iraqis to their deaths. If so, our word will be worth nothing. Nothing.

Good night.

12:29am: If I may, I will quote my contribution to TCSDaily's election roundup:

Sometimes in life it's useful to speculate on what is deserved or undeserved. This is not one such time.

The question sets up divisions between the parties, the bureaucracy, and the electorate. There's a war on and if we lose, we'll all lose together. So whoever takes the oath of office in January -- Democrat, Republican, or otherwise -- had better learn to work together and win this thing. If the Democrats gain one house of Congress, the President and Republicans should prepare to welcome them into the fight and rapidly build cross-the-aisle consensus. 'With malice toward none, with charity for all' should be on everyone's lips. Otherwise, the Republic will walk a trail of tears for a long time to come -- and possibly witness sorrows beyond imagination.

12:18am: Rich Lowry, editor of National Review, just said on Fox that Rumsfeld should go, but the anchor really had to drag it out of him.

12:06am: Wow. I can't believe how close the Allen-Webb race is. There will definitely be a recount there.

11:51pm: Read tomorrow's satirical headlines today: See Scrappleface. ' Democrats Unveil 'Contract with San Francisco'.

11:47pm: FoxNews just interviewed Michelle Malkin about "the blogs." Brit Hume called it something like "a remarkable marketplace of ideas." I'm going to see if Belmont Club is saying anything new, since the Democrats are reputed to have won.

11:42pm: The Midterm Midtacular is now being hosted by Stephen Colbert. I can't stand Stephen Colbert. Switching to Fox.

11:36pm: I have just opened a bottle of Crown Royal and am pouring a stout one over ice.

11:26pm: It appears that the Democrats now have enough seats to hold a majority in the house. Both RealClearPolitics and Drudge report so.

11:22pm: Switched to the Daily Show's "Midterm Midtacular" a few minutes. Key takeaway: "Joe Lieberman opened up an Ark of the Covenant can of whoopass" and "the Connecticut Senate race was a three-way, and like most three-ways it ended with one person watching awkwardly on the sidelines." Or some such.

11:13pm: Damn. RealClearPolitics now estimates that the Democrats need only one more seat.

11:07pm: I'm not hearing a whole lot about the Ford-Corker race. Drudge is now reporting that the Democrats need only two more seats to gain the majority. I'm going for another red wine refill.

11:02pm: Just had a lot of trouble accessing my site. This has been reported elsewhere as well. It's not too much to think that there might be a DDOS attack against Hosting Matters going on right now. Hosting Matters hosts a lot of conservative blogs (and a lot of stuff in general) and it is election day. This has happened before, by the way.

10:36pm: Drudge now reports that the Democrats need 5 more seats to gain the House, but still has no backup info. I switched to red wine a little while ago and am now going for a refill.

10:33pm: Random thought of the day: I don't understand the midwest. Being a southerner, superficially, the midwest seems very similar: some big cities, but a lot of rural areas and small towns. Lots of religious people, in Protestant denominations. Probably a similar ethnic breakdown. Yet the midwest always seems so up in the air as to whether it will be red or blue, whereas the south is red. I guess that shows my age, since the south hasn't always been that way. But it just seems weird to me that there's another part of the country that is so similar, yet so different politically.

10:24pm: Drudge is now reporting that the Dems need only 7 more seats to gain the House. But they have no link. It's not clear where they are getting their info.

10:18pm: A very reputable national news service calls it: Politicians Sweep Midterm Elections! [via the WSJ's Election Day Blog Watch].

10:16pm: From the big blogger bash in DC, pictures from Wonkette and Ann Althouse. Pretty funny. I was just in Adams-Morgan the other weekend.

9:56pm: My college roommate, whom I bet $5 that the Democrats will pick up no more than 18 seats in the House, just emailed for some pre-emptive gloating. I think he is far too pre-emptive.

9:49pm: Mrs. Chester has now finished watching "Dancing With the Stars" and expresses disbelief both that Mike Nifong has been re-elected, and that Britney Spears has filed for divorce.

9:36pm: Fox reports that the White House is upbeat.

9:32pm: Fox is projecting that Lincoln Chafee has lost in Rhode Island, and RealClearPolitics has not declared it too.

9:28pm: The Webb-Allen race has tightened to five-tenths of a percentage point, with 80% of the precints reporting.

9:23pm: Damn. Mike Nifong has just won the Durham County District Attorney's race. I guess the show must go on.

9:19pm: Ken Mehlman sounds pretty good on explaining Iraq. He just made the case that fighting a movement is much more difficult than fighting a nation. I thought he sounded pretty intelligent on the issue.

9:09pm: Thoughts, ideas, concerns? Shoot me an email at "terrier_manchester" at "yahoo.com". Also, welcome Wizbang readers!

9:06pm: Howard Dean on Fox was just asked if the Democrats win the House if it will be an ideological victory or a party victory. He replies that it will be a victory for a new direction. Perhaps, Howard, but why not tell us what direction? In Iraq at least, we know what the direction will be. Not exactly "with your shield or on it."

9:05pm: RealClearPolitics seems cautiously optimistic that there might be a chance for the GOP to retain Foley's seat in Florida.

8:59pm: Allen is over Webb 50.35% to 48.44%, with 66% of the precints reporting. I'm no expert, but it seems unlikely that Webb will pull ahead in the last 33%. But it is VERY tight.

8:50pm: Looks like Santorum is out. That's a shame. The numbers are pretty amazing. He only got 38% of the vote. Wow. I bet we'll see more of him. Peggy Noonan recently had the same opinion.

8:46pm: Mrs. Chester just rose from a brief nap after a 40 hour shift at Duke's pediatric ward. Hopefully, "Dancing with the Stars" will put her in a good mood.

8:40pm: A Fox commentator just referenced one of Santorum's speeches. I linked to it last week, and it is indeed outstanding. Read the whole thing.

8:37pm: Cracked the second Pacifico of the evening.

8:31pm: Just realized that this segment of CNN is being hosted by Anderson Cooper. Since he's the a**hole who hosted some insurgent snuff films a few weeks ago, I don't think I'm going to watch any more CNN. Switching to Fox.

8:30pm: New term just used on CNN: "overpundify."

8:29pm: CNN also just had this AARP ad, which was quite funny.

8:27pm: Back on CNN, I just saw an ad in which lots of regular people read stories about what is happening in Darfur. Hmm. I wonder if we pull out of Iraq, and it all goes to hell, and there is some serious ethnic cleansing and genocide, I wonder if maybe then the Democrats might be up for an intervention on humanitarian grounds?

8:20pm: Just for fun, I found this old bit of quotes from our presumptive new Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, via Jim Taranto:

This weekend "60 Minutes" aired Lesley Stahl's interview with Nancy Pelosi, who most likely will become speaker if Democrats take the House. The Web write-up suggests how shallow is the Democratic Party's thinking on Iraq:

One issue that she is fighting about here is Iraq. She opposed the war from the start and now, like her, most Democrats support a phased withdrawal of troops beginning later this year.

"Does that not open you up then to that charge of cutting and running? This is just what they're saying," Stahl asks.

"The issue is them. The issue is the war they got us into," Pelosi replies. "If the president wants to say the war in Iraq is part of the war on terror, he's not right."

"Do you not think that the war in Iraq now, today, is the war on terror?" Stahl asks.

"No. The war on terror is the war in Afghanistan," Pelosi says.

"But you don't think that the terrorists have moved into Iraq now?" Stahl continues.

"They have," Pelosi agrees. "The jihadists in Iraq. But that doesn't mean we stay there. They'll stay there as long as we're there."

It seems entirely too pat to say that if we leave Iraq, so will the jihadists. After all, there were jihadists in Afghanistan long before we arrived. But let's say it's true. Where does Pelosi think the jihadists will go? Isn't she worried that some of them will come here?

I mean this with the utmost sincerity: God help us.

8:18pm: Flipping to The Daily Show just for good measure. Jerry Seinfeld is the guest.

8:13pm: On the way back to Fox, just fell upon some Disney movie about the Presidential family, with a teenage first daughter saying, "Daddy, I don't want to be dragged to another fundraiser where a bunch of rich old people pay money to hang out with us." Hmm. Looks like something Mrs. Chester would like.

8:12pm: Just switched to MSNBC. Man, Chris Matthews is annoying.

8:04pm: On CNN, someone just called Rush a "gasbag." I think it's hilarious when the press attacks Rush. Bill Bennett is now defending him. Good for him. I think it's hilarious when Rush gets attacked because it's usually painfully obvious that the attackers have never listened to his show. Rush is smart and has quite a gift for show-business. He's very entertaining. And he always plays clips of what he says versus how it was portrayed. It's usually pretty funny. I happened to be in the car while John Kerry was defending his gaffe last week and Rush carried it live while talking in the background. When Kerry got worked up, Rush started saying, "Mention me! Mention me! Mention me!" Then, sure enough, Kerry mentioned him. It was hilarious. I don't agree with a some of what he says, but it can't be denied that the man is talented.

8pm: Well, no news on Nifong.

7:58pm: In a moment, TiVo is going to kick in and start recording "Dancing with the stars" for Mrs. Chester. I will most certainly be escaping to the other TV by then. Fox is declaring Indiana 8 as a gain for the Democrats, with I think 81% reporting.

7:57pm: Ugh. Someone in the audience just asked if the US military should approach China about counterinsurgency, since the Chinese state was established with an insurgency. Hmm. My guess is: No. Back to politics.

7:52pm: While switching to Fox, I accidentally hit CSPAN2 first and find that they're showing a conference by the CATO institute on the military and counterinsurgency. Hmm. Could be worth a slight detour.

7:47pm: Jeff Greenfield on CNN just called Indiana 09 "the seat that can't make up its mind," saying, "we should call this the Hamlet of congressional seats." [Pause] Ahem. Switching to Fox now.

7:44pm: Just cracked my first Pacifico of the evening. I have a column to write, but have decided that its content will depend on the election outcome. So might as well enjoy . . .

7:42pm: I meant to say earlier that although it rained like nobody's business today, and that wasn't fun, there were no problems whatsoever at my own polling place. I thought the NC system worked pretty well.

UPDATE: 7:40 EST: Maybe I'll do a bit of live-blogging. Here goes. Wolf Blitzer on CNN has a certain gleam in his eye as he discusses the possibility of the Democrats taking the house.

Well, I cast my votes earlier today. I'm very interested to see how the Durham County District Attorney turns out. I voted against Mike Nifong. It's unfortunate that the legal system does not include the crime of "wanton jackassery," as I'm sure he could be charged with it.

I also voted for Steve Acuff to be my congressman. We'll see how that turns out. It was an uphill battle from the start . . .

Posted by Chester at November 7, 2006 6:18 PM

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Comments

Posted by: El Jefe Maximo at November 7, 2006 11:44 PM

Posted by: El Jefe Maximo at November 8, 2006 12:00 AM

Posted by: El Jefe Maximo at November 8, 2006 12:35 AM

Posted by: JimboNC at November 8, 2006 12:59 AM

Posted by: NVM at November 9, 2006 9:21 PM