2008 Senate Races

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uncle Mxy

It's a shoo-in that Stevens' opponent, Mark Begich, will win. Alaska has a harder line on such things than, say, Louisiana. Begich is the mayor of Anchorage and a solid candidate. Begich polled well ahead a few months back when the Stevens indictment was handed down. The race had narrowed as Stevens had received some favorable legal decisions along the way, but it's over now.

Ok, so maybe I was wrong here. Stevens is ahead very narrowly, but there are something like ~100k early votes to be counted. I just don't get this one. Folks are blaming Begich for being way too nice to Stevens in the wake of his conviction, refusing to refer to him as a convicted felon and whatnot.

In other races, Al Franken is losing by a few hundred votes in Minnesota, well into "recount" and "provisional ballot" territory. There's supposedly enough uncounted votes in Portland for the Oregon Dem to win over the incumbent, and enough uncounted votes in Georgia to force a run-off election.

Saxby Chambliss won, Coleman won, Stevens will win. Republicans hang on to a filibuster...

Plus, if Benedict Arnold (Harry Reid) penalizes Lieberman, it could be an unofficial pick up for the Republicans.

Harry Reid has one of the most interesting wikipedia pages that I've ever read.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wilfredo Ledezma

Saxby Chambliss won, Coleman won, Stevens will win. Republicans hang on to a filibuster...

That's a lot of crack you're smoking.

Chambliss has to go to a runoff. It's not a shoo-in that he'll win a runoff. Chambliss is not very inspiring, which is part of why he's in this predicament.

Coleman's lead has been steadily shrinking even before the mandatory recount. Franken could squeeze that one out.

~20% of the Alaskan vote hasn't been counted and Stevens' lead is small.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if one of these goes for the Dems.

^^you should read Ted Kennedy's...

reading about the chappaquiddick incident is my favorite bed time story...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uncle Mxy

That's a lot of crack you're smoking.

Chambliss has to go to a runoff. It's not a shoo-in that he'll win a runoff. Chambliss is not very inspiring, which is part of why he's in this predicament.

Coleman's lead has been steadily shrinking even before the mandatory recount. Franken could squeeze that one out.

~20% of the Alaskan vote hasn't been counted and Stevens' lead is small.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if one of these goes for the Dems.

How do you know that Saxby isn't very inspiring? He's in a red state, he won every single pre-election poll and a state that voted for McCain isn't going to give the Democrats more power. Plus in a runoff poll, I doubt the number of blacks in Georgia who showed up strictly to cast a vote for Obama would show up anyway.

For a few quick-hitters:

2008 wasn't the highest turnout percentage ever, as was wrongly predicted (Stephanopolous).

Black vote increased from 13% to a whopping 14% (if only Detroit had mass-transit, right?)

amount of young voters, such as myself, barely increased but heavily voted for Obama (no surprise here, Obama's going to lower college tuition, can't beat that...)

the only thing that increased largely was Hispanic votes, and they went mostly for Obama (probably so they're illegal comrades can get healthcare and voice their opinions despite not having US citizenship)

^^should've gone in the election thread, but either way...

Levin won.

Ledezma is like a bitter 70 year old man in a 20 year old body.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wilfredo Ledezma

Black vote increased from 13% to a whopping 14% (if only Detroit had mass-transit, right?)

By design, city polling places are all within reasonable walking distance.