Blog for Democracy

Election Night Open Thread

Democratic turnout is going to be dismal. The only statewide race is Secretary of State, which hasn’t received any press. Though, I did receive a mailer from Sinkfield. In the Atlanta area, there’s a Fulton County commission and house district race. Is that it?

The big news will be on the Republican side, where Sarah Palin (Handel) and Mike Huckabee (Deal) are facing off. Initially, I thought Handel would be harder to beat in the general, but now I’m not so sure.

In other super important political news, Levi Johnston got his own reality show which will film his quest to become Mayor of Wasilla.

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32 responses to “Election Night Open Thread”

  1. JMPrince Avatar
    JMPrince

    Heard this come across on the radio this morn, and obviously the pics are more horrendous. But here’s the story:

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/11/thousands-wait-to-apply-f_n_678840.html

    “10’s of Thousands Fight to get on Public Housing List in ATL (East Point)”
    All in vain hopes of being placed on a waiting list for federal housing assistance…

    JMP

  2. JMPrince Avatar
    JMPrince

    Another political obit story that may have been missed:

    http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2010/08/former_ill_rep_dan_rostenkowski_dies_at_82.php

    [AP]
    Former Ill. Rep. Dan Rostenkowski, who helped shape tax policy before prison stint, dies at 82.
    Rostenkowski, who served 18 terms before losing in 1994, died surrounded by family at his home in Lake Benedict, Wis…. He had served 17 months in Federal prison on corruption charges in the 90’s.

    As House Ways and Means Committee chairman, Rostenkowski was known as a consensus builder and a master of legislative tactics. He is credited with leading a 1983 effort to rescue Social Security from insolvency and pushing through a sweeping 1986 overhaul of the nation’s tax system.

    JMP

  3. Matt Avatar
    Matt

    State Rep. Cecilly Hill (R-Camden County) went down, too.

  4. JMPrince Avatar
    JMPrince

    In a totally unrelated story having little to do with numbers, there’s this reminder of the triumph of the human spirit. (As heard on the BBC):
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/11/war-amputees-climb-kilima_n_678507.html

    “NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) – The three veterans from three different wars had only one good leg among them. But that didn’t stop them from summiting Africa’s highest mountain, Tanzania’s Mt. Kilimanjaro, (Scroll down for photos)”
    JMP

  5. BEZERKO Avatar
    BEZERKO

    Pam Dickerson won in the 95th.

  6. Sara Avatar
    Sara

    Important lesson learned from watching last night’s SoS website returns in real time: The SoS reports “precincts” by county in 33% increments. When it shows 33% in, it’s just the early voting. When it shows 66%, it’s early voting plus the election day vote totals. When it shows 99%, absentees have been included. They apparently do not do real time percentages of the number of precincts in each county that have reported.

    This made it look like Karen Handel had a much better shot than she actually had for longer than it should have. The only things outstanding in Fulton and Gwinnett until late were absentees, but there almost certainly weren’t going to be enough of those to make up her margin. But when we thought 1/3 of the votes were still out in such big counties, it was still mathematically feasible for her to make up the gap.

  7. Michael Avatar
    Michael

    Looks like Deborah Honeycutt lost by a huge margin in GA-13. That’s nearly $7 million of Republican money wa$ted over 5 years.

  8. JMPrince Avatar
    JMPrince

    We seem to be fortunate in our opponents, I think. In other local news there’s this event coming up this Thurs Aug 12th @ Manuel’s Tavern: (602 N. Highland Ave, NE, Atlanta)

    Bartow County Democratic Candidates Kick-Off At Manuel’s: An event featuring our candidates; Dan Ledford – State House District 14, Mike Burton – State Senate District 52 , Jerry Nally – State House District 12, & Tracy Bennett – Georgia State Senate District 31.

    Aug 12, 2010 – 6:00pm-9PM

    Details & contact info noted here: http://democraticpartyofgeorgia.org/node/1802

    And yes, that should be my name (as it appears above) @ Bellsouth.net and yes it’s cheaper than anything we could find @ home too! Thanks for your consideration, hope to see folks there. JMP

  9. Drew Avatar
    Drew

    Not a good night for Republican women – doesn’t look like there will be any on the ballot for statewide office this year, assuming Deal’s lead holds. That hasn’t happened since 1990, from what I saw on the SOS website.

  10. EGaluszka Avatar
    EGaluszka

    I love this little tidbit from the AJC:

    James Kern of Buford voted for Deal at Hamilton Mill Christian Church on Tuesday afternoon. He cited Palin’s endorsement of Handel.

    “She’s just too loud and obnoxious,” Kern said of Palin. He also cited Palin’s decision not to finish her term as governor.

  11. Chris Avatar
    Chris

    You apparently forgot that each precinct gets “counted” three times now – once for in person (85% of the votes) and twice for absentees (early vote + vote by mail).

    25% actually meant 75%.

  12. Mel Avatar
    Mel

    I know she’ll be great.

  13. Daniel F. Avatar
    Daniel F.

    While i’m certain that Amy deserves plenty of credit for all her efforts and the efforts she helped inspire…however Dar’shun has bee working her tail off since day one of this campaign. Don’t want to take an ounce of credit aware from her hardwork and ethic.

    No offense to Amy, just want to be sure we recognize the dynamo we just picked up in Dar’shun.

  14. Daniel F. Avatar
    Daniel F.

    bold. you gave the fultco turnout a lot of credit there. (or lack thereof, i’m unsure)
    either way, i’m glad you were seemingly incorrect. 🙂

  15. Amy Morton Avatar
    Amy Morton

    54 votes made the difference in Yasmin’s race. OMG! Not me! A whole team came together to support both these women. We were able to bring women and democratic allies to the table in substantive ways. The money that was raised right here on this blog paid for a live GOTV call to SD’s in the district, flushing voters to the polls. It’s been a very good night. Thanks, ya’ll!

  16. JMPrince Avatar
    JMPrince

    Gator Deal takes the GOP primary, and we get Newt to campaign with him too! Oh the joy. In other news, the longest serving GOP US Senator ever, Ted Stevens died in a plane crash today. There were some survivors. More details here:

    talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2010/08/former_alaska_sen_ted_stevens_dies_in_plane_crash_1.php?ref=fpa

    A Life in Pics here:
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/10/ted-stevens-dead-looking_n_677485.html#s125000

    For the full BEA analysis of of Personal Income for Metro Areas, 2009, see the PDF here & their nifty graphic behind the suckage: bea.gov/newsreleases/regional/mpi/2010/pdf/mpi0810.pdf

    JMP

  17. JMPrince Avatar
    JMPrince

    Done & Done. Neal takes it in HD75. And the crafty gator is still chomping up on the rattler over there too. But as close as predicted also. JMP

  18. JMPrince Avatar
    JMPrince

    Yeah, I hear ya, but I’m also wondering about their totals. On the SoS side, they had a healthy turnout evidently. JMP

  19. Juliana Avatar
    Juliana

    @JMP As my wise friend Catherine said about HD75.. “two words, Clayton County”

  20. Mel Avatar
    Mel

    Looks like Yasmin and Dar’shun will both prevail. I’m crediting Amy Morton for both.

  21. JMPrince Avatar
    JMPrince

    As usual, we get taken in by meaningless stats. 66% of total precincts, and YN is still up in HD75 with 66% of Precincts in @ 54%, but always closer than imagined. In other news, the gator is still winning over the rattler on the other side. JMP

  22. JMPrince Avatar
    JMPrince

    OK, so perhaps I’m not understanding the HD75 results. It says 11 of 11 precincts voting today are in but none of the early/advanced voting is. I’m not sure how likely that is, or even if that’s likely to be 33% of the total. If it was, that would be pretty remarkable, but who knows? I’m not sure how Clayton handles their numbers here. Some fold them into the precincts on voting day, but I’m thinking that 625 for total votes so far sounds a bit low. JMP

  23. JMPrince Avatar
    JMPrince

    And just because it’s an open thread & there’s this bit of ‘biz’ news that mostly was missed:

    http://www.ajc.com/business/atlanta-incomes-sliced-in-588320.html

    “Aug. 10–More proof of how painful it has been: Per capita income in metro Atlanta last year fell nearly three times as much as the U.S. average.

    Government data released Monday shows income falling in most American metro areas in 2009, with Atlanta down 4.8 percent –a loss of nearly a dollar in each $20.

    Nationally, personal income slid 1.8 percent in 2009, according to the report by the Bureau of Economic Analysis.”

    JMP

  24. JMPrince Avatar
    JMPrince

    That remark should be in reference to the HD75 race. And here’s some remembrance of things past just for the geezers here. On Newt & ‘relationships’, etc… & how All the rules Never quite apply to the likes of him:

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/10/newt-gingrichs-ex-wife-go_n_676834.html

    JMP

  25. Jason Chitwood Avatar
    Jason Chitwood

    I want to be the first to call this race for Handel. It is 9:45 pm and she is down 50.6 to 49.3 and needs to make up 7000 votes, but I don’t think this is a bold call.

    Most of the substantial counties are in, but Fulton is only at 25% reporting. Handel has already picked up 14,000 votes in Fulton. She will pick up another 30,000+ before Fulton is in. Stick a fork in Deal.

  26. JMPrince Avatar
    JMPrince

    That race still’s got plenty to play out though. Presently it’s only 33% in. Ole crafty Nathan D’s squeaking it out at the top for the Rethugs though.

  27. Mel Avatar
    Mel

    And nice to see Joan Garner winning in Fulton. Whew.

  28. Matt Avatar
    Matt

    Nice to see Shawn James’ DINO ass losing.

  29. Jason Avatar
    Jason

    my ID wasn’t scanned. How odd! That Sinkfield mailer and Buckner’s hysterical reaction was classic. I wonder which pols denied they’d endorsed Sinkfield? The returns so far don’t bode well for Gail…especially when DeKalb comes back in.

  30. Drew Avatar
    Drew

    Well, I voted. So go me. I got a Sinkfield Mailer with Jim Martin on the back, hopefully that goodwill will outdo Buckner’s alphabetic superiority.

    Did anyone else notice that they were scanning IDs rather than (or in addition to) checking your sign-in form? The poll worker told me that it was a “just a test.”. Seems like it might be a good way to speed up the process.

  31. Joseph G Avatar
    Joseph G

    I voted at 5:30pm & was #78 in my precinct today.

  32. Amy Morton Avatar
    Amy Morton

    Yes, getting voters to the polls today has been a knock and beg operation.

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