Welcome to Live Election Day Blogging from Red Rurl Central Missouri as we track our quest to put incumbent Jim(no)Talent on the wingnut welfare circuit!
Tonight I'll be covering the Senate race but also two ballot initiatives that
should have some relationship to the voting patterns in the Senate race. Crack out the snacks and liquid beverages. Given the polling in this race, it's gonna be a loooooong night.
To see more liveblogging diaries, see
HERE.
UPDATE 1:40 CST Latest results posted. Networks have called it, (no)Talent has conceeded. Good night!
MO-SEN - 92% reporting |
Jim Talent (R) |
931,491 |
47.6% |
Claire McCaskill (D) |
963,236 |
49.2% |
Stem Cell Ballot Initiative - 92% reporting |
For |
956,354 |
50.4% |
Against |
942,552 |
49.6% |
Minimum Wage Ballot Initiative - 92% reporting |
For |
1,417,830 |
75.4% |
Against |
462,508 |
24.6% |
A couple of points to ponder as we track election results this evening:
1) How "red" has Missouri become? Traditionally a bellweather state, in many ways, Missouri voters have decidely tilted red during the last ten years. Or is this the result of a lackluster Democratic operation in the state?
2) Will the ballot initiatives (Stem Cell Research and Raising the Minimum Wage), widely seen as being a spur to Democratic turnout, in fact translate into votes for Claire? In a pre-election analysis, Survey USA said the following: "There is a complex, symbiotic relationship in Missouri between the U.S. Senate race and Amendment 2, on stem-cell research. It is difficult to separate cause and effect. If you examine SurveyUSA's tracking graphs on the Senate contest, you will see little movement among Democrats and little movement among Republicans. But among Independents, the lead has changed hands 4 times in 5 polls."
3) Will there be any election controversy? Not anything ala hacked Diebold machines but good old fashioned voter supression by illegally requiring a photo ID (that law was struck down by the Missouri Supreme Court), inadequate numbers of voting machines, etc. The last time there was a Senate race of this import, 2000 when the late Mel Carnahan ran against then-incumbent John Ashcroft, there were problem in St Louis, the result of which was the polls were left open for an hour after their scheduled closing time. Some attributed this late voting time to the surge that put Carnahan over the top. And the results were not challenged. Should something like that occur again, expect the challenges to come fast and furious, particularly if Senate control hangs in the balance.