More Than 2,000 Election Diaries Served Since Sept. 1st
NOTE TO OUR DOWN-TICKET DIARISTS: Election Diary Rescue will continue to compile down-ticket diaries until noon on Friday of this week. This means we'd love to see and enter into the database all diaries about the great races you've been covering so faithfully this campaign season, telling us all how those turned out. Thanks for all you've been doing, and best of luck to all your candidates!
Samples of Today's 63 Diary Collection:
[ND-Sen] ND-SEN: BREAKING! Rick Berg Concedes to Heitkamp! by Adam Blomeke - Diarist heard that Rick Berg (R) called Heidi Heitkamp (D) to concede. Heitkamp's campaign, which fivethirtyeight blogger Nate Silver characterized as a sure thing for Berg, was a perfectly executed masterpiece, run by first rate professionals.
[FL-18] We're not quite rid of Allen West yet. by jrooth - On election night Patrick Murphy (D) defeated incumbent Allen West (R-BatshitCrazyville) by greater than the .5% that triggers automatic recount. But West isn't conceding and alleges voting irregularities.
[PR-Statehood] The Puerto Rico Question by Troubadour - One of the more interesting election results was the Puerto Rico passed a non-binding referendum requesting US statehood. Diarist offers info on Puerto Rico's path to statehood and examples of what our flag will look like with 51 stars.
Today's EDR covers rescued down-ticket election diaries published between noon on November 7th till noon on November 8th. This edition of Election Diary Rescue includes the following gems dug up by our miners.
Diaries: (63)
Senate: (8) posts, (4) states plus various
House: (9) posts, (4) states, (5) districts plus various
State: (3)
Ballot Initiatives: (15)
Various: (9)
General: (19)
More diaries and information about this project beneath the
Orange Squiggle of Down-Ticket Power
EDR compiles, describes and links election related diaries for down-ticket races through the closing months of election seasons. Down-ticket means any non-Presidential race.
This group was formed by the producers of a front page diary series that rescued election related diaries in 2006, 2008 and 2010. 2012 marks the first election since Daily Kos was born that there is blog devoted to election coverage - Daily Kos Elections.
Election Diary Rescue is proud to be a part of this project.
EDR chronicles the passion, power and effectiveness of political engagement and shines a light on candidates and issues that might be missed during an action-packed election cycle. It gives quick access to races, hopefully inspires people to write about contests that interest them, and has become an archive for thousands of election related diaries over the years.
The Diary List for this project, founded by sidinny, links all the rescued diaries since 2006.
Format, Tag, Schedule
Diarists can help the EDR mining team by identifying the race in the diary title, for example: (FL-14) or (GA-Gov) or (NY-Sen). Using the "Elections" tag is also helpful. New this year, you can write your first sentence or two as the synopsis you would like to see in the EDR description.
EDR's schedule for mining diaries is noon to noon. Our publishing schedule is in the evening. That means for example if you post your diary at 12:00 pm (noon) on Wednesday, we will include it in the EDR list in Thursday evening's post. If you publish your diary at 11:59 am on Thursday, it will be in the diary collection for Thursday evening as well.
Senate
[HI-Sen] Hawai'i's next Senator: The Amazing Mazie Hirono by Dave in AZ - Diarist introduces us all to Hawaii's newly elected Senator Mazie Hirono.
[ND-Sen] American Indian voters and Indian organizers gave N.D. Senate edge to Democrat Heidi Heitkamp by Meteor Blades - When Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota takes her seat in the U.S. Senate, she will owe her margin of victory to American Indians.
[ND-Sen] ND Senate: Heitkamp Wins! Native Vote Mattered! by scarletraven - Heidi Heitkamp (D) defeats Rick Berg (R), with some help.
[ND-Sen] Native Vote flipped ND Senate Seat to Dems by Voltage Spike - Heidi Heitkamp benefited in the closing days from Senator Conrad's campaigning, as well as millions of dollars that poured in to support her candidacy. Poorly polled ND was showing Berg in the lead, while one or two outliers hinted that Heitcamp might be closing in. Still, no one was quite sure.
[ND-Sen] ND-SEN: BREAKING! Rick Berg Concedes to Heitkamp! by Adam Blomeke - Diarist heard that Rick Berg (R) called Heidi Heitkamp (D) to concede. Heitkamp's campaign, which fivethirtyeight blogger Nate Silver characterized as a sure thing for Berg, was a perfectly executed masterpiece, run by first rate professionals.
[NVSen] 85,000 Nevada Obama voters did not vote for Senator by Jeff in CA - Under votes and third party votes could have caused Shelley Berkley’s (D) loss to Dean Heller (R).
[NY-Sen] Let's hear it for Kirsten Gillibrand! by AtomikNY - Even as Sen. Gillibrand has consistently stood up for liberal, progressive values in the Senate, she cobbled together a coalition of New York voters that included just about everybody except die-hard Republicans.
[Sen-Var] With new Senate picture, Reid looking at filibuster reform by Joan McCarter - This is what our "Upgrade the Senate" campaign was all about, swelling the ranks of the reformers in the caucus to make a more progressive policy agenda even a possibility, making obstruction by Republicans a difficult and painful thing.
House
[AZ-02] Arizona - It Ain't Over till the Counting's Done - Waiting on updated totals AZ-02 by biscobosco - Some say that AZ-02 (Barber vs McSally) is a done deal with Barber down by about .5 % (1300 votes or so). (update - as of 8:45 PM 11/7 Barber is down about 400 votes).
[AZ-09] Did you notice that Arizona elected an openly bisexual woman to congress last night? (UPDATED) by ThatPoshGirl - Getting to know Arizona's brand new bisexual congresscritter, Kyrsten Sinema.
[AZ-09] AZ-09: Kyrsten Sinema to become 1st openly bisexual, nontheist member of Congress??? by Brainwrap - Sinema (D) could beat Vernon Parker (R) in a close race.
[CA-07] URGENT: CA-07 Bera Leads Lungren but Votes Still Being Counted... Contribute! by Gangster Octopus - Dr. Ami Bera (D) holds a slim lead over Dan Lungren (R) with thousands of absentee and provisional ballots still to be counted.
[FL-18] Allen West: "The Thing that Wouldn't Leave!" by Oliver Tiger - Hope you didn't eat all your popcorn last night, people, because there's still one more sideshow that hasn't dropped the curtain.
[FL-18] We're not quite rid of Allen West yet. by jrooth - On election night Patrick Murphy (D) defeated incumbent Allen West (R-BatshitCrazyville) by greater than the .5% that triggers automatic recount. But West isn't conceding and alleges voting irregularities.
[NY-24] Maffei leads Buerkle! by boilerman10 - Wingers are still blowing gaskets, but Dan Maffei (D) leads Ann Marie Buerkle (R) by 14,600 votes. Unfortunately, Buerkle will not concede.
[NY-24] NY 24: Dan Maffei Defeats Beurkle, Buerkle Refuses to Concede by RadicalParrot - While the election is over for most people, the campaign rages on in New York's 24th congressional district. Because the Republican loser refuses to concede. Call the waaaambulance!
[Var-House] We 'Won' the House (PV anyway) by grubber - Diarist's research establishes that Democratic House candidates earned more votes than Republican House candidates, at least of votes that have been thus far counted. Thus the 'Popular Vote' went with Dems across the board.
State:
[CA-St. Sen] Let's hear it for Seneca Doane. by stunzeed - He ran for State Senate in California, and appears to have come up short against the incumbent. However, this is not a loss in my book. This is a Kossack who stepped up from the keyboard and put himself into the fray.
[MN-Var] Minnesota Legislature follow-up by ajwagner - Biggest Upsets in Minnesota: These are the races where neither diary predicted the correct winner. Either AndrewMN had Tossup and OGGoldy had the wrong party, or both had the wrong party.
[WA-Gov] Why Jay Inslee will win by dgb - Diarist has confidence the Jay Inslee (D) will win the Washington governor's race, which is still undecided with a margin of just ~49,000 votes between Inslee and Republican Rob McKenna.
Ballot Initiatives:
[CA-Prop 37] Prop. 37 narrowly defeated by corporate millions, deceptive ads by Dan Bacher - Fishermen, environmentalists and consumer advocates were disappointed but not surprised by yesterday's narrow defeat, 53-47, of Proposition 37, the initiative calling for the labeling of genetically engineered (GE) food in California.
[CA-Var] My referendum won by docmidwest - Seriously: my free-speech in malls referendum won 8,334 to 2,884 in Urbana. Referenda calling for overturning Citizens United also won easily in both Urbana and Champaign. Here's the official results:
[CO-Amend 64] Weed is Legal in Colorado! by Cannaman - Some details about how legal marijuana will work in Colorado.
[CO, WA Marijuana initiatives] Break out the Cheetos! by furpletron - High fives all around to Colorado and Washington voters for stepping up and making history by legalizing Marijuana!
[Marriage Equality] This is the day I've been waiting for by BoiseBlue - It is hard to overstate how much of a big fucking deal yesterday was for LGBT rights.
[Marriage Equality-Var] NOM's odious political director Frank Schubert is butt-hurt over marriage equality by Steveningen - Right wing reaction to the success of marriage equality proposals.
[Marriage Equality] Maryland, Maine, Minnesota and Washington bring joy to supporters of marriage equality by Meteor Blades - Four states from coast to coast delivered a body slam to the advocates of bigotry Tuesday, legalizing marriage equality in two states, making it likely in third and, in a fourth, knocking down another attempt to make marriage a matter only between a man and a woman.
[MI-Prop 1] An Open Letter To The Republicans In Lansing by Hoi Polloi - Diarist explains to Rick Snyder and his Republican cohorts in the state capitol that the voters rejected his Emergency Dictator... er, Manager law and do not want another one.
[MT-166] Good news from Big Sky Country by KTinOhio - Montana Initiative 166, which strikes down the wrongheaded notion of "corporate personhood" and prohibits corporate campaign contributions in the state, is leading 63-37 and is all but certain to pass.
[PR-Statehood] About Puerto Rico's "pro-statehood" vote by vawolf - As a Puerto Rican, I think there's some confusion about what happened in Puerto Rico last night and what it means. Did Puerto Ricans actually vote for statehood last night? Short answer, in my opinion, is 'no'. For the long answer, make the jump.
[PR-Statehood] HUGE NEWS - PUERTO RICO VOTED TO BE A STATE! by cdub24 - Puerto Rico voted to become a state on Tuesday for the first time in its 114 years as a United States territory. Any application for statehood will need to be approved by Congress, which has never denied a petition for statehood.
[PR-Statehood] Will Puerto Rico Be The 51st State? by Rimjob - The current 50 star United States flag has been in use for 52 years, 4 months, and 4 days since the admittance of Hawaii to the Union. There was a vote last night that may add a 51st star to the American flag.
[PR-Statehood] The Puerto Rico Question by Troubadour - One of the more interesting election results was the Puerto Rico passed a non-binding referendum requesting US statehood. Diarist offers info on Puerto Rico's path to statehood and examples of what our flag will look like with 51 stars.
[WA-74] Marriage Equality called for Washington State by Steveningen - Via press release, Washington United for Marriage has determined that Washington has handed a victory to equality.
[WA-74] Washington United for Marriage declares victory by thezzyzx - I'll admit that I've spent way too much time today running the numbers myself and trying to find a way where they don't work. I'm pretty confident but due to Washington's all mail vote system, I won't feel 100% until 4:30 today when many counties (including Seattle's King) drop updated results that have the ballots that arrived today.
Various:
[AK-Var] AK-34 and the AK update--Major Upset in the Works? by akmk - Alaska's still counting votes too, so here's the latest in the district 34 race and the state legislature races - hint: there's been a shakeup.
[AZ-Var] Key AZ outcomes still in doubt by manyamile - Hold your horses, it is not over in Arizona for some key races, including the Barber /McSally congressional race and Carmona /Flake senatorial race, and possibly the Arpaio/Penzone race. Perchance we mourned too soon.
[AZ-Var] More than 600,000 AZ votes NOT counted by ThatPoshGirl - The Arizona Secretary of State's office reports that over 600,000 ballots have not been counted.
[MO-Var] White power and Missouri politics by rhartmann52 - The arithmetic message of the 2012 elections in Missouri is that it's a solidly white state. Democrats were elected to statewide office and Governor Jay Nixon won by 12.1 percent, even while being on the same ballot as Obama - who lost MO worse than he lost GA.
[NH-Var] New Hampshire Union Members Celebrate Enormous Electoral Wins by NH LABOR NEWS - In New Hampshire many of the union locals banded together to defeat Ovide 'Scott Walker on Steroids' Lamontagne (R) in electing Maggie Hassan (D) as the next Governor.
[Var] The Country Moved to the Left Last Night by Aaron Krager - Yes, the country voted clearly to give Barack Obama another four years in the White House. He received more than 50 percent of the vote and won handily in the electoral college. Yet, it is what happened down the ballot that shows the nation's move toward progressive values.
[Var] A decisive victory in New England by birdboy2000 - Barack Obama carried all 33 of New England's electoral votes. At the senate level, Democrats won races in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. Bernie Sanders, a socialist independent who caucuses with the Democrats, won Vermont. And Angus King, a more moderate independent who is widely seen (including by those pumping money into that race) as closer to Democrats than Republicans won Maine's senate seat. New Hampshire did not vote this cycle.
[Var] Orange to Blue roundup, final edition by Joan McCarter - The final report on how our Orange to Blue candidates and issues fared in the election.
[WI-Var] Yeah! (Yikes) Booyah! (Sigh) Wisconsins Mixed Bag of Elections Results. I Have a Glad and a Sad by Puddytat - We celebrate the national successes we had in coming in for the President and in defeating TeaBag Tommy Thompson to send a real Progressive Democrat, Tammy Baldwin, to the US Senate. We worked our butts off and I thank Daily Kos for putting the Baldwin campaign on their list of priorities.
General:
A Few (Thank God) Final Thoughts About the Election by Floyd Elliot - A nice list of who the big winners were on Tuesday night.
America's Beating Heart by GrannyRedBird - A behind the scenes look at the work involved in running a polling location.
Analyzing the Massachusetts Election by Participatory Democracy and Public Education - A look at some of the trends in Massachusetts Federal and local elections.
Civics class at the polling place: Basic stuff some voters didn't know by gloriasb - A poll worker details several incidents from Election Day that suggest civics classes need to be re-instituted in American schools, and possibly via a nationwide ad campaign aimed at adults, too.
Flushing Rush, the patriarch of the pariah party by Richard Myers - If Republicans don't stand up to Rush he will continue to pull them down with him as evidenced in several election races.
How to Repair the Voting System: Sec. Debra Bowen's Answer by barath - Diarist has a post up about how to make election day run more smoothly.
I Ran and Lost and You Should Too by hazzcon - Diarist extols the virtues of running for office in this country. Maybe we're ready to step up and put our political expertise and policy goals into practice!
Maria's List Victories by Participatory Democracy and Public Education - Tuesday was very nearly a clean sweep for candidates on Maria's List. Now we need to put those victorious candidates to work on our issues.
Mesozoic Madness! Massive Post-Election Dinosaur Extinction Underway! by cassandracarolina - Humorous post-mortem on the election, in dino-terms.
No, we're determined to stop you. by thereisnospoon - David Atkins expounds a bit on Republican's "small government principles" and how those guarantee future marginalization no matter how the GOP tries to frame its 'new' self.
The Tea Party Glass Ceiling by The Stig - Diarist posits interesting evidence of a Tea Party glass ceiling.
They're Going For a Florida Recount. by sponson - Miami-Dade election workers are still hand-counting ballots. The reason is explained.
They (still) haven't called Florida. But we've won. by Arctic Belle - By now you're probably wondering why Florida hasn't been called with 100% of the vote now in. An explanation of what's actually going on to slow things down.
Vote of No-Confidence: My election day experience in Virginia by Eric Lotke - A poll worker from Fairfax describes the election day 2012 experience with the black box voting machines at his precinct poll.
We'll Get the House Back in 2014 by Grandma Susie - For starters, we need filibuster reform in the Senate so the people's business can get done with a simple majority of 50 votes. Then, we need to push the Democrats to put together a progressive agenda, pass it in the Senate and send it to the House. When the House starts voting against these bills, we hold them accountable and replace them with better members in 2014. We then pick up our bills, pass them through the House and Senate, and have President Obama sign them.
We Should Get Ahead of the Demographic Shift by Zarate - One of the most compelling stories of the 2012 election will be the demographic time bomb that went off in Republican faces. Dems need to get out in front of them before they adjust.
Whacko Electioneering in Montana by HugoTilapia - Diarist has a post up about an election judge and his truck with a message on it.
Whither OFA? by zenbassoon - So what do we do now with the great OFA 'machine' that shocked the britches off Republicans this cycle. Diarist has some good suggestions.
Why the GOP Will Double Down on a Losing Strategy by teacherken - Diarist offers an eye-opening piece by Michael Grunwald of Time Magazine. Grunwald isn't convinced the Republican Party wants to change.
* A big THANKS! to all our dedicated EDR volunteers (in alphabetical order): Alma, eeff, Joieau, nomandates, Oke, randallt, restondem, Spedwybabs, Sylv, TruthOfAngels and turbonerd.
EDR has rescued 2,002 Election Diaries since September 1, 2012.
Archive links: Election Diary Rescue 2012 - Daily Diaries
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