Ted "the felon" Stevens' Lead Shrinks to 971 Votes, With Many Yet to be Counted

By GottaLaff

UPDATE: BEGICH AHEAD BY 3. Here's a link to another site reporting the same thing.

US SENATOR
		Total
Number of Precincts		438
Precincts Reporting		438	100.0 %
Times Counted		267941/495731	54.0 %
Total Votes		264655
Begich, Mark	DEM	125019	47.24%
Bird, Bob	AI	10913	4.12%
Gianoutsos, Ted	NA	1076	0.41%
Haase, Fredrick D.	LIB	1961	0.74%
Stevens, Ted	REP	125016	47.24%
Write-in Votes		670	0.25%

H/t: Commenters and Atrios

From Nate the Great at Five Thirty Eight, who tells it straight, which is a nice trait:

The state of Alaska is now reporting that Ted Stevens has 118,602 votes to Mark Begich's 117,631, a gap of 971 ballots. This incorporates 28,519 ballots which have been counted since this morning. [...]

[T]here are still plenty of votes remaining to be counted, and Begich is making up ground at a sufficient pace that he appears more likely than not to surpass Stevens.

A significant number of additional votes will be counted before close of business today, although approximately 8 of Alaska's 40 house districts won't finalize their counting process until Friday at the earliest. The areas that will report late consist mostly of rural, Begich-friendly districts (contrary to our earlier reporting, Begich performed quite well in rural Alaska; his weaknesses were in the Anchorage Suburbs and the Mat-Su Valley).

Well, mush, already! We're getting antsy down here in the "lower 48".

GOP "Death List" Predicts Democratic Blowout in the House

I'm almost feeling sorry for them, almost. Click on the link to read about some of the victims.

Voter displeasure with the war and economy, coupled with Sen. Barack Obama's popularity, has the House GOP running for cover. Even though polls have shown that Americans don't like congressional Democrats any more, a new internal GOP tally of House races suggests a Democratic route that could keep the Republicans in the minority for decades. A document provided to Washington Whispers from a House GOP official shows that they could lose a net 34 seats. That means the Democrats would have a 270-165 advantage in the 111th Congress. In the Senate, Republicans expect to lose also but to keep up to 44 seats, ensuring their ability to stage a filibuster.

VIDEO: Most touching campaign ad ever

By GottaLaff


That's two videos in a row that made me cry. This one ripped my heart in two, especially :25-:27.

Tom Udall (D-NM) is running for Senate.

Democrats Ahead in Key GOP Districts

Sweet dreams. Via Taegan.

The latest Democracy Corps survey of the competitive battleground House districts "reveals an intensely angry electorate, even more sour on Republicans who have not distanced themselves enough from Bush and are now at risk even at the edge of the current map of competitive congressional seats."

"Democratic candidates are now ahead by 4 points in the 40 most vulnerable Republican seats, even in the bottom tier. A near majority of 48% in these Republican seats say they 'can't vote to re-elect' their Republican incumbent, while Democrats are ahead in the open seats."

2010: Arlen Specter v. Chris Matthews

By GottaLaff

Senator Tweety?

You may think it's early, but already, PA is looking at an Arlen Spector(R) - Chris Matthews(D) match-up in 2010.

Quinnipiac took it seriously enough to poll it, and this is what they found:

	All	Dem	Rep	Ind	Men	Women
Specter	41	24	63	44	46	36
Matthews	36	56	16	27	31	41

In other demographics, Matthews wins in the Allegheny and Philly regions, and breaks even in Southwest Pennsylvania. All this, and more than 50% of every demographic claims they don't know enough about Chris to make a decision.

The debates would be interesting. Tweety would never shut up, and Specter would have to stand well out of spitting distance.

Thank you, Senator Stevens: Alaska "leans Dem"

By GottaLaff

Via TPM:

CQ changes Alaska senate race rating from "toss-up" to "leans Dem."

Lieberman would be crushed today

By GottaLaff

Awww, are we crushed that Joseph Isadore Lieberman would be crushed? No.

Let me put that another way.

No.

By the way, I love the headline:

Lieberman Would Be Crushed Today

(click on images to enlarge)

A new Research 2000 poll found that if Connecticut voters could vote again in the 2006 U.S. Senate race they would have elected Ned Lamont (D) over Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I), 51% to 36%, with Alan Schlesinger (R) getting 7%.

Too little too late, but still somehow heart-warming.

Poll-itics, New Hampshire Senate Edition: Sununu in trouble

By GottaLaff

Poor Johohohohn Sunununununununu, he's being trounced by a girl:

Democrat Jeanne Shaheen has expanded her lead over incumbent John Sununu in New Hampshire's U.S. Senate race. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in the state found Shaheen ahead 53% to 39%.

Last month she was ahead by 7%. Oh, but wait, it gets better:

Any incumbent who polls below 50% is considered vulnerable. Sununu has not polled over 50% since tracking began and is in a worse position than other Republicans up for re-election. However, New Hampshire is far from the only Republican seat at risk in Election 2008. At least eight other Republican seats are potentially in play this fall, including Alaska, Oregon, New Mexico, Colorado, Mississippi, Kansas, Virginia and Kentucky. So far, just two Democratic incumbents are polling below 50%--Mary Landrieu in Louisiana and Frank Lautenberg in New Jersey.

Bad sunu-news for Republicans.

Republican chair: Don't waste money on New Mexico, Virginia Senate races

By GottaLaff

Via DemConWatch:

Senate Update - Courtesy of the NRSC

John Ensign (R-NV), chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, as in "in charge of getting them elected", has ceded the Senate races in New Mexico and Virginia.
He told the WSJ that:

“You don’t waste money on races that don’t need it or you can’t win.”

Happy Wednesday!