UPDATE 2: The President nominates Robert Gates, former CIA director and current president of Texas A&M to replace Rumsfeld. The confirmation hearings are sure to be a spectacle.
10:34 PM: That's it for me. There's probably not must suspense left. Although MT & MO are still outstanding, it looks like both will go Dem. The Dems wanted to lead, and now the Congress is their baby. Let's see if they can do it.
One sight that none of us will enjoy - seeing Nancy Pelosi sitting behind the President during the State of the Union Address. She'll probably look something like this:
Thanks for hanging in there tonight. I'll get back to regular blogging in the morning.
10:27 PM: Former governor Jerry "Moonbeam" Brown wins election as CA Attorney General. It's a good day for crooks in CA, and terrorists worldwide.
10:20 PM: What's next? There's much speculation that this election will be the end of Donald Rumsfeld. I wouldn't be surprised if he "resigned" within a few weeks, though who in the world would want that job given the bloodbath that the confirmation hearings would be. And will one of the older Dem members of the Supreme Court feel comfortable resigning now with the Dems in control of the Senate? There's no way a conservative like Roberts or Alito could be confirmed. Something to think about.
10:17 PM: Hey, John, since it's already tomorrow in Australia, can you tell how this whole thing turned out?
10:03 PM: McCaskill has pulled ahead of Talent in MO. A Dem Senate is looking more likely. Goodbye decent judges.
10:00 PM: Rich Lowry made a good point on Fox News. After this election both parties in Congress will be more conservative. The GOP lost a bunch of moderate to liberal members, and the Dems gained a bunch of moderate to conservative members. It could be a good thing overall.
9:55 PM: The vote counts in CA are still early, but so far some of the most onerous ballot propositions are failing, including the misleading cigarette tax initiative (Prop 86) and the equally misleading $4 billion tax on California oil (Prop 87 which was promoted by Al Gore and Bill Clinton). Prop 85, the parental notification prior to teen abortion law, is also failing. Prop 83, so-called Jessica's Law, which will greatly restrict where registered sex offenders can live and the kind of monitoring they will have, is winning big.
9:39 PM: Allen campaign has called Fox News and complained that they've transposed the vote totals and that Allen actually has the lead. Apparently in at least one county, the local registrar of voters has closed up shop and gone home without finishing the vote count. Unbelievable.
9:34 PM: The GOP in MO is worried. Talent is leading, but the big Dem votes in St. Louis and Kansas City have not come in (they're still creating new Dem votes - they have to wait and see just how many they'll need). If MO and MT go to the Dems, control of the Senate will depend on the recount in VA. It could be FL 2000 all over again.
9:32 PM: It looks like the GOP won't win either of the GA House seats, which means that no Dem incumbent in the House will be defeated. That's what happened for the GOP in 1994.
9:29 PM: Corker wins TN. Dems have to run the table with VA, MT and MO to take the Senate. They just might do it.
9:25 PM: The abortion ban in South Dakota was defeated. I'm not sure how close it was.
9:21 PM: A third gay marriage ban has passed in WI. You can add that one to VA and TN.
9:18 PM: Cardin is back ahead in MD. I think the original call was probably correct. Burns is trailing in MT and may well lose that one. Talent still ahead in MO. Corker will probably win TN. Looks like Barack Obama won't get any new black senator friends after all (he wanted Ford but didn't want Steele).
9:15 PM: 100% of the vote in in VA and Webb still holds a slight lead. I don't know if there are still absentee votes out there that could shift the results. No matter what, there will be a recount.
9:10 PM: It looks like the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative (which outlaws racial preferences) will pass.
9:06 PM: J.D. Hayworth loses in Arizona. That's too bad - he's a good spokesman for the GOP. Meanwhile, Minnesota has elected a former member of the Nation of Islam to the House. That's not a good tradeoff.
9:00 PM: Webb has pulled ahead by 3,000 votes in the VA Senate race with 99% counted. Michael Barone called that one. Legal challenges and a recount are coming in that one.
8:51 PM: The election is shaping up as a standard "6 year itch" election in which the party in the White House can expect to lose on average 31 House seats and 8 Senate seats. The GOP will do a lot better in the Senate, but the House may end up near the average.
8:41 PM: President Bush will hold a press conference tomorrow during which he'll probably try to create a bridge to the Dems. Good luck with that.
8:33 PM: Hello John from Scotwise. I assume that's you checking in from the land down under.
8:28 PM: A lot of these new Dem house members are pretty conservative. They may vote for Pelosi for Speaker (just to get along), but will they back the Dems more radical agenda. Probably not. With 48% of the vote in, Michael Steele is still up 50-48. Meanwhile, VA is down to a 7,000 vote lead for Allen. That one's going to be a real squeaker.
8:18 PM: Fox projects Dems win control of the House with the 15th pickup, though there are still 3 Dems seats that could switch before the night's over. Here are your new House leaders.
8:15 PM: Jon Kyle holds the AZ Senate seat for the GOP.
8:11 PM: Washington Post withdraws their projection that Michael Steele has lost in MD. In looking at the raw vote, I don't think it's a sure thing that the Dems will keep that seat. The Steele campaign is refusing to concede, and possibly rightly so.
8:08 PM: It looks like the House is pretty much gone. Hello Speaker Pelosi. The next two years will be full of investigations, subpoenas and all kinds of nonsense.
8:03 PM: That didn't take long. CA closed 3 minutes ago and they've already called Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger as the winner. I hope he's got some coattails, especially in the Lt. Governor's race.
8:00 PM: John Ensign beats Jimmuh Carter's kid in the NV Senate race. Dems have now picked up 13 House seats.
7:49 PM: Michael Barone thinks the VA Senate race could look a lot like Florida in 2000 with Allen's lead shrinking down to nearly nothing and a recount and legal challenges to follow. Yuck.
7:46 PM: The GOP has a shot at two Dem House seats in GA. Both GOP challengers are up 52-48 with about 60% of the vote in.
7:43 PM: Joe Lieberman gives his victory speech. The lefties are already savaging each other over that one. I wonder how glad Ned Lamont is that his victory night photos (in the primary) included Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton.
7:18 PM: I'm feeling pretty good about holding Senates seats in TN, MO and VA, though it's really close in VA. I think the Senate will stay in GOP control. According to Hugh Hewitt's site, the NRCC is projecting that the GOP will still have a 3 seat advantage in the House by the time the night's over. If that happens, it would have to be considered a major victory.
7:16 PM: Dems now up 8 in the House, need 7 to control.
7:12 PM: Curt Weldon loses in PA - another Dem pickup in the House.
7:08 PM: 90% of vote is in in VA with Allen still up by 30,000. Talent ahead with only 11% in in MO. Corker still running strong in TN. Dems pick up another House seat for a total of 5.
7:06 PM: Dems have now picked up 4 seats with a pickup in CT.
6:55 PM: Charley Crist will hold the FL governor's mansion for the GOP, replacing Jeb Bush.
6:43 PM: Bob Erlich loses governor race in MD. A Dem pickup.
6:30 PM: Whitehouse beats Chafee in RI. Another Dem pickup, though not unexpected.
6:28 PM: Dems have picked up 3 House seats so far with more to come.
6:24 PM: Fox announces that they will not use exit polling information the remainder of the night due to a 6-8 point bias toward Dems. Imagine my surprise.
6:21 PM: Fox projects Cardin wins in MD over Michael Steele. That's bad news. It certainly makes it easier for the Dems to take the Senate.
6:14 PM: Lieberman wins in CT. Nutroots commence committing suicide.
6:11 PM: Governor races: Kinky Friedman loses in TX. No surprise, but it was an entertaining campaign. Ken Blackwell loses in Ohio. Too bad - he seemed like a pretty good guy.
6:04 PM: Empty Suit Bob Casey defeats Rick Santorum in PA. So far everything has gone pretty much as I predicted.
6:00 PM: Menedez has been called in NJ, Brown in Ohio, and Klobuchar in MN. Two are keepers for the Dems, and one's a pickup. I still think Menendez won't survive 6 years without a big scandal.
5:56 PM: Aaaand, we're back. Had to get the family some dinner, but I'm here for the duration now. Let me catch up on what's happened in the last hour.
4:48 PM: You can check here for all election calls made by CNN. It's a good reference site.
4:38 PM: OK folks, here we go. I just got back from the polling place and had no problem with the electronic voting machines, unlike Democrats in many parts of the country.
The early exit polls look just like we expected with big Dem leads across the board, way outside the late pre-election polls. That can't be correct.
Not many calls at this point - just the races that weren't close to begin with. I'm hearing that the marriage amendment in Virginia passed, which is good news for the GOP. Those things tend to bring out Republican voters.
I'll keep updating this post as the night goes on, with the newest information at the top.
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