Top Items:
Adam Nagourney / New York Times:
For Democrats, Even a Gain May Feel Like a Failure — In most midterm elections, an out-of-power party picking up, say, 14 seats in the House and five seats in the Senate could call it a pretty good night. — But for Democrats in 2006, that showing would mean coming up one seat shy of taking control of both the Senate and the House.
Discussion:
Captain's Quarters, TalkLeft, Power Line, Outside The Beltway, Townhall.com Blog's …, Riehl World View, Blue Crab Boulevard, Wonkette, JustOneMinute, NewsBusters.org, Daily Kos, The Strata-Sphere, Confederate Yankee, Shakespeare's Sister, Attytood, State of the Day, TigerHawk, Demagogue, All Headline News, Althouse and Tim Blair
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Washington Post:
Angry Campaigns End on an Angrier Note — Iraq War Remains Paramount Issue as Voters Go to Polls — As the 2006 campaign staggered to an angry close, national security and the Iraq war dominated the final-day debate of midterm elections in which national themes, not simply local choices, have framed the most competitive races.
Washington Post:
It's a Candidate Calling. Again. — Republicans Deny Subterfuge as Phone Barrages Anger Voters — This year's heavy volume of automated political phone calls has infuriated countless voters and triggered sharp complaints from Democrats, who say the Republican Party has crossed the line …
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New York Times:
Repeat Calls Spur a Debate Over Tactics — Karyn Hollis, an English professor at Villanova University outside Philadelphia, said the same computerized calls had been ringing her telephone as often as five times a day for more than a week. — They all start with a simple, if somewhat ambiguous …
Michael Kinsley / Slate:
Pelosi's Platform — HOW THE DEMOCRATS COULD GOVERN IF THEY WIN THE HOUSE. — What will a Democratic House of Representatives under Speaker Nancy Pelosi be like? The Republicans have been painting an unattractive portrait of Democrats roasting young children on a spit in the Capitol rotunda and whatnot.
Discussion:
Blue Crab Boulevard
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Mark Steyn / Chicago Sun Times:
Election season is bad time for slip of the quip — My face time with John Kerry has been brief but choice. In 2003, I was at a campaign event in New Hampshire chatting with two old coots in plaid. The senator approached and stopped in front of us. The etiquette in primary season …
Amy Schatz / Wall Street Journal:
Exit-Poll Secrecy Measures Aim to Plug Leaks to Blogs — Two-by-two, polling specialists from ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox News and the Associated Press will go into rooms in New York and Washington shortly before noon Tuesday. Their cellphones and BlackBerrys will be confiscated …
David A. Lieb / Associated Press:
AP Exclusive: Election chief concerned about voter confusion — JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - Secretary of State Robin Carnahan raised concerns about potential voter confusion in Tuesday's elections, citing her own experience casting an absentee ballot as an indication that some poll workers may wrongly …
Lvdem / www.keystonepolitics.com:
Re: Santorum Poll Released by Indicted Republican Operative — This poll raised a variety of concerns when it showed up in my mailbox this morning. See below: — What is a very likely voter? I've never seen that term in a poll before. I've seen likely voter, registered voter and eligible voter …
Arthur C. Brooks / Opinion Journal:
The True Ideological Battle — Will today really be the dawn of a new day for the left? — In their 2004 book, "The Right Nation," John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge chronicle America's rightward tilt. "If American politics is a seesaw, it is an unevenly balanced one.
Discussion:
Blue Crab Boulevard
Damien Cave / New York Times:
N.Y. Plans to Make Gender Personal Choice — Separating anatomy from what it means to be a man or a woman, New York City is moving forward with a plan to let people alter the sex on their birth certificate even if they have not had sex-change surgery. — Under the rule being considered …
Bryan Caplan / Cato Unbound:
THE MYTH OF THE RATIONAL VOTER — There's an election tomorrow. Do voters know what they're doing? According to the typical economist — and many political scientists — the answer is "No, but it doesn't matter." How could it not matter? The main argument is that the public's errors cancel out.
Discussion:
Democracy in America, Outside The Beltway, Matthew Yglesias, Marginal Revolution, EconLog, Reason Magazine and CorrenteWire
N.C. Aizenman / Washington Post:
Ortega Set To Reclaim Nicaraguan Presidency — Daniel Ortega, the former Marxist president and nemesis of President Ronald Reagan, appears to have won back Nicaragua's top job. — With 62 percent of precincts reporting, Ortega was comfortably leading the field of five presidential contenders …
Discussion:
The Reaction
Los Angeles Times:
Don't abort precedence — The Supreme Court has already ruled that abortion restrictions without exceptions for women's health are unconstitutional. It should do so again. — ON WEDNESDAY, while pundits will be busy analyzing election results, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments …
Times of London:
A vote to send tremors around the world — America's midterm elections have enormous global implications for the War on Terror and climate change — THE PARADOX of American democracy and especially of these midterm elections: both are local, even provincial.
Discussion:
Sisyphus