memeorandum: HOFFMAN CLOSING ON OWENS (Watertown Daily Times)

9:20 AM ET, November 4, 2009

Top Items:

HOFFMAN CLOSING ON OWENS — Democrat ahead of Conservative by 2,512 votes — Democrat Bill Owens is leading in the 23rd Congressional District race. — The Plattsburgh attorney has 50,884 votes compared to Conservative Doug Hoffman, a Lake Placid CPA, with 47,166 votes.

Discussion: DaTechguy's Blog, The Daily Politics, PoliBlog, Open Left, JOSHUAPUNDIT, the albany project, Riehl World View, Swampland, Gateway Pundit, Stop The ACLU, Talking Points Memo and The Other McCain

David Weigel / The Washington Independent:

NY-23: Watertown Mayor: 'It's Over' — SARANAC LAKE, N.Y. - I caught Watertown, N.Y., Mayor Jeff Graham, who endorsed NY-23 Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman this weekend, looking very glum at Hoffman's election party. I asked him what happened in Jefferson County, where Watertown is located …

Discussion: Hot Air, Watertown Daily Times, The Daily Politics, The Hill, AMERICAblog News, DownWithTyranny! and Taegan Goddard's …

Alexander Burns / The Politico:

GOP sweeps gov races; Dem wins NY — Republican gubernatorial candidates racked up major wins for the GOP in Virginia and New Jersey Tuesday night as Democrats scored a single victory in a special congressional election in upstate New York. — Former Virginia Attorney General Bob McDonnell …

Discussion: The Sarah Palin Blog, CNN, Clusterstock, Left Coast Rebel, The Nation, And So it Goes in Shreveport, The Reaction, Taylor Marsh and JOSHUAPUNDIT

Erick Erickson / Erick's blog:

In NY-23, Conservatives Win — The race has now been called for Democrat Bill Owens. — This is a huge win for conservatives. — “Whaaaa. . . ?” you say. — There are two big victories at work in New York's 23rd Congressional District. — First, the GOP now must recognize …

Discussion: Washington Wire, Washington Monthly, TBogg, Pajamas Media, Comments from Left Field, Sadly, No!, thedanashow.wordpress.com, WSYR-TV, American Spectator, Flopping Aces, Whiskey Fire, MyDD, Dump Dede, RedState, Big Government, The Daily Dish and Campaign Trail

Tom Bevan / Real Clear Politics:

Election Night Live Blog — Comment and analysis on tonight's elections in Virginia, New Jersey, and New York: — 12:02 — FOX declares the race for Owens. With 71% in, Maine looks to be overriding the legislature's decision to allow gay marriage in the state, though it's still too close to call.

Discussion: Swing State Project, Blue Virginia, The Strata-Sphere, Power Line, The Atlantic Politics Channel and Politics Nation

Jeremy W. Peters / New York Times:

Conservative Loses Upstate House Race in Blow to Right — SARANAC LAKE, N.Y. — Democrats won a special election in New York State's northernmost Congressional district Tuesday, a setback for national conservatives who heavily promoted a third candidate in what became an intense debate over the direction of the Republican Party.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, JammieWearingFool, American Street, Liberal Values and American Power

Robert Stacy McCain / The Other McCain:

NY23 Election Results HQ; UPDATE: Team Hoffman predicts ‘close’ victory; UPDATE II: Numbers in the war room; UPDATE III: HOFFMAN CONCEDES — 12:35 a.m. WED. 12/4: “This one was worth the fight,” Doug Hoffman said in his concession speech. “This is only one fight in the battle.”

Discussion: HorseRaceBlog, Michelle Malkin, Ben Smith's Blog, CANNONFIRE, TPM LiveWire, Swampland, Daily Pundit, Nice Deb and Conservatives4Palin.com

David Weigel / The Washington Independent:

NY-23: [UPDATE] Hoffman Accuses Democrats of ‘Stealing the Election’ — PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. — At a short press availability in his campaign office here, NY-23 Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman said that a GOTV volunteer's tires had been slashed, and all but blamed Democrats for the dirty trick.

Discussion: Erick's blog, Washington Wire, Runnin' Scared, MyDD, Crooks and Liars, Daily Kos, The Moderate Voice, New York Magazine, TBogg and Hullabaloo

Elizabeth Benjamin / The Daily Politics:
Police Called To NY-23 Polling Sites (Updated)

Discussion: The Huffington Post, The Other McCain, Crooks and Liars, Nice Deb, The Washington Independent and Wonkette

Michael Patrick Leahy / TCOT REPORT 2009©: Hoffman Barnstorms NY 23 in Plane

Josh Kraushaar / The Politico:
Owens preserves bright spot for Dems

Discussion: The Other McCain

Valerie Bauman / Associated Press:
Democrat wins House seat in heavily GOP area in NY

Discussion: Outside The Beltway and The Powers That Be

New York Times:

G.O.P. Wins Two Key Governors' Races; Bloomberg Prevails in a Close Contest — Republicans swept contests for governor in New Jersey and Virginia on Tuesday as voters went to the polls filled with economic uncertainty, dealing President Obama a setback and building momentum …

Discussion: Think Progress, Bloomberg, The Hill, City Room, Guardian, Los Angeles Times, QandO, The Confluence, Prairie Weather, Libertarianism, from A to Z, Harry's Place, Truthdig and marbury

Glenn Harlan Reynolds / New York Post:

The Obama magic has faded — All politics is local, they say, and Tuesday's off-off-year elections certainly had their local angles. Jon Corzine has been a terrible governor even by the undemanding standards of terribly governed New Jersey. Creigh Deeds, though he looked …

Discussion: Hot Air, Michelle Malkin, Runnin' Scared, Betsy's Page, QandO and Pundit & Pundette

Dan Balz / Washington Post:

Gubernatorial contests serve as warning to Democrats — Off-year elections can be notoriously unreliable as predictors of the future, but as a window on how the political landscape may have changed in the year since President Obama won the White House, Tuesday's Republican victories in Virginia …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Newsweek Blogs, PostPartisan, Althouse, Taylor Marsh, Commentary and New York Magazine

WCBS-TV:

Christie Gives GOP Stunning Win In N.J. — NEW YORK (CBS) ― In the end, all the stumping in the world from the President of the United States wasn't going to stop regime change in New Jersey's highest office. — Republican Chris Christie ended Democrat Jon Corzine's four-year run in Trenton with a narrow victory on Tuesday.

Discussion: The Corner on National …, Shot in the Dark, Classical Values, Wizbang, NO QUARTER, Scared Monkeys and Confederate Yankee

Gary Langer / ABCNEWS:

'09 Exit Polls: Voters Approve of Obama, Wary of Economy — McDonnell Projected to Win VA; New Jersey Polls Close, Begin Count — Vast economic discontent marked the mood of Tuesday's off-year voters, portending potential trouble for incumbents generally and Democrats in particular in 2010.

Discussion: The Fix, CNN, MyDD, Blue Virginia, Outside The Beltway, Firedoglake, Daily Kos, The Big Picture, Big Government, YID With LID, Pajamas Media and Daily Pundit

CBS News:
Exit Polls in Va. and N.J.: The Obama (Non) Factor?

Discussion: CNN, Real Numbers and Other Musings, Hot Air, The Opinionator, The Hill, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Shot in the Dark, Don Surber and Taegan Goddard's …

Adam Nagourney / New York Times:
A Year After Dousing, Republicans' Hope Rekindled

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns and Money, The Plum Line, Washington Post, Associated Press, The Fix, FiveThirtyEight and msnbc.com

Ian Urbina / New York Times:
In Virginia, McDonnell Ends Democrats' Streak

Discussion: Washington Post, Guardian and The Page

Associated Press: Republican Christie captures NJ governor's race

The Politico:
Gibbs: Obama ‘not watching returns’

Discussion: The Confluence, Big Government, Commentary and protein wisdom

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
What Happened and Why? — The outcome of all seven contests …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice and The Mahablog

Glen Bolger / TQIA:
Congratulations to Bob McDonnell; An Analysis of His Win

Discussion: The Fix

Daniel Stone / Newsweek Blogs:
Why Creigh Deeds Lost Virginia

Discussion: Associated Press and Macsmind

BBC:
Republicans win key US elections

Discussion: the talking dog

Dave / Media Matters for America:
Media in 2001: Off-year elections have little national significance

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Hullabaloo

Mark Preston / CNN: Analysis: Elections not a referendum on Obama

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:

NBC reverses Bloomberg call — Wow: This is looking to be a very long night for the billionaire-incumbent-front- runner in New York. — With more than a third of the votes in, it's a 1-point race. NBC called it for Bloomberg — but just reversed that call.

New York Times:

Bloomberg Wins 3rd Term as Mayor in Unexpectedly Close Race — Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg pulled out a narrow re-election victory on Tuesday, as voters angry over his maneuver to undo the city's term limits law and his extravagant campaign spending provided an unexpected lift …

Discussion: New York Post, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Runnin' Scared, The Daily Politics, CNN, Indecision Forever, Michael Calderone's Blog, The Confluence and Democratic Strategist

Ben Smith / The Politico:
Bloomberg survives scare

Discussion: NY Daily News, Taegan Goddard's …, Swampland and JammieWearingFool

Abby Goodnough / New York Times:

Maine Voters Repeal Law Allowing Gay Marriage — In a stinging setback for the national gay-rights movement, Maine voters narrowly decided to repeal the state's new law allowing same-sex marriage. — With 87 percent of precincts reporting early this morning, 53 percent of voters had approved the repeal …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, The Daily Dish, Althouse and La Shawn Barber's Corner

Susan M. Cover / pressherald.mainetoday.com:
Mainers vote down gay marriage law

Discussion: Prairie Weather

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
Turnout high in Maine

Discussion: pressherald.mainetoday.com, Scared Monkeys, ABCNEWS, Politics Daily, The Huffington Post, Los Angeles Times, The Politico and TPM LiveWire

Joe Garofoli / San Francisco Chronicle:

Garamendi beats field for Tauscher's seat — (11-03) 23:36 PST — Democratic Lt. Gov. John Garamendi is heading to Washington, D.C., today to be sworn into Congress after beating four other candidates in a special election to fill the Congressional seat vacated by Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Walnut Creek.

Discussion: The Nation

Tim Alberta / The Politico: Democrat wins Calif. special election

Glenn Garvin / Chicago Tribune:

‘V’ aims at Obamamania — Imagine this. At a time of political turmoil, a charismatic, telegenic new leader arrives virtually out of nowhere. He offers a message of hope and reconciliation based on compromise and promises to marshal technology for a better future that will include universal health care.

Discussion: Stop The ACLU, Taylor Marsh, NewsBusters.org and Gawker

Erick Erickson / RedState:

Is Americans For Tax Reform On Our Side Still? Its Tax Policy Director Clearly Is Not. — Dede Scozzafava, the has been former Republican candidate for NY-23, voted for tax increases in the New York legislature 198 times. But, when Dede wanted to get in good with the Republican …

Discussion: Campaign Trail

Jackie Calmes / New York Times:

Congress Poised to Keep Homebuyers' Tax Credit — WASHINGTON — The Senate and House are poised to agree on a compromise measure to extend unemployment benefits that also would expand a popular $8,000 tax credit for homebuyers, despite a recent government report on extensive mistakes and suspected fraud in the program.

Discussion: Clusterstock