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

9:40 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, Talking Points Memo, Stop The ACLU and The Other McCain

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 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 and The Daily Dish

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 …

Michelle Malkin:

The GOP elite's $1 million object lesson — and the message of NY-23 — Conservatives owe NY-23 candidate Doug Hoffman immeasurable gratitude. He overcame impossible odds (single digits just a month ago) to come within two points of defeating Democrat Bill Owens. Hoffman had zero name recognition.

Discussion: Cold Fury, No More Mister Nice Blog, Firedoglake, Right Klik, And So it Goes in Shreveport and Sister Toldjah

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: NY Daily News, msnbc.com, Wall Street Journal, American Street, Liberal Values, American Power and JammieWearingFool

Robert Stacy McCain / The Other McCain:
NY23 Election Results HQ; UPDATE: Team Hoffman predicts 'close …

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

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

Discussion: Gothamist and The Other McCain

David Weigel / The Washington Independent:
NY-23: [UPDATE] Hoffman Accuses Democrats of ‘Stealing the Election’

Discussion: Erick's blog, Washington Wire, Runnin' Scared, MyDD, Crooks and Liars and Daily Kos

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

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

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

Discussion: Outside The Beltway and The Powers That Be

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

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, The Politico, Bloomberg, The Hill, Los Angeles Times, City Room, Guardian, QandO, Politicker NJ, Washington Post, Washington Times, The Confluence, Harry's Place, Prairie Weather, Libertarianism, from A to Z, msnbc.com, Truthdig and marbury

Alexander Burns / The Politico:

GOP sweeps gov races; Dem wins N.Y. — 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: New York Times, The Sarah Palin Blog, CNN, Clusterstock, Left Coast Rebel, The Nation, And So it Goes in Shreveport, The Reaction and Taylor Marsh

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, Joust The Facts, 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: The Note, The Politico, Wall Street Journal, Newsweek Blogs, PostPartisan, The Hill, Althouse, Taylor Marsh, Commentary and New York Magazine

Adam Nagourney / New York Times:

A Year After Dousing, Republicans' Hope Rekindled — WASHINGTON — The Republican victories in the races for New Jersey and Virginia governors put the party in a stronger position to turn back the political wave President Obama unleashed last year, setting the stage for Republicans to raise money …

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

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: The Caucus, Swing State Project, Blue Virginia, The Strata-Sphere, Power Line, Hot Air and The Atlantic Politics Channel

Gary Langer / ABCNEWS:
'09 Exit Polls: Voters Approve of Obama, Wary of Economy

Discussion: The Fix, MyDD, CNN, Blue Virginia, Daily Kos, Outside The Beltway, Firedoglake, Big Government, George's Bottom Line, The Big Picture, YID With LID, Commentary and Pajamas Media

Washington Post:
Editorial: Lessons from Robert F. McDonnell's victory in Virginia

Discussion: Commentary and National Review Online

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

Discussion: Hotline On Call, CNN, Joust The Facts, Real Numbers and Other Musings, JammieWearingFool, Bob Cesca's Awesome Blog!, Hot Air, The Opinionator, The Hill and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

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

Discussion: Riehl World View

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

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

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Hullabaloo

BBC:
Republicans win key US elections

Discussion: the talking dog

Daniel Stone / Newsweek Blogs:
Why Creigh Deeds Lost Virginia

Discussion: Associated Press and Macsmind

Ruth Marcus / Washington Post:
Ruth Marcus on empty harbingers in Virginia and New Jersey

Discussion: Washington Wire, Slate, Economist, NewsBusters.org, Time and Newsweek Blogs

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, The Baseline Scenario, 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 — The measure is repealed in a close vote, 53-47 percent — PORTLAND — Maine voters on Tuesday narrowly voted to repeal a law that would have made the state one of a handful that allow same-sex couples to marry. — At 1 a.m., with 87 percent …

Discussion: Prairie Weather

Maria Sacchetti / Boston Globe: Maine voters overturn state's new same-sex marriage law

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

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

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 and The Confluence

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.

Ben Smith / The Politico:
Bloomberg survives scare

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

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 and The Confluence

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

Cory Doctorow / Boing Boing:

Secret copyright treaty leaks. It's bad. Very bad. — The internet chapter of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, a secret copyright treaty whose text Obama's administration refused to disclose due to “national security” concerns, has leaked. It's bad. It says:

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Michael Geist Blog, PC World, Electronic Frontier Foundation and The Moderate Voice

The Onion:

Congress Approves 500 Billion For Monument To Human Folly — WASHINGTON—In recognition of mankind's inherent propensity for tragically foolish decisions, Congress allocated nearly $500 billion Monday for the construction of a new national monument honoring human folly.

Discussion: Cold Fury