Live Blogging the Election Returns  —  We will be covering tonight's election returns beginning at around 5 p.m. Eastern, an hour before the first polls close in Kentucky and Indiana.  —  You can follow along here and check out our hour-by-hour, district-by-district guide for watching the returns.

Victories Suggest Wider Appeal of Tea Party  —  The Tea Party victories by Rand Paul of Kentucky and Marco Rubio of Florida underscored the extent to which Republicans and Democrats alike may have underestimated the power of the Tea Party, a loosely-affiliated, at times ill-defined …

Where Do Democrats Go Next?  —  DEMOCRATS can recover from the disappointments of this election and set the stage for success in 2012.  But to do so we must learn from Tuesday's results.  —  Many of our problems were foreseeable.  A public unhappy about the economy will take it out on the party in power …

The Morning Briefing: The Tsunami  —  [UPDATE]: The whole of the Maine legislator has flipped to the GOP.  Several people I have talked to said such a deep and thorough shift to any one party has not happened in one election in the past 100 years.  —  This is an unusual Morning Briefing …

The end of an era: ACORN files Chapter 7 bankruptcy  —  For over 40 years ACORN has fought the good fight.  From a few initial neighborhoods in Little Rock, Arkansas, we grew to become a large, active, national organization of low- and moderate-income families, mostly people of color …

Bachmann To MSNBC's Matthews: That Thrill Isn't Tingly Anymore  —  A combative Chris Matthews accuses Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) of being “hypnotized” and under a “trance.”  Bachmann says we're out of this “nightmare” and “we're thrilled.”  “I think people are thrilling tonight …

Bernanke Faces Greater Scrutiny After Republican Election Gains  —  Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke may have to renew his battle to preserve the central bank's independence after Republican victories in yesterday's congressional elections.  —  With Republicans likely reclaiming …

Welcome, Senate Conservatives  —  Remember what the voters back home want—less government and more freedom.  —  Congratulations to all the tea party-backed candidates who overcame a determined, partisan opposition to win their elections.  The next campaign begins today.

Exit Polls: the surprise in Delaware  —  (CNN) - The thing about Delaware is: it's no Kentucky.  —  The Tea Party's first Senate loss of the night may be no big surprise - the only question heading into tonight's been how big a victory margin Chris Coons would capture over Christine O'Donnell.

Prop. 19 headed to defeat, exit polls show  —  California voters appear to have rejected Prop.  19, an effort to legalize marijuana and allow local governments to tax the sale of the drug.  —  Prop. 19 received national attention, but relatively little money was spent on the campaign.

Toomey captures seat of his old nemesis, Arlen Specter  —  Pat Toomey has won his race against Rep. Joe Stestak (D) and captured the Senate seat that Sen. Arlen Specter held for 30 years.  —  The victory is sweet vindication for Toomey who narrowly lost a bitterly contested GOP primary race …

Write-in vote lead has Murkowski smiling  —  ELECTION COULD MAKE HISTORY: Final counts may be weeks away; parnell, young post strong results.  —  scockerham@adn.com  —  Election returns Tuesday night showed Lisa Murkowski with a chance to become only the second candidate to run …

Take Your Olive Branch and Shove It, Democrats  —  Here's my post-election column.  I'll continue to update the results post here as we wait on key AK, WA, CO, AZ, and Florida returns.  —  The grass-roots conservative midterm message: No surrender, no compromise, no capitulation.  —  Share you thoughts!

The conservative movement is back & growing  —  We will win around 3 score House races (including several long-time liberal Democrats), several Senate races, a slew of governorships, and this will be spun as a loss.  We are fighting the Democrats on their dark blue turf …

Feingold campaign manager: It ain't over  —  Feingold's campaign manager George Aldrich told the crowd in Middleton that only 40 percent of the vote has been reported.  —  “Russ is down by 80,000 votes, but...up to 1.4 million votes haven't been counted,” he told the crowd.

Wonkbook: Welcome to gridlocked America  —  Welcome to gridlocked America: The GOP is on track to win about 65 seats in the House of Representatives, and 47 or 48 in the Senate.  This is a huge victory: the Republican House majority will be the largest since 1928.

Recount again: Dayton's 0.43% lead is within the range for automatic recount  —  The Minnesota governor's race is so close it has come to this: another recount appears almost certain.  —  With fewer than 20 precincts left to report, DFLer Mark Dayton leads Republican Tom Emmer by less than one half of 1 percent — 43.67% to 43.24%.

What the Wave Giveth, The Wave Taketh Away  —  Analysis by Amy Walter: At a very basic level, the 2010 election was simply the flip side of the 2006 coin.  Partisans motivated by their dislike of the current administration combined with a soured independent vote to turn the blue map red.

Obama must slay the job-killing beast  —  President Obama could have focused on solving the financial crisis.  He did not.  He could have endeavored to conquer the looming threats to our future.  Instead, he added to them.  Now that voters have rejected his first two years in office …

Bush Considered Dropping Cheney From 2004 Ticket  —  President George W. Bush considered dumping Vice President Dick Cheney from his 2004 reelection ticket to dispel the myths about Mr. Cheney's power in the White House and “demonstrate that I was in charge,” the former president says in a new memoir.

Frank easily wins re-election, defeats Bielat  —  loading video...  Requires Adobe Flash Player  —  NEWTON - Barney Frank, the irascible powerbroker who has survived scandal, repeated redistricting, and the ups and downs of the Democratic Party, today easily beat back his strongest challenge in years.

New Black Panther Seen At Polling Place  —  No Voter Intimidation Reported Tuesday At Poll  —  PHILADELPHIA - Fox 29 News spotted Tuesday a member of the New Black Panther Party standing outside of a local polling place where voter intimidation was reported two years ago.

US to spend $200 mn a day on Obama's Mumbai visit  —  Mumbai: The US would be spending a whopping $200 million (Rs 900 crore approx) per day on President Barack Obama's visit to the city.  —  “The huge amount of around $200 million would be spent on security, stay and other aspects of the Presidential visit …