11/08/2006
Democrats Take Control of House; Senate Down to Wire
Gay Marriage Ban Defeated in AZ, Passes - WI, TN, VA, ID, SC, CO, SD
Democrats take majority in U.S. House of Representatives!
"By early Wednesday, Democrats had won 221 seats, enough to control the House, and were leading for another 13, which would give them 234. Republicans, who hold 229 seats in the current House, won 181 and were leading in another 20, which would give them 201. Democrats had won 25 Republican-controlled seats, and no Democratic incumbent had lost by early Wednesday. Races were too close to call in more than a dozen seats, making it impossible to know how large the Democratic margin would be."
U.S. Senate may go Democrat too. Virginia, Montana crucial...
Nancy Pelosi to be first woman Speaker of the House. Pelosi: "Today the American people voted for change and they voted for Democrats to take our country in a new direction. That's exactly what we intend to do."
Democrats pick up six governor seats from Republicans, retain every seat they held in 14 states.
Rick Santorum out in Pennsylvania. Concedes...
Gay Marriage Ban looks headed for defeat in Arizona. Would make Arizona one of first states in the nation to defeat such an amendment.
Amendments banning gay marriage pass in Idaho, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Wisconsin, Colorado. However, voting trends show evolving attitudes. Matt Foreman, Gay and Lesbian Task Force: "Two years ago we had 11 of these on the ballot, and in only two of them did we do better than 40 percent. This year there were eight and in at least five of them we did better than 40 percent."
Corruption "most important issue" to voters...
Posted 2:14 AM EST by Andy Towle in Democratic Party, Elections, Republican Party | Permalink
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Webb ahead by 7,000+ votes now with provisional ballots uncounted
McCaskill just announced winner of MO and stem cell amendment winning by 14,000 votes
Montana is going to be ours as well
6 senate seats!!!!!
We got the freaking senate as well
Dance and sing!!!!!!!
Posted by: jimmyboyo | Nov 8, 2006 2:18:26 AM
scratch that
Webb now ahead by 11,744 votes and growing with 99.......... percent reported and provisional ballots not counted
Both houses ours as long as we can keep leiberman from declaring himself a repub or taking over for rumsfeld and repub gov of con placing a repub senator in huis place.....What deals did leiberman cut with Rove as the price for his soul???
Posted by: jimmyboyo | Nov 8, 2006 2:22:24 AM
i live in tennessee and i am devastated. do i have to move to gain equal rights??? this is ridiculous.
Posted by: ¡viva la graham! | Nov 8, 2006 2:26:08 AM
Dare to hope? Remember to vote, people.
Yay.
Posted by: David S | Nov 8, 2006 2:28:49 AM
Viva
Ford moved me to tears. I thought I would shed a tear over gaining both houses, but nope. Ford alone moved me to a few tears with his concession speach. MSNBC basicaly said he sounded like someone who would be back.
Posted by: jimmyboyo | Nov 8, 2006 2:35:07 AM
Viva!!!
Viva you still around??
Schummer head of the DSCC Democratic Senate Campaign Comittee will NOT
will NOT concede Ford TN
Shelby county uncounted
As a non-TN person does Shelby county have enough votes for Ford to get above 3% of the vote?????
Posted by: jimmyboyo | Nov 8, 2006 2:54:01 AM
When we lost in 2004, an esteemed Buddhist teacher said to me "what is it about karma that you don't understand?" Her point was that the bushies and the republicans would eventually be exposed for their lies, hubris, and divisiveness. She was right and the Democrats now need to focus on finding bi-partisan solutions to solve our country's problems. As for Melhman, Rove, Santorium, Abramhoff, Hastert, Allen, Foley, Bush and gay Republicans Congressional staffers, yes, karma is a bitch and Claire MacKaskill is coming to DC!
Posted by: JoeInSF | Nov 8, 2006 2:58:06 AM
Why do the gays on here keep saying "we" and "our" etc...
You DO NOT speak for me and I am gay... As long as you contiue to make it US (gays) against THEM (straights) we all loose fools!
Don't bother responding to my post, I wont be reading it ;)
Posted by: Brett | Nov 8, 2006 3:22:42 AM
Well brett
i am going to respond anyway
:-P
My "we" was DEMOCRATIC we not a gay we. The only gay WE for sure is in refernce to AZ anti-gay marriage amendment going down in flames...WE the gay WE finaly beat one of those anti-gay pieces of crap.
You brett as a gay should consider yourself part of that "WE" or you are a self hater.
On the DEMOCRATIC we...well, you seem to stink and are probably ugly anyway so the DEMOCRATIC we doesn't need you. Now a non neo-con republican like RB though not a member of the DEMOCRATIC we is a cool non democratic we....unlike yourself....
3:56 a.m.
35 house seats and speaker pelosi for us the DEMOCRATIC "us"
4 firm senate seats with 5th= webb in virginia ahead 7,000+ votes at 99............% votes tallied
the 6th is Montana and tester is in the lead , but there is a recount going to go on tomorrow in yellowstone so it is all over for the evening
goodnight to all of the gay "WE" and democratic "WE"
brett get over the bitterness
Posted by: jimmyboyo | Nov 8, 2006 3:58:13 AM
I'm ashamed and embarrassed to see Wisconsin on that list. I thought we were better than that. I thought we were the birthplace of progressivism, the "Forward" state. I thought wrong, evidently.
Posted by: Thor | Nov 8, 2006 4:01:10 AM
My feelings this evening are so incredibly mixed.
I'm thrilled that Santorum was ousted! I pray that Marilyn Musgrave, the Wicked Witch of the West will follow him. I'm optimistic that we have the first woman Speaker of the House! I"m disappointed that Californians re-elected Arnold-I'd-like-to-poke-his-eyes-out-with-my-fingers-Schwarzenegger. And I'm hopeful that Democrats will not only take back the Senate as they have the House, but also that they will impeach Bush for lying to the American public about something far more important than a blowjob.
But mostly, I'm disheartened. I'm disheartened that at this point the citizens of twenty-three states have written discrimination into their State Constitutions. The people of twenty three states have decided that we are second class citizens undeserving of the same protections, privileges and rights as their other citizens. The people of twenty-three states have said that our families are not as important as their families and do not deserve the same protections. The people of twenty-three states have declared war on queer Americans. This is very frightening.
Posted by: peterparker | Nov 8, 2006 4:08:56 AM
But look at it this way. They did not generate the Republican seats and wins with the ballot initiatives, and believe me, they will fall by the wayside because they are useless as voter vehicles.
On Wednesday, we go right back to outing the hypocrites, and whoever was lucky yesterday, we will simply clear them from the bench for 2008. Simple as that.
Wake up and LIVE, y'all...
Posted by: bambambam | Nov 8, 2006 5:27:12 AM
I woke up to a bright, new day! The Yahoo! Senatorial graph shows a 49 / 49 /2 division in that house, and of course, the Democrats took back the NAMBLA... er... GOP held House of Representatives.
All I ask for is accountability. I hope Nancy Pelosi can make it happen.
Posted by: Rad | Nov 8, 2006 7:52:22 AM
Support The Abolishment of Str8 Marriages:
[] how many children (each day!) does the disgusting practice of str8-marriage harm?
[] str8-marriages, inevitably, leads to lower property values in every neighborhood they appear and infest
[] how many lost dollars are wasted by str8's trying to flee from these marriages via costly divorce proceedings?
[] how many normal-neighbors have been offended and disgusted by str8-marriage breeding habits?
[] the list goes on...
Start a :Stop Str8 Marriage: ballot initiative in your state today -- stop str8 marriages from taking-hold of your community, before it's too late.
Str8 Marriage on My Block? No Way!
Posted by: rob adams | Nov 8, 2006 8:20:10 AM
Amen, Rad. I went to bed knowing the House was in Democratic hands but figuring they'd lose the Senate, and was quite happy to see how the tide changed a bit when I woke up this morning!
Living in Virginia, of course I'm disheartened about the gay marriage ban passing. I still can't get why my wanting to be married to my partner has any effect on anyone else's marriage, but if God says it's wrong, it's wrong, huh?
I just hope the Democrats realize they've been given an amazing opportunity. I only hope they don't suffer from the same hubris, the same pettiness and narrow-minded views the Republicans have under President Bush. But this is an excellent start...
Posted by: Larry | Nov 8, 2006 8:23:59 AM
On behalf of all Arizonans, I'd just like to say you're welcome. And yes, I'm as surprised as you are.
Posted by: chrisb | Nov 8, 2006 8:25:06 AM
While it seems the vast majority of people are happy with the election night, we need to remember that Mr. Bush is still President for 2 years and still carries a lot of power in the presidency. He can veto anything that the democrats come up with and while the House is majority democrat now, it still lacks a 2/3 majority to overide any vetos by Mr. Bush. We also need to remember that his election was not an election about gay rights. Those republicans who crossed over to the left and independents who voted left did so because the major issues were Iraq and corruption in the Congress. We still must fight for what we believe in. Democratic GLBT and Republican GLBT people must strive to work to change the thought processes in their community and in their respective parties.
Posted by: Matt | Nov 8, 2006 8:38:12 AM
Well it is time to write my concession post and it is painful, but the dems are in control. However, I have a few points to make, and thanks to Jimmyboyo for considering me to be a "cool non democratic we"!
First of all Bret, did you bump your head? Obviously something is not working up there! I am about as different here as you can get and yet I am still gay! You have single-handedly tried to destroy what I have been posting for some time; that regardless of what party we belong we are all still gay! We are different and that is ok. There is diversity in thought amongst us and that is ok. That it is ok to have a different opinion because at the end of the day we are ALL STILL FIGHTING THE SAME CAUSE, GAY RIGHTS!!! Where have you been? What are you thinking? Division amongst us will destroy all of us and yet you seem to be a self hating individual that wants to divide.
Next, Nancy Pelosi scares that living hell out of me! It will be interesting what she does as speaker. It will be like one big car ride with Ted Kenedy. Just a thought.
Now on to my biggest cocern that I am not sure anyone has given thought to...gay rights and marriage. Has anyone noticed that all the while people were turning to the democratic party in the droves they were simultaneously voting AGAINST gay marriage? I have posted that I feel no more isolated as a gay man from the repubs than I do the dems. Well, here is your chance to prove me wrong as they are in control now. I do not think it will change our situations one bit!
My brother and his partner live in Tennessee and the gay marriage ban passed there with 81% of the vote! 81%!!! One of the highest yet! Those voters were not ALL right wing rebubs. The were also voting dem.
And for once I agree with Peterpaker, surprise, but you are absolutely right with your post "I'm disheartened that at this point the citizens of twenty-three states have written discrimination into their State Constitutions." But who was it in those twenty-three states that voted against us? Were they all repub? Does anyone think that TN is a state that is 81% repub? I think not.
The coming years will be telling and I hope I am wrong. I have NEVER taken issue with admitting that I was wrong, but I would not hold my breath waiting on Pelosi and the democratic congress to pass any rights our way! This again is one of the reasons I am a repub, although a cool repub, and not a dem. I just do not think that one party serves my rights any better than the other, but we will see. God I hope I am wrong!!!
Posted by: RB | Nov 8, 2006 8:56:15 AM
Great post Matt! You are absolutely right!
Posted by: RB | Nov 8, 2006 8:57:46 AM
Colorado is dead.to.me.
Posted by: Fear & Loathing in Colorado | Nov 8, 2006 9:34:24 AM
Ahhhh.. it's true Mr. Bush still has a ton of power, but at least there is some checks in the checks and balances again.. and for that I am thankful.
Posted by: Darren | Nov 8, 2006 9:46:39 AM
...how do I explain to an office full of republicans the reasons why I support democratic initiatives? As straight folk, all they care about are the finances of voting republican. I've tried my best to illustrate that, as a gay man, my concerns are about my human rights and not just about tax cuts.
...now if they wanted to debate on Beyonce and the upcoming Dreamgirls flick, I'd have all the cards to play, but I am not as smooth politically...
Posted by: midnight lounge | Nov 8, 2006 9:47:39 AM
There were laws on the books in most states about interacial marraige many years ago. One by one they were overturned. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. We just need to work hard for change.
Posted by: tommy | Nov 8, 2006 10:02:43 AM
RB you raise an interesting point concerning just how many people rejected gay marriage in their state, but I don't really see those voters "turning to the Democratic Party" as much as they were punishing the Republicans for the war in Iraq and Congressional corruption.
I'm as thrilled as the next Democrat but let's face it, we didn't "win" this one as much as the Republicans "lost it."
Now it's up to all of these new Mavericks to prove that they have the vision and sophistication to GET THINGS DONE. I'm hopeful that can still happen.
On the anti-gay initiatives passing: Why don't they include a ban on all divorce since voters are obviously objecting to gay marriage on religious grounds and divorce is forbidden in Christian dogma. My guess is that if divorce were included in these iniatives, straight people would be rejecting it in DROVES.
Straights have ruined the "institution" of marriage all by themselves. It's not about values anymore. It's just about hate.
I guess we just have to wait for the Supreme Court to get its act together (oh in about 30 years) to give us our rights.
Posted by: mark m | Nov 8, 2006 10:04:30 AM
Yes, Bush can veto bills.
But, Congress can just sit back and not fund his military (and militant social) ambitions.
We control the money.
(Bush will also need to defend his veto of... a life-sustaining minimum-wage, repeal of his $12billion gift to Big-Oil, among many other politically-untenable acts of his Far-Right-Christian Administration. That ain't such a bad scenario.)
Posted by: rob adams | Nov 8, 2006 10:07:24 AM