I'm predicting Charlie will be along soon to make some bets about who will control Congress after next Tuesday.

I'm quite confident that, for you, "Oh, toooo bad, that could have gone better, just barely missed on a couple of those close races!"

But Kerry will have his millions for another GREAT Presidential run in 2 years! Run, John, RUN!

If the election were held today... I would be caught totally unaware.

Toles was right. Kick that football one more time Charlie Brown. This time for sure. (I want Repubs out as much as anyone, but I'll believe it when I see it.)

I got two words for you- Literary Digest.

I think some of their polls are outdated. Reynolds from all accounts has improved his position quite a bit. The poll they have is almost 3 weeks old, and there are a number of those on that map. Maybe I just feel snakebit, but I still feel Democrats are the best ever at snatching defeat out of the jaws of victory. Which is why we have THE. WORST. PRESIDENT. EVER.

Diebold, bitches.

I predict that the Democrats pick up less than 35 seats and Micky Kaus ridicules them for the poor planning and "lack of ideas" that prevented them from picking up the his max expected number.

Then he will throw in some snarky comment about Hillary, I mean really he does have a weird fascination with her that I'd classify as "blog stalking".

Yeah, this from talking points memo.

Feel the wave. Be the wave.

-- Josh Marshall

Time to wash the Republican out of office and make this election a tsunami disaster for current cult of corruption.

VOTE - and take your friends with you.

Have to admit that I think the pessimists may be right. I predict 8 to ten seats in the House -- three to four in the Senate.

The reason is simple: liberals that hang out a blogs don't vote. Want to prove me wrong . . . vote. I've already voted? Have you? Do you plan to?

We'll see.

I am cautiously optimistic. However, expect lots of problems with electronic voting machines, spoiled ballots, missing or double-counted absentee ballots and disenfranchisement of minority voters.

The Dirty Tricks Party (i.e. the GOP) can only win through subterfuge, treachery and cheating. And they will absolutely use all three...

Yes, well, I highly doubt whether you'll take control of the Congress, but one thing is cast in stone--you Dumbocrats have lost the expectations game, and every single loss will be magnified after the election.

Fail to take Virginia, Tennessee or Missouri? Well, that's a failure for the Dumbocrats and it would have been better to play the expectations game a little smarter--that is, don't run around screaming about how your pathetic little party is going to win every race and take the Senate.

Fail to take the House? Well, if you come close, but fail, that's an indictment of Emmanuel and Dean not being able to work together. Now, what would have happened if Emmanuel and Dean didn't hate each others guts? What would have happened if you had been playing the game the smart way? Oh, that's right--you might have had a chance. This time you don't.

You have no GOTV. You have nothing in the way of a national strategy. Your entire purpose is to tell people you're NOT George W Bush and that you're going to surrender US forces to al Qaeda for war crimes tribunals in the Hague. And this is what passes for a supposed victory? Perish the thought.

If you win anything at all, I would be quite surprised. It's not like it would translate into cohesive leadership or party unity, correct? Because we all know Dumbocrats can't even agree on the color of the sky and what time it is, and that's on a sunny day at noon with nary a cloud in the sky. George W Bush is an optimist and he has correctly predicted that the American people aren't going to buy what the Dumbocrats are peddling this year.

And you wonder why you will be staring at each other, dumbfounded and round-shouldered on election day 2006.

Your entire purpose is to tell people you're NOT George W Bush . . .

That's good enough for me!

"George W Bush is an optimist and he has correctly predicted that the American people aren't going to buy what the Dumbocrats are peddling this year."

Norman - Even on the off chance that Democrats fail to take back either house, it will still be clear that the American people have chosen Democrats. At the very least, Americans will be voting for Democrats over Republicans by a 5 point margins.

How is this possible? Democrats continue to show their utter disdain for God fearing evangelicals. There is no way they can win without the support of the holiest than all Americans.

I bet that this poll is completely wrong.

I highly doubt that the Republicans control Congress after the election, but one thing is clear, they lost the expectations game and every single loss will be magnified after the election. Bush and Rove have been guaranteeing victory and they will soon look like fools.

For the Democrats to win they needed potential voters to expect that they could win. They needed everyone to believe that they could win after so many defeats. The Democrats succeeded in creating an atmosphere of almost inevitable triumph that only delusional idiots such as Bush manage to ignore.

Republicans cannot counter the rising Democratic tide because they have nothing to say. They have no coherent message on Iraq, on the economy, or on terrorism. They're only message is that they are not as bad as the Democrats. They can't even agree to "stay the course" in Iraq anymore. Pathetic.

Touchdown:

Work up your own material, eh?

Must you simpletons steal every scrap of an idea in order to make yourselves look good?

Must you simpletons steal every scrap of an idea in order to make yourselves look good?

It`s all about winning baby & the Grand Old Perverts are gonna lose big time

Remember, remember the seventh of November scum suckers

Boooo !!

Norman,

If you are right and the Democrats lose, it means that in 2008 the Democrats will be utterly thrown over and a new party will emerge. That new party will crush your self serving idea free Republican party. It will also mean the end of electronic voting machines.

Americans are mad as hell and we aren't going to take it any more. If the Democrats can't catch that wave too bad for them. That doesn't let the culture of corruption off the hook.

Believe the polls.

I think the house polling is very suspect. It is largely a maiden voyage in trying to predict house results on a large scale through polling. My guess is 8 to 16 seats in the house and the democrats will be better off without contol rather than weak control. If the democrats control by just a few votes, the pretend moderate/conservative newly elected democrats will cast their first vote for San Francisco democrat Pelosi and thereby book their passage home for 2008.

Interestingly, Rassmussen apparently has a poll showing Webb up 5 in Virginia. I thought the smut writing would kill him. It is a great example of how the media still can influence some races. The Washington Post has been out to get Allen and probably has moved 3 to 5 points in the race.

Like my mother used to say, don't count your chickens before they hatch.

So let's not jinx it.

I'm not one to "believe the polls" - and if they are true, I'm pretty sure that Rove and Co. have some dirty tricks up their sleeves (like Diebold), and even if the Dems DO magically win this one (who the fuck is voting for them, and where the fuck were they in 2004?!) - I don't think they're going to make any difference. They're not going to impeach - they're not going to have any success at investigations (because any relevant evidence is going to be executive privileged or national securitied out of the trial, or just plain shredded). And in the end - if the Dems have power, then the corporate bigwigs will just bribe the Dems.

It seems true, to me, that the Repubs fight much dirtier, with regard to their lies, and distortions, and information warfare on the American People. But I really don't think Dems are going to be effective at changing much. The only way things can be made right WRT Iraq and our economy, is justice - which means successful impeachment, and successful prosecution for their crimes. I just don't see why these guys are going to finally go to jail for the things they've been getting away with for 50+ years.

Ron Byers:

It will also mean the end of electronic voting machines.

Bwah hah hah hah hah hah!

Silly boy, the "electronic voting machines" keep stealing your lunch money, eh? This is what the Dumbocrat party is left with? Whining about the voting machine? Oh, poor baby! Did the voting machine cause you to lose your hair and make you take the purple microdot acid? And you wonder why you can't get Americans to pull the lever (or press the screen!) for you!

Americans are mad as hell and we aren't going to take it any more.

Americans are waiting for their burrito to finish cooking in the microwave so they can watch the Dirty Housewives talk about no-no sex. The American people are rubes, and they keep voting Republican and there's nothing you can do about it. I'm so confident they're idiots that I can actually call them that and there are no repercussions for it.

And you wonder why you haven't won anything.

Must you simpletons steal every scrap of an idea in order to make yourselves look good?

Like the GOP thugs (Nixon, McCarthy, etc.) stole "national defense" from the Democratic Party with their cries of "treason" in the post WWII years?

Cowards, crybabies, and traitors, then, now, and always. That is your GOP. I would not hesitate one minute crawl over glass to vote you scheming theiving vermin out of office. You would have to pry my straight Democratic Party ballot from my cold dead hand first.

Oops. Somebody already said that. Well, you get the idea.

And you wonder why you haven't won anything.

Actually, we've won just about everything we've asked for since the French and American revolutions. It is conservatives who have been engaged in a steady retreat for nearly 300 years.

Don't let it go to your head, normie. Next up, national health care. It's coming, and there is nothing your ilk can do to stop it.

Fuckyama had it wrong (and admits it!). History has not ended. Not by any means.

You ain't seen nothin' yet.

bobbypoopstain:

You would have to pry my straight Democratic Party ballot from my cold dead hand first.

No need, silly boy. According to Ron Byers, the voting machine will just steal it for us.

Give us a ringy-dingy on election day when you libs figure out how things really work, okay? In the meantime, I'm going to sit back in a comfy chair and laugh at your predicament.

I'm so confident they're idiots that I can actually call them that and there are no repercussions for it.

Your faith in the people is touching.

Give us a ringy-dingy on election day...

Your royalist panties are showing, normie.

bobbypoopstain:

Your royalist panties are showing, normie.

Yes, well that's enough for the kiddies tonight. Are there any adults around who can explain to the less faithful out there how a party that has to borrow money three weeks before election day has a prayer of winning?

Are there any adults around who can explain to the less faithful out there how a party that has to borrow money three weeks before election day has a prayer of winning?

Put your money where your mouth is, sir normie. If you need a loan, we can work something out.

Wow, Norman. Sounds like you hate America.

What was that you said again?

Americans are waiting for their burrito to finish cooking in the microwave so they can watch the Dirty Housewives talk about no-no sex. The American people are rubes, and they keep voting Republican and there's nothing you can do about it. I'm so confident they're idiots that I can actually call them that and there are no repercussions for it.

I sure am glad your an America-loving Patriot!

Sr. Nourmie. What ARE you drinking tonight, your smarminess?

The democrats don't deserve to win this one although there's a good chance that we will make a good showing. There are too many candidates who look more like moderate republicans than real Democrats, waving their arms and shoutng "look at me, I'm a middle of-the-road moderate." As my fellow Texan Jim Hightower put it "There's nothing in the middle of the road but a yellow stripe and some dead armadillos." If the Democrats have to give up the things the party once stood for to get elected then we lose, no matter how many seats we gain. We don't need a government run by Liebermans; better to let the Repubs stay in control and take us all the way to the bottom. Then, maybe the working people in this country will wake up and realize that there really is a difference in the basic philosophies of the two parties and if we've reached the point where there isn't a difference, this country is screwed--a new radical party will have to rise up and challenge the two party system. Viva la raza!

I think that tonights Norman Rogers is fake.

Maybe I'm just in a bad mood, but I think there are two possibilities (and only two):

1. Dems take control of at least one branch of govt, probably the House. Result: GOP litigates and wails and goes into some kind of scorched earth attack, with the collusion of the media, that means that the 2008 elections are canceled / completely fraudulent, and the Dems never again control anything. GOP takes control of the country, and it's game over.

2. Dems fail to take control of at least one branch of govt. Result: GOP cements in the trends they've been working on, with the collusion of the media, which means that by 2008 there's no point in having elections, since by then they are so gerrymandered and fraudulent, that the Dems can never again control anything. GOP takes control of the country, and it's game over.

Either way, it's a good thing I have another passport. I think this is the end of the line for democracy in the US. Prove me wrong on Nov 8.

Sparky........You're so right. Dammed if you do,dammed if you don't! Damn it's a hard choice. You hope things could get better,but you don't see how.The scary thing is how bad things could get. How long would it take for things to swing back? 5 years? 10 years? 100 years? I'm 64 and will be able to last through some bad times and don't care too much anyway, but I have to think of my kids and grandkids.

I think norman is just dreamy. Whoops, there goes the microwave ding, my burrito is ready. Think I'll watch the o'reilly factor while I eat.

Maybe Norman is right, and there will be one party, Republican rule for the next generation. I bet he thinks they'll let him keep his guns.
I bet he thinks they'll ban abortions for the wealthy. I bet he thinks they'll lower taxes on working people. Poor, naive Norman.

There are still obviously many races too close for us Dems to feel comfortable.

But, the scandals from Bush & Co. just keep coming and there's on being reported over at firedoglake.com about an investigation which has just completed and it tells us candidates have been paying about $44,000 each to Bush & Co. to be appointed. There are many judges involved and if we're lucky Dems will take the Congress and kick 'em all out of office.

Of course, Nancy Pelosi has said the House won't seek impeachment of Bush, so it's hard to say whether he'll have the sense to resign. But, the public, upon hearing of this scandal, should be suitably disgusted to give Dems another percentage point boost.

Worse than Watergate --- by a mile and a half.
Worst American President since Jefferson Davis.
A foreign policy Catherine deMedici would appreciate.

The problem for you, brian, is that the electorate has woken up enough to notice that the only national security plan the Republicans have is saying they are strong on national security. Repetition is not the same as truth. The party that is strong on national security managed to disarm Saddam Hussein without the loss of a single American life. The party that is strong on national security managed to find the right guy after Oklahoma City and remove him as a threat to our nation (the weak party let the guy get away). The weak party starts wars without cause and gets our soldiers killed and wreaks havoc wherever they blunder.

The Republicans have been wrong on national security ever since Eisenhower gave his farewell address.

Either way, it's a good thing I have another passport. I think this is the end of the line for democracy in the US. Prove me wrong on Nov 8.

Yeah, that's really f*ckin likely.

For a party that purports to be the party of rational empiricism and intellectual depth, I can't believe how stupid and irrational Democrats can be sometimes.

And I can't believe how shallow, vapid and utterly corrupt the Republicans can be most of the time, Count Slackula!

Four or five years ago - the last midterms, come to think of it - the comments sections of major liberal blogs were a wonderful marketplace of ideas.

Now they're a trashy cellar of name-calling, little else.

I used to post more frequently, but now I hardly post at all. Now I rarely even bother to read the comments. I am never disappointed as to what I find there. When I do post, it's a one-off. I never bother going back to see if anyone read it. Why should they? A drunken bar-room is no place for a nuanced debate.

So it seems the great internet-driven experiment in participatory democracy has failed.

The Great American Huckster Tradition says comment sections stay. I say be brave & drop the things.

After all, if there's something I'm burning to say, I can start my own blog. Happy Halloween.

"Either way, it's a good thing I have another passport. I think this is the end of the line for democracy in the US. Prove me wrong on Nov 8."

Well given that the elections are on the 7th....

33 House seats for the Dems
5 Senate seats for the Dems

Don't know if that makes Rove a genius or not?

But, what do the 68 polls, that Rove claims he reads daily at the White House, say? He told NPR that these polls are more finely tuned and specific than the more discussed national polls shown on the networks. Is this really true, or a keep up your spirit to his Tabernacle Choir?.

And will someone please "scream" into Dean's ear, that "It is the War, Stupid".

Normie keep looking at the polls.

I note over at Wonkette shredders have backed up to the VP's residence. Nothing like being prepared for the results of the election.

My guess is they are going to shred 5000 copies of Lynn Cheney's lesbian pot boiler.

Democrats forget the polls, call your friends and family. Get out the vote.

I am in one of the most hotly contested states in America. I have been known as a Democrat for 40 years. I have already had two Republican robo calls reminding me to vote. Nothing from the Democrats.

Want to know what has me worried. Get Out The Vote.

Pretty clearly we can't depend on the air warriors hiding in their beltway bunkers.

Send out the call. Be ready to take your friends and neighbors to the polls. One week and counting.

Americans have had enough. Time for a change. Just get everybody to the polls.

Oh yeah, robo calls.

Here in Portland, we get at least two calls a day reminding us to vote for Ron Saxton, the Pub for Guv guy.
I, finally pulled a Seinfeld, and called his campaign headquarters. I told them that we did not call Ron at home and we did not want him to call us at home.

He still calls and calls.

Want to know what has me worried. Get Out The Vote.

Yes. It will be your doom, liberals. While God-fearing responsible Republicans vote, you libs will be too high on bad weed and paint thinner to roll off your soiled mattresses and stagger down to the correct polling place.

And you wonder why you haven't won anything.

FWIW, Rep. Don Young of Alaska is quoted in the Anchorage Daily News today predicting *zero* losses for the GOP.

Did I mention he was Radar Online's #2 Dumbest Member of Congress?

The sad part is, with everything that's been going on, there's a not-insignificant chance that Young could be right. Which shows something is desperately wrong with American democracy.

I realize this is a fake Norman Rogers, but it's still hilarious:

Yes, well, I highly doubt whether you'll take control of the Congress, but one thing is cast in stone--you Dumbocrats have lost the expectations game, and every single loss will be magnified after the election.

Way to move those goalposts, Normie baby!

Great post, functional! Boom! The hammer of truth comes down on the Dirty Tricksters!!!

"I realize this is a fake Norman Rogers"

You mean there's a real Norman Rogers? Horrors!

Good News From Virginia: My mom isn't voting!

My parents are staunch Republicans, the very definition of the party faithful. My father works civil service for the army and is retired air force. My mother, despite my begging and pleading, always votes for party over person.

Not this year! She told me that this will be the first year that she just doesn't bother. And she is not alone. The women in her social club are all expressing disgust with their party.

Expect many Republicans to just stay home this year. They have supported these crooks long enough. They are embarrassed and ashamed of what Republicans have become: Drunk on power.

Eat it Norman!!

While God-fearing responsible Republicans...

It's always fear with you Norm (and Repukes) Fear of cave-dwelling tarrists, fear of gays, fear of brown people, fear of immigrants, fear of God,...

Fear, fear, fear.
How do you get up in the morning without soiling yourself?

CLICK THE LINK. ALWAYS CLICK THE LINK. This article actually shows that the GOP will pick up 493 House seats and 124 Senate seats, and George W. Bush will be annointed as the Messiah at the same time Disneyland Baghdad opens this Christmas.

No Democrat has ever won an election anywhere. You're all on drugs and hate Jesus and you smell bad and that's why your party has never won an election since it was founded.

You mean there's a real Norman Rogers? Horrors!

Scary isn't it? Happy Halloween !!

Ithink the House is a done deal. In the Senate, I think the the Dems definitely win RI, PA, Ohio, and Montana. It looks like Webb could really win in Virginia, while Ford is fading. So it could come down to Missouri, which looks to be excrutiatingly close. The Republicans have already ramped up their voter intimidation efforts in St. Louis...could the control of the Senate come down to a few hundred votes?

from,

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Salon_Money_trails_lead_to_Bush_1031.html

A four-month investigation reveals that dozens of federal judges gave contributions to President Bush and top Republicans who helped place them on the bench.

'Activist judges'=honest judges, the mafia's notion of an activist judge.

The polls, the polls. Sheet, they were wrong in 2004 and I'll be damned if I'm gonna set my heart on winning again and have the idiot dems and their obsessed blogger machine break it again. DKOS and the rest are so thougorghly convinced of a dem break through, that they are ignoring the local GOP machine which isn't picked up in polls. I used to believe Amer distrusted the government and voted idiots out of office, but since 911, everyone wants to suck mommy's tit and have big daddy save them from the bad terrorist man, and that makes voters into idiots. Someday, the country will wake up and say, what the hell were we thinking, but that isn't going to be in 2006 I'm afraid.

Excuse me, the polls werent wrong, the tallies were.

Michael Buchanan:

That's excellent news, Michael -- from a very important demographic for the GOP.

Southern social club Republican surburban ladies disgusted enough at the GOP not to vote ... that is music to my ears, baby :)

Bob

Norman:

The Dems have a GOTV machine too, my friend ...

But more importantly -- we have the winds at your back.

A GOTV machine is like a sailboat. You can have the most well-designed sailboat ever made, a craft that could easily win the America Cup.

But if you don't have the wind, you'll never make it out of port.

GAY MARRIAGE GAY MARRIAGE GAY MARRIAGE GAY MARRIAGE ... er ... Mark Foley. Nevermind.

ROTFL !

Bob

There was this crazy panhandler who wandered around where I used to live--sounded a lot like Norman Rogers.

What the heck is all the hair pulling all about. Fokes it is up to us, all of us who want the democrats to win, to get up out of our couches and into our neighborhoods. There is plenty of time next Wednesday for either hair pulling or cheering. Between now and then--get off your asses and get to work.

There will be bad news for the Republic Party from early results out east, and that will cascade into the West - demoralized Republic voters won't get out to the polls, and the Democratic flood will inundate Republic candidates from Nebraska to California. This is a 65-seat gain election.

We don't want no 'activist judges'.
We don't think government should meddle with the way we do business.
We think laws should be voluntary --'Guidelines'.
Money talks.
Who wants to know? You don't got the right to ask me that!

The Dems have a GOTV machine too, my friend ...

Too bad Mayor Daley took it to his grave with him!

Bah! You won't win so why do you even try?

You mean there's a real Norman Rogers? Horrors!

Typical liberal bullshit--anyone who speaks the truth has to be fictional, eh? Well, suck on this: you will be lucky to have anything in your bag of goodies a week from now. One thing is certain--none of you will remember to vote. Many of you will be lucky to put down the crack pipe and actually clean yourself after soiling yourself today.

Bah! Double Bah!

And you wonder why I can't stop shaking my head at you.

Shake away, Rush.

Isn't anyone concerned that the Republicans are going to steal the election...again. We're all focused on polls, but in the end, they've got the voting machines teed up and ready to go.

If Kathrine Harris wins, we know it was fixed.

I dunno. I wouldn't be surprised to see a Republican sweep. Republicans will do anything to retain their power: tamper with voting machines, disappear boxes of ballots, start a war. By and large, Americans are stupid people with screwy priorities. Many states have abortion- and gay marriage-related items on the ballot, and those will bring out the conservative in droves. And don't forget that Satan (TM) is to be sentenced a day or two before the electin.

Oh my. What if Bush Co. invades Iran between now and November 7? It's quite possible.

Well, not voting won't change voter fraud.

First step, vote.

Second step, revolt.

"And you wonder why I can't stop shaking my head at you."

Maybe you have Limbaugh's Disease.

And that Christmas thing.....Bah Humbug!

Norman,

Typical Republican BS, anything true must be fictional.

Ignoring the polls and the reality on the ground in Iraq. Fools. Join the reality based community. It's going to be running the House after the election.

Referenda on *abortion*?

Which states? What does it say?

And if you're worried about referenda -- don't forget the minimum wage and stem cell referenda in some of those key states, too :)

Mark Foley and David Kuo have landed a one-two punch to ChristoPublican enthusiasm, don't forget that ...

The Christian conservatives may not ever bring themselves to vote for a Democrat -- but after being contacted 15 times within a week by doofus GOP $10/hr "volunteers," a goodly number of them may well not vote at all :)

Bob

FWIW, Mickey Kaus is a hack.

To be clear: this is the first time I haven't felt certain this election cycle that Democrats wouldn't win back the House.

And to be sure I haven't been paying attention to individual races.

But I still think it will take a kind of turnout among Independents and Democrats that we haven't seen in recent off year elections (in red and purple districts). Granted, I was surprised all of Schwarzenegger's wingnut ballot measures went down last year (and surprised at some of the counties they went down in), but California is still on average a blue state with highly energized public employee union members (who turned out in large numbers because they stood to lose big). What I need to see is a list of the districts and states where all these pickups are supposed to happen.

Well, I'm beginning to think that a large turnout of progressives won't matter, because the results will be tampered with anyway.