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The Democrats will probably pick up 30 or so seats in the House. In the Senate they have also won in Missouri, are ahead in Montana with the last precincts being counted, and are ahead in Virginia by 11500 votes.

With those numbers, the Donkey dances on the carcass of the great white Elephant, and the conquest of both chambers of Congress is decisive and complete.

I’ll have much more to say in the morning–about the withering defeat of the Republicans, about the massive task ahead for the Democrats, and about the political castration of George W. Bush.

Republican Revolution, RIP, 1994-2006. Good riddance.

In today’s election, when you get past the rhetoric and the robo-calling, the issues are really simple–perhaps more so than in elections past.

If you think we’re in trouble in Iraq and need a change in direction, vote Democratic. If not, vote Republican.

If you think we should not be having discussions about what constitutes torture in America, vote Democratic. If not, vote Republican.

If you think that being American means affording certain fundamental human rights to all defendants, such as rights of access to a lawyer and the right to challenge the legitimacy of your detention (especially when we know at least some people are being detained illegitimately), vote Democratic. If not, vote Republican.

If you think Congress should be more than a rubber stamp for an overreaching President Bush, and serve as a check and balance to his quest for power, vote Democratic. If not, vote Republican.

If you think we should be handling national security by preventing nuclear secrets from leaving Los Alamos or being posted on the Internet, or by better securing our ports, vote Democratic. If not, vote Republican.

If you think that running a massive federal debt while cutting taxes on the rich is a bad thing, vote Democratic. If not, vote Republican.

If you think that stem-cell research should be granted government funding and support, vote Democratic. If not, vote Republican.

If you think the US has a duty long past due to start tackling pollution and global climate change in the face of overwhelming evidence it is taking place with imminent disastrous consequences, vote Democratic. If not, vote Republican.

If you think that the massive lobbying and tit-for-tat operations exemplified by Jack Abramoff is a bad thing to have continue on Capitol Hill, vote Democratic. If not, vote Republican.

If you think it’s a bad thing for the so-called “party of family values” to take the moral high ground while quietly coddling pedophiles, vote Democratic. If not, vote Republican.

If you think we should do more than pay lip service to developing alternative sources of energy to combat global warming and reduce our oil dependency with hostile nations, vote Democratic. If not, vote Republican.

If you think America should serve as the model of leadership and democracy in the world by working with allies who respect it, vote Democratic. If not, vote Republican.

If you think it’s time, after more than a decade, to increase the minimum wage for the middle class without tying it to a vote on lowering death taxes on the rich, vote Democratic. If not, vote Republican.

The choices could not be more clear.

Vote, America–your nation needs you.

As I’ve gone through various blogs this morning and in recent days I’ve been struck by the amount of pessimism by Democrats as to the real likelihood that their party will do well in tomorrow’s elections. After so many disappointments, it’s difficult to conceive that victory–that the vindication of what we have been saying for so many years–might finally be at hand.

Nothing can be taken for granted and every vote counts, none of this is a done deal. Yes, recent polls like the Pew Research Center’s show races tightening and at least some GOP voters holding their nose and deciding to vote for their candidate. The GOP, led by Bush and Rove, are very very good at getting out the vote and framing the debate. The GOP has rigged the game well through aggressive gerrymandering (though I’m sure the Dems did the same previously).

Still, there is much cause for optimism. I can’t think of a single pollster that thinks the Democrats won’t take back the House–and even GOP strategists are privately conceding the House and focusing their efforts on not losing the Senate.

The latest Gallup/USA Today poll also shows the race narrowing, observing that the question of who Americans would rather see controlling Congress had gone down to 51% Dem/44% GOP, a 7 point margin as opposed to a 13 point one two weeks ago. On the other hand, that’s the same spread seen as we went into the 1994 elections (51% GOP/44% Dem), and we all know what happened then.

Last but not least, never in my generation has America been as challenged as it is at this juncture. With thousands of our sons and daughters dead in Iraq; with an administration that wants to “stay the course, full speed ahead” while steering that course with no plan, no allies, and no grasp on reality; with threats of terrorism that are addressed through partisan sound-bytes instead of taking nuke blueprints offline; with humiliating debates on what constitutes “torture” (in America!)–if all of these things do not push the electorate to unleash an electoral earthquake and boot the bastards responsible out of office, then nothing will.

Take nothing for granted, it isn’t over until it’s over. But the chance for change is good, in at least one House of Congress if not both–and I look forward to celebrating victory with friends tomorrow night.

Just when I think I’ve heard the limits of just how debased and how low the GOP will go in its desperate effort to cling to power (race-baiting, a stripper asking a candidate to call her), I hear something new. Over the weekend, news reports surfaced over how the GOP is resorting to “push polls” and other deceptive “crank” calls to get their message out or to anger voters against voting Democratic.

“Push polls” are calls that begin with what appears to be an honest solicitation to participate in a political poll, but then based on the answers given the questions become more and more leading and provocative in favor or against issues and candidates:

During the automated calls, which last about a minute, the moderator first asks whether the listener is a registered voter or which candidate he favors. Voters receive different sets of questions depending on how they answer. The system then asks a series of “yes” or “no” questions about different issues, and each answer guides the system forward.

For instance, in the Montana race, if a voter agrees that liberal-leaning judges seem to go too far, the moderator quickly jumps to another question that highlights the differences between Mr. Tester and the Republican incumbent, Senator Conrad Burns: “Does the fact that Jon Tester says he would have voted against common-sense, pro-life judges like Samuel Alito and John Roberts, and Conrad Burns supported them, make you less favorable toward Jon Tester?”

In Tennessee, after listeners are asked if terrorists should have the same rights as Americans, this comparison between Representative Harold E. Ford Jr., the Democratic Senate candidate, and Bob Corker, the Republican, is given: “Fact: Harold Ford Jr. voted against the recommendations of the 9/11 commission and voted against renewing the Patriot Act, which treats terrorists as terrorists. Fact: Bob Corker supports renewal of the Patriot Act and how it would treat terrorists.”

In some cases, Democrats say, the language is too provocative, and, in others, contrary facts are omitted. Mr. Ford and Mr. Tester, the Montana State Senate president, are both said in the calls to have voted repeatedly for tax increases, but no mention is made of the times they voted for tax cuts, their campaigns say.

Mr. Cardin, who supports stem cell research, said he was incensed that the issue was reduced to the notion that he voted to allow “research to be done on unborn babies,” while his opponent, Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele, “opposes any research that destroys human life.”

I don’t object to GOP candidates putting their spin to characterize their opponents’ views–that’s fair politics. What is thoroughly objectionable is that the callers attempt to deceive voters into thinking they’re participating in an objective exercise and then get slammed with partisan propaganda.

Separately, people are reporting that the Republican Congressional Committee is flooding phone lines in certain key districts with calls that begin with something to effect of “Hi! This is an important message about (insert Democrat’s name)!” The calls happen many times a day, causing voters to seethe in anger. Since they typically hear only the first part of the message before slamming down the phone, the wrath is wrongly mis-directed at the Democratic candidate. Says a columnist in the Philly area regarding the race by Dem. Lois Murphy against GOP Rep. Jim Gerlach:

Most recipients slam down the phone before finding out otherwise - and then call to complain.

“We’ve got a ton of complaints, starting about two weeks ago,” [Murphy communications director] Bonitatibus said.

“Some of our biggest supporters have said, ‘If you call me again, I’m not voting for Lois.’

How can these GOP candidates look at themselves in the mirror in the morning and say they’re running a campaign premised on anything other than the raw hunger for power? The depravity seen on the part of the GOP this campaign season–a party that has brought America to a disastrous junction between the war in Iraq and the use of the Constitution as toilet paper–would make their founder Abraham Lincoln turn in his grave.

Just more day until Americans–who I’m optimistic are too smart in the aggregate to be fooled by these tactics–have a chance to give the GOP the shellacking they deserve.

And now this, from the party in power that promises to keep you safer from the dreaded mushroom cloud:

Last March, the federal government set up a Web site to make public a vast archive of Iraqi documents captured during the war. The Bush administration did so under pressure from Congressional Republicans who had said they hoped to “leverage the Internet” to find new evidence of the prewar dangers posed by Saddam Hussein.

But in recent weeks, the site has posted some documents that weapons experts say are a danger themselves: detailed accounts of Iraq’s secret nuclear research before the 1991 Persian Gulf war. The documents, the experts say, constitute a basic guide to building an atom bomb.

Last night, the government shut down the Web site after The New York Times asked about complaints from weapons experts and arms-control officials. A spokesman for the director of national intelligence said access to the site had been suspended “pending a review to ensure its content is appropriate for public viewing.”

Officials of the International Atomic Energy Agency, fearing that the information could help states like Iran develop nuclear arms, had privately protested last week to the American ambassador to the agency, according to European diplomats who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the issue’s sensitivity. One diplomat said the agency’s technical experts “were shocked” at the public disclosures.

…

The documents, roughly a dozen in number, contain charts, diagrams, equations and lengthy narratives about bomb building that nuclear experts who have viewed them say go beyond what is available elsewhere on the Internet and in other public forums. For instance, the papers give detailed information on how to build nuclear firing circuits and triggering explosives, as well as the radioactive cores of atom bombs.

Let me get this straight: the GOP, hoping to unearth non-existent evidence of WMD dangers in pre-war Iraq in hopes of bolstering its desperate case for the war, forced the government to put pre-1991 materials online that could be used by any terrorist or rogue nation with enough technical know-how to build a nuclear weapon. They did this while at the same time trying to portray Democrats as weak on keeping America safe from terrorism.

Feel safer yet?

There is a battle royale going on between former Majority Leader Dick Armey and James Dobson of Focus on the Family, a radical right group.

In last Sunday’s edition of the Washington Post, Armey argued that Republicans face an electoral rout because they abandoned the principles of limited government and became the party of huge deficits, Terry Schiavo, flag burning, and same-sex marriage. He pins much of the blame for this on Dobson and other Christian leaders on his FreedomWorks website, and has called them “thugs” and “bullies” in recent interviews.

Dobson and others are predictably shocked and dismayed at Armey’s remarks, saying he is a bitter man who is sore that Dobson supported an opponent of Armey’s for the post of majority leader.

One comment by the radical right was particularly telling as it condemned Armey: “If it weren’t for the [anti same-sex] marriage amendment in Ohio, John Kerry would be president. So shut up, Dick,” said Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention and an ally of Dobson’s–which goes to show once again that the GOP’s stooges only care about so-called “family values” insofar as it helps their candidates get elected.

Not that I feel particularly sorry for Dobson and his ilk, but Dick Armey sure didn’t refrain from using social wedge issues when it suited him, such as pushing the so-called “Defense of Marriage Act” in 1996 (which uselessly told the states they could ignore same-sex marriages from other states when they could already do so under the Full Faith and Credit clause of the Constitution), a craven act of GOP politicking intended to force Clinton to choose between his liberal base and the independent vote during his re-election. I think he’s being a tad bit hypocritical.

Sometimes it’s just best to sit back and watch your opponents destroy each other..it sure is a lot of fun!

The Rev. Ted Haggard stepped down as president of the National Association of Evangelicals after revelations surfaced that he has repeatedly paid for gay sex and has used illegal metamphetamines. The burgeoning scandal involving the preacher, a vociferous opponent of gay marriage, comes at a terrible time for the GOP.

The problem can be summarized in two words: Mark Foley. Just as Kerry threatened to reinforce negative views of Democrats through his “botched joke,” Haggard strikes at the heart of some of the problems buffeting the GOP. It is likely to remind voters of GOP hypocrisy on the issue of family values. It will remind Christian conservatives of how badly they’ve been used by the GOP (while Bush and Co. laugh at them behind their backs), and how much the GOP has failed to implement their reactionary agenda. It also generally reinforces the “culture of corruption” theme that Democrats have been using as a hammer against their opponents.

In the end, I think most people have already made up their minds how they’re going to vote. A new poll shows that the “Kerry moment” is a total non-issue in people’s minds–especially among independents–as they prepare to head to the voting booth. If Haggard does any damage it’s likely to be long-term, hopefully causing evangelicals to re-evaluate their involvement in politics given the way they have been mercilessly used and disappointed.

In an election cycle that promises to deliver a stinging rebuke to the GOP for its disastrous policies, increasingly desperate Republicans are resorting to truly disgusting and disgraceful means of keeping their claws on the levers of power at any price.

This is what Bush and Cheney had to say yesterday:

“However they put it, the Democrat approach in Iraq comes down to this: The terrorists win and America loses. That’s what’s at stake in this election. The Democrat goal is to get out of Iraq. The Republican goal is to win in Iraq.”

Bush is not content to share power with Democrats, no–who are, after all, red-blooded Americans just like him. Any victory whatsoever by the Dems, any loss of absolute power in Washington by the Republicans, means nothing less than the ignominious defeat of America and a complete victory for terrorists. He makes this statement in the same breath as claiming the GOP wants to win in Iraq, while failing to explain how he intends to do that and while avoiding the NIE statement that the war is actually worsening terrorism.

Bush and Cheney are not alone in their vile rhetoric. In Tennessee, Republicans recently aired two racially tinged commercials against Harold Ford (who is black in a deeply conservative state): a universally condemned one in which a white female stripper asks Ford to call him (evoking interracial sex anxieties for voters) and a radio ad that beats jungle drums whenever Ford is discussed. In Virginia, George Allen slammed Jim Webb over fictional novels Webb had written describing hellish life in Vietnam during that conflict. And, of course, there’s always gay marriage.

These are your leaders, America–schoolyard bullies who show their true colors and throw a tantrum when threatened with losing their disastrous hold on power. It’s time to give them the butt-kicking that all good bullies deserve.

Cracks in the Facade has a good write up that summarizes a couple of recent newspaper articles about how Republicans on the run are lashing out desperately to avoid ignominious defeat:

· In New York, the NRCC ran an ad accusing Democratic House candidate Michael A. Arcuri, a district attorney, of using taxpayer dollars for phone sex. “Hi, sexy,” a dancing woman purrs. “You’ve reached the live, one-on-one fantasy line.” It turns out that one of Arcuri’s aides had tried to call the state Division of Criminal Justice, which had a number that was almost identical to a porn line. The misdial cost taxpayers $1.25.

· In Ohio, GOP gubernatorial candidate J. Kenneth Blackwell, trailing by more than 20 points in polls, has accused front-running Democratic Rep. Ted Strickland of protecting a former aide who was convicted in 1994 on a misdemeanor indecency charge. Blackwell’s campaign is also warning voters through suggestive “push polls” that Strickland failed to support a resolution condemning sex between adults and children. Strickland, a psychiatrist, objected to a line suggesting that sexually abused children could not have healthy relationships when they grew up.

· The Republican Party of Wisconsin distributed a mailing linking Democratic House candidate Steve Kagen to a convicted serial killer and child rapist. The supposed connection: The “bloodthirsty” attorney for the killer had also done legal work for Kagen.

· In two dozen congressional districts, a political action committee supported by a white Indianapolis businessman, J. Patrick Rooney, is running ads saying Democrats want to abort black babies. A voice says, “If you make a little mistake with one of your hos, you’ll want to dispose of that problem tout de suite, no questions asked.”

· In the most controversial recent ad, the Republican National Committee slammed Rep. Harold E. Ford Jr. (D-Tenn.) for attending a Playboy-sponsored Super Bowl party. In the ad, a scantily clad white actress winks as she reminisces about good times with Ford, who is black. That ad has been pulled, but the RNC has a new one saying Ford “wants to give the abortion pill to schoolchildren.”

The Year Of Playing Dirtier

Then there is an article in the NYTimes about how Mark W. Everson, the commissioner of internal revenue, has ordered his agency to delay collecting back taxes from Hurricane Katrina victims until after the Nov. 7 elections.

Four former commissioners said such conduct was unacceptable.

I.R.S. Going Slow Before Election

Also from the NYTimes:

Representative Barbara Cubin, a Wyoming Republican facing a strong challenge in what should be a safe seat, this week told an opponent who uses a wheelchair that she would slap him were he not disabled.

Representative Christopher Shays, Republican of Connecticut, normally a low-key moderate, portrayed the treatment of Iraqis at the Abu Ghraib prison as the product of a sex ring rather than of abuse. . . .

Senator Conrad Burns, fighting for his seat in Montana, hinted that there was a secret party plan for the war in Iraq. . . . Representative John Hostetler, an embattled Indiana Republican, broadcast a radio advertisement accusing the House Democratic leader, Representative Nancy Pelosi, of harboring a radical homosexual agenda.

John Raese, a businessman running against Senator Robert C. Byrd, a West Virginia Democrat who is 88, disparaged Mr. Byrd’s physical condition.

Candidates Show Strain of Tough Election Season

The GOP is out of ideas, out of touch, out of synch, and out of time. So what are they to do, oh dear oh my? Oh look….let’s work furiously to put gay marriage back in the spotlight after the New Jersey decision…because after all, if there are no ideas left there’s always gay-bashing.

That’s all the GOP has been reduced to. So craven are they, in fact, that they are REJOICING at the New Jersey decision because of the political benefits they think will accrue to them. They’re not crushed by the decision, lamenting the insult to the face of God, no. They’re jumping up and down with joy because of how they think it will harm the Democratic insurgency coming into the mid-term elections by boosting conservative turnout.

“Pro-traditional-marriage organizations ought to give a distinguished service award to the New Jersey Supreme Court,” said the Rev. Richard Land, head of the public policy arm of the Southern Baptist Convention.

When a political party is so bankrupt that it has to resort to bashing a minority to try to stay in power, it has become nothing but a collective bunch of pathetic, hypocritical cowards that deserve to be tossed out like yesterday’s garbage.