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Voter turnout is extraordinarily high in Connecticut -- Chris Jansing on MSNBC says they are expecting 65%. Joe has a truly abominable place on the ballot, much worse than anyone expected (as one Lamont staffer put it, "it blows"). Via Billmon we find a nice article in the NYT on the implications of this. RevDeb just called to say that a Lieberman paid staffer wearing a sandwich board at a polling place had a live ass tethered to him. With Dick Cheney turning out the Republican vote for him, I guess Joe is anxious to point up his ties to the people he soon hopes to be stabbing in the back.
Over at MLN, Scarce resurrects this Spazeboy video from January of this year, back when it seemed impossible that we would ever get past the primary. It's quite an amazing yardstick, and Tom Swan is a hero for having the vision to put together a campaign that gave hope to so many, offered us a place to channel our dream of a better country and changed the national discourse. His leadership skills and his tireless commitment to the campaign right to the end are inspirational.
Over at MyDD, Sirota has a very thoughtful piece on what it meant to him to be a part of this campaign that should be required reading for anyone trying to evaluate its impact henceforth. And to all those who are out there working hard on the ground in Connecticut today to make it happen, a heartfelt thanks from all of us to all of you.
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Dems!
W00T!!1!
When looking for joe, go low.
a big shout-out to the folks on the ground in CT fighting for Ned
Go Ned!
Swanny !!
I was on the brink of EPU with this comment on the last thread, so I’ll repost it, with apologies.
I voted (of course) and snapped a pic of the sample ballot which I’ve posted at 1/2 resolution here.
Then I put in some volunteer time doing poll running, and observed a couple things:
1. Joe?s only real presence in New Britain is AT the polling place. I drove all over town and lots of lawn signs were posted, but none for Joe.
2. The Republicans haven?t sent out poll runners yet to pick up the books. These books are crucial for GOTV efforts, and our ground game in town is much better than theirs.
My hopes are with you all on the ground in CT.
In your heart, you know Joe’s last.
Election Day Republican memes to be aware of and to beware of. All of these I have heard at least once and some have already appeared several times in the media. See how many of these show up this evening in commentaries on the “meaning” of this election.
1) If Republicans lose, Democrats will become responsible for “Republican” failures.
Answer: Democrats will be able to exercise oversight. They should investigate Republican failures and stop Bush Administration excesses and overreach but they will not be able to clean up Bush’s messes as long as Bush is in power and can veto and obstruct their actions.
2) If Democrats win, it will be due to Rahm Emanuel, Chuck Schumer, and Establishment Democrats.
Answer: It was Howard Dean who pursued and put in place the 50 State Strategy of challenging the Republicans across the board. Schumer and Emanuel ignored many contestable races, came late to others, and recruited candidates who were far more conservative than they needed to be to win the race.
3) If Democrats don’t win big, they lose and the Republicans win by default.
Answer: If the Democrats win, they win, period. As with meme 1, this is the idea that everything is good for the Republicans: If they win, they win. Yet even if they lose, we are supposed to believe they win.
4) Both parties over read their mandate. So if Democrats win, they won’t have a “real” mandate. A variant of this is that voters are voting against Republicans but are not voting for Democrats so again, no mandate.
Answer: This is a restatement of memes 1 and 3 and contains the idea that if Democrats win it doesn’t count. How many times have you heard the media challenge the claim of a Republican mandate, real or imagined? I thought so. None of this stopped Reagan in 1980 from claiming a mandate even though the election was widely seen as a rejection of Jimmy Carter or George Bush behaving in a similar way in 2000 even though he lost the popular vote (and should have lost the electoral one as well).
5) If Democrats win and Bush reaches out to them, they should be willing to compromise.
Answer: The proof is in the pudding. Bush has spent the last 5 1/2 years rejecting any semblance of compromise with Democrats. His basic philosophy remains “My way or the highway”, “You are either with me or with the terrorists”. Even those so-called compromises with Republican Senators: Arlen Specter on warrantless NSA wiretapping and Warner, McCain, and Graham on torture and military commissions have been essentially cave-ins to White House positions. They have been compromises in name only. If Bush wants compromise, he’ll have to do more than call for it. He will have to take the lead in actually doing it. Let him propose the compromises and let us see if they are real. OK, not holding my breath on this one.
Feel free to add other memes you have seen.
“RevDeb just called to say that a Lieberman paid staffer wearing a sandwich board at a polling place had a live ass tethered to him”
The live ass was Joe, right?
Umm….was this a prank by someone else, or a gimmick by the staffer?
spazeboy @
7
Thanks Spazeboy — I updated your post with the ballot link. I was looking for a visual and it’s a damn good one.
. . .this one’s for you Jane
this just in
here in Connecticut, tireless Lamont volunteers work passionately to get out the vote. . .
http://www.pudelz.com/img/BellaOpSm.jpg
Just back from voting at my little hole in the wall polling site. Alas, I had no chance to vote against any particularly odious Republicans, no senate race this year, my Dem representative ran unopposed, and the Gov race not even close this year. The R for Gov not that bad, but the R next to her name is a reliable tell tale, much like the biohazard decals on a used needle box.
We’ve gone to Diebold optical scanners from the punch cards we have been using. I asked a judge if it was set to reject bad ballots, like a double vote. She sniffed and said we haven’t had any rejects today, but they would kick out bad ballots. I didn’t try to test it. Ballot slid smoothly into the maw of the big black box, no hiccups, counter went from 70 to 71.
Don’t have a clue about turnout, no hot races or bond issues so I ’spect it’s average for an off year.
over at TPM:
And as a reader at Eschaton notes: couldn’t it just once err in favor of the Democrats?
65% is insane.
The turnout in the last off-year Senate race in CT, in 1998, was 52%.
(praying)
Does RevDeb have pictures?
EPU’d on this, reposting with apologies
According to Josh Marshall, the company behind some of the robocall efforts is Conquest Communications Group (http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/001940.php).
It seems as if they have scrubbed all but a non-informative entry page from their web site, but the info lives on in The Google cache.
If anyone gets bored while waiting to vote later, they can be reached at 804-358-0560. Be polite and respectful, but let them know how you feel about their efforts.
watertiger @ 16
The basic laws of physics forbid this.
Just voted here in Vermont. Little town hall and paper ballots.
People I know and trust, including a number of Republicans, manning the polls.
Voter turn-out VERY high.
Republicans are now desperately trying to spin the “win is a loss”.
Nazi Girl, Bowtie Boy are trying to say that unless the margins are the Democrats winning 2,000,000 seats in congress they have lost.
Nice try losers.
-GSD
Were there any pictures on the CT media showing Joe ostentatiously voting? Did he park in the handicapped space at the poll?
watertiger @ 16
That would be cheating.
The 65% turnout in CT is fantastic. That, combined with Joenertia’s appropriate ballot placement, is hopeful news.
O/T
Just voted here in Jeff Co MO… we have Diebold scanners of paper ballots. Didn’t have any negative experiences but noticed that republican candidates were listed first. I was 437th to vote here in a small town precinct. But, the big story is that this morning gas was $1.89 a gallon, now it’s $2.16! Anyone else seeing that? Any news as to why gas prices would be going up? As if we didn’t already know. Luckily I filled up last night for $1.95…
cbl @
14
Oh that is GENIUS.
Peterr @
18
RevDeb has pictures tonight.
That NYT article is scary.
Kenneth Blackwell needs to be in jail. How is this guy walking around free??
Tech question:
My “edit this comment” button has disappeared. Is it just me, or are others seeing the same thing? (Has the edit function been disabled, to improve the traffic flow?)
[Mod Note; Yes, the edit function has been disabled to improve the traffic flow. Preview is your friend]
a big ‘howdy y’all’ from tennessee (yes, that’s me, the p-rex most recently heard from in australia).
rain here looks like bad news for harold ford, as if his polling wasn’t already trending down. i, for one, might be inclined to believe that early voting had produced a significant early lead for him, on the other hand. early voting began in october and on the day i went there appeared to be plenty of motivated dem voters present.
i like the look of that ballot from connecticut…methinks schlesinger’s name at the very top is a good thing for lamont — a few republicans might just punch his name because it’s so easy to find. anyone else have thoughts on this?
Chicago Tribune has up that the Senate will go Democratic (via Sabato poll).
Go Ned Go!
Go Ned Go!
GO NED GO!
Good luck today! :-)
Can anyone advise -after fdl, what’s the best internet site (audio or video) for following the election results tonight? (We have a Tee-vee-free house.)
Peterr @ 18
Although I am not a big fan of puns - sorry Punaise - I couldn’t leave it alone.
For the FDL crew in DeeCee, soon to be on CNN:
If the topic comes up, try not to use the phrase “voter fraud” when describing the horrors of electronic voting and vote suppression efforts. The Republicans like to pretend it is we, the voters, who are committing “fraud” — but that alleged issue is obviously vanishingly small in the overall scheme of things today.
The bottom line with electronic computerized voting and vote-counting is that we, the citizens of America, are paying corporations (with billions of federal tax dollars) to count our votes with their secret software. When did Americans become unable/unwilling to count the votes of their fellow citizens in this Republic, anyway…??? And who decided to take that honor and privilege away from us…???
So try to remember to use phrasing like “a corrupted count” or “vote-count fraud” or “election fraud” when discussing the topic in general (because if you get a chance to speak about this on national tv on election night you will be breaking the trail on this issue for many, many Americans).
[And if you find yourselves passing by the D.C. District Court today, give a salute to the hard-working Special Counsel and Intelligence Community representatives who started slaving away again at 9:30 this morning in yet another closed-door CIPA hearing with Libby and Company in front of Judge Walton.]
I bow in the general direction of the Ned Lamont campaign and its passionate volunteers and workers. Ned - you’ve already done us all proud. I hope and trust that the voters of Connecticut will bring it home for you and for all of us.
GOOD LUCK to everyone in the spotlight tonight.
The Massachusetts Irregulars (selise, scarecrow, RevDeb, and i) went out to poll watch at 6 and were relieved at 11. Then back out at 3 to 8 at which time, we will call in the tallies. Turnout was quite brisk at all times. Weather is great!! Some calls into HQ about funny business - the registrar of voters pointing out Lieberman’s name on the ballot whether the voter needed the help or not, Lieberpollwatchers escorting voters in the back door - someone said 50% of voters already voted in one precinct.
Hi all,
Lunchbreak here in CT.
Turnout is apparently strong. Lots of thumbs up at the poll, although lots of Joe voters too.
Two Liebster workers, one obnoxious, one a fireman who voted for Ned.
Hearing about misleading calls this am redirecting voters to wrong poll. Havent heard much about it though.
Very little Joe material throughout town (Stamford).
And when I got home, there was a robo call from Bill Clinton saying vote Democratic on the machine. Too bad its so late (although maybe its not just for today, I dont know)
Otherwise, the word I am getting is that we are close enough to pull it off. Please vote.
I wish I had more info, and am going through blog withdrawal being away from the comp. I’ll check in when I’m done (polls close 8p in CT)
Go NED!
Scudrunner @ 25
one thing that doesn’t work in mccaskill’s favor is the scarcity of early voting opportunities in MO. my aunt’s been working for the dem party in southwest part of the state, and she’s disappointed that there’s not an ample early voting period there. really causes problems for st. louis and kc.
Down Low Joe
Evil Parallel Universe @ 33
Temptation is a powerful thing.
Hey Kathryn. :) Good luck upstate. You guys rock!
Evil Parallel Universe @ 34
’s okay - omniscience is overrated anyway… :~)
Wow, that high turnout must really screw with Likely Voter Models.
I am pollwatching. An elderly woman wearing a joe sandwich board was here for less than an hour today. Her sandwich board is lying left behind in the roadside weeds, nearly hidden. Other than that it has been me and some giodorno people all day.
I took off work today to do GOTV calling using Move On’s online at home call interface. I’ve only spoken to 2 people and lots of answering machines. Do you think this helps? Or is there something else that would be more effective?
Not to distract from the focus on CT, but I heard on CSPAN earlier that the AP was reporting on voter intimidation in Virgina. The first thing I thought of was the Allen campaign. I couldn’t find anything on the AP website. Has anyone else heard anything about this?
man, I’ll have whatever Mehlman’s smoking.
Kos:
Silver Owl — responding to your comment from last thread.
Can you share info about your location in MI? email me using link at my name, will report your info to my contact in Granholm’s campaign.
Thanks for any help you can offer.
Still phonebanking away here in MI. Phone system is flooded, getting “all circuits busy” from time to time. Hearing spotty reports of machine and ballot problems from the field.
Keep up the great work, gang.
Random thought on fraud vs. disenfranchisement:
It boils down to innumeracy. Willful innumeracy. Count the number of zeroes when you are comparing two problems. Fraud: always “Dick Tracy” and “Mary Poppins”, maybe total fraudulent votes in the tens, hundreds, or (to give wild credence here) thousands. Disenfranchisement: caging lists totaling millions based on returned registered mail.
Fraud: thousands, Disenfranchisement: millions.
Which is the greater problem?
Note: this would need to be equipped with citations in order to make this into a solid argument. I don’t have time for that right now.
hey, *xyz. :)
Get back to work!!!
:)
crick @
19
Polite and respectful, yes!
This robo-call attack on us really pushes the ol’ HATE button, but one must be mindful of imitating that which one hates, and not harangue/harass over the phone.
That’s what lawyers and class action suits are for — in spades.
election day etiquette / usage questions:
1. is it pointless to post snippets from other major blogs, on the assupmtion that we’re all checking those regularly anyway?
2. if it’s not pointless, should we avoid embedding links since everyone knows how to get there? (on the assumption that this might keep the toobz slightly less clogged)
3.
“does anybody really know what time it is? does anybody really care?”I saw a previous suggestion to avoid ziggurat-building and to trim quoted comments - sounds like a good idea today.
Helpless Dancer @ 45
Here ya go! VA Vote Suppresion.
*xyz @ 44
Get that LieberLady arrested for littering with a hazardous substance!
Can anyone in CT confirm whether there is a “straight democratic ticket” voting option? We’ve had that in several other jurisdictions, and that would be just oh-so-pleasant if CT had it too.
Hey does anybody know where these dead-ender types post comments on the web?
Asked another way, where is the antithesis to FDL?
Ahhh, looks like littlegreenfootballs allows comments.
Time for a little oppo research.
I’m going to need a shower.
When Democrats Win — America Wins.
David Sirota has another diary at MyDD —
Ich Bin Ein Negative Partisan Polarizing Name-Calling Finger-Pointer
punaise @ 53
Since #3 is stricken, I’ll supply #3.
3. Who would like a nice big plate of fricasee of Lieberman this evening?
watertiger @
47
Rove’s pole?
-GSD
Turnout amazingly high Lynchburg, Virginia (Falwell’s enclave), much more than even the presidential election. Also a palpable enthusiasm in the air. Who’d ever a thunk?
Cliff Varnell @ 51
The problem is that all the layyers and lawsuits in the world will not invalidate the election results. No matter how improperly they were influenced.
Scudrunner @ 25
There was a similar upsurge in Illinois a few days ago. Missouri and Illinois are both in the same region (PADD 2). This may have to do with inventories but there is always a lag in data reporting so it will be a few days to a few months before we get a complete picture of what is currently going on. The thing to watch now is what happens to retail and wholesale prices in the next week.
There is no doubt in my mind that Ned’s primary victory over Holy Joe in August paved the way for Democratic victories today!
That Lamont win gave hope and we all owe Ned a huge THANK YOU, regardless of what happens today!
GO NED!
montag @ 59
sure, I’ll have a heaping plateful of that.
(I struck the random quote because I guessed hardly anyone under the age of forty-five would know the reference)
Rayne at 49: no linky.
http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/001955.php
(sorry, mods)
watertiger @ 47
I blame Clinton.
percy @
33
Ideas appreciated for those of us out of US TV range as well.
From CLG:
This is a test of the Emergency Alert System: Vote for Dick Mountjoy! By Justin Beck 06 Nov 2006 In an apparent violation of FCC rules, conservative talk radio station KFBK 1530 AM in Sacramento transmitted a paid political advertisement to an unknown number of other stations in the area, using the federal Emergency Alert System (EAS), thus automatically forcing the ad onto the stations’ airwaves. This is according to a press release issued today by KDVS FM, a non-commercial community station in Davis that received and inadvertently aired the transmission. The advertisement is for Richard “Dick” Mountjoy, the Republican running against incumbent Sen. Dianne Feinstein.
Voted this AM here in beautiful Marina del Rey, CA. Everyone at the polling place thought my dog was really cute. I asked for a ballot for her but the poll worker smilingly pointed out that she looks too young. She was right, at only 14 months Cocoa certainly can’t vote yet.
We use the ink-a-vote system - simple, easy, foolproof. You can see the black circle the pen makes as soon as you vote, if you goof, you just ask for a new ballot. The machine must cost a whole $75, if that. Makes you really wonder why people wanted to spend hundreds of thusands on crappy touchscreens that don’t work.
New wrinkle - you take your finished ballot to a machine which scans it and records your vote instantly, then keeps the paper ballot for a recount, if needed. Nice. Except it was broken or disconnected. The screen had a message to call a certain number. I asked the nice pollworker what was up and had they called the number. He laughed and said they couldn’t get through, he thought the number it was probably in India somewhere anyway.
I then commented that wouldn’t it have been awful if that machine, rather than just tallying the vote, was one we actually had to vote on? The worker rolled his eyes and said he couldn’t understand why governments wanted those computer voting machines. He didn’t like them either and was glad we used the ones we did.
So what was wrong with this system again? When we take over we need a national law to ensure paper trail voting and paper ballots for those who request them. Period. Let Bush veto that.
Still, relatively short lines, friendly pollworkers, simple machines that work. I that so hard to do?
.
.
Conquest Communications Group
804-358-0560
You’ll get Emily, who sounds like a very nice person. I asked her to appeal to her bosses’ patriotism and cease and desist from making robo-call attacks on members of one party, trying to suppress voter turn-out.
She said she’d pass my concern along, and I thanked her.
I understand that in some states the fine for harrassment phone calls is $500 a call.
To the legal beagles of Blue — Sic ‘Em!!!
Rove’s pole?
Oh, doooooooooood!
Well, he sure has a purty mouth.
Aiiight, I gotta get back to work.
petedownunder @ 70
www.theyoungturks.com
Just spoke to RevDeb, she said the ass was at Esast Hampton High Scool, and as Jane said there will photos later. RevDeb asked to post this.
Hello from outside the New Life Church in Meriden CT. I’ve been poll standing since 8:30 and turnout is very high.
The Liberman Sandwhich Board is here. It has been reported a friend of the sandwhich board here, another sandwhich board at another location had someone come up and order a pastrami on rye.
I’ve gotten a lot of nods and winks and confirmation of support for Ned.
petedownunder @ 68
do you know anyone with foxtel, pete? you could catch the cnn coverage…
There are other blogs?
p-rex @ 76
Thanks for the thought, but amazingly no one I know well enough to annoy all day has Foxtel, but I’ll look around. Hope fdl can handle the load. It’s THE place to be.
I SO want Lieberman to lose!
Blechhhh! Ptoooey!
Not much going on over there. They’re just glad its raining, hoping for depressed turnout. Losers.
One poster did have this, though. Huge grain of salt here, no idea if this is real.
MO McCaskill 49-46 OnPoint
MT Tester 49-44 OnPoint
TN Corker* 48-47 OnPoint
MO McCaskill 50-44 SUSA
Millineryman @
76
Nice, Millinaryman. Thanks for doing this.
Nim @ 56
There are mostly lever machines in CT with no straight Democratic option. It’s very easy (tempting?) though, just to flip two levers side-by-side on the Democratic row on the top of the ballot for Senate and Congress.
well, pete, wish i could help, but i’m no longer down under anymore.
sounds like you’ve got the right idea — stick with the innertubez and fdl!
punaise @ 53
But avoid the Liberman cassarole. I hear it has a high murcury content.
Atrios linked to spazeboy, too. So much for the bandwidth!
new thread
Thanks to all in Connecticut who are doing their part to take back our Republic, and special thanks to Hero Ned Lamont and his family for waging this battle. This sacrifice will not go unheralded in the histories written many years hence, when our descendants document the overthrow of the Bush/Cheney criminal enterprise and its primary Vichy enabler, RGJoe.
Thanks, NED!
My pleasure Jane, I’m having a blast. And the fact I can pick up a stray wifi signal is great.
On a break working the polls in Norwalk for Working Families and wearing my Kiss Button.
Turnout is very strong at my polling place (which I’m affectionately calling Honkeytown) and the voters are very serious - very serious.
There’s no Lieberweasel guy there - or at least not this morning but it was impossible to get a real read.
Milford’s a different story. My wife’s volunteering for Ned’s campaign and apparently Lieberschmuck showed up at her polling place this morning with the leader of the Connecticut House Jim Amman (who’s so full himself and shit these days that his eyes are brown). Looks like the Milford dems lined up foursquare for Joe.
The Lieberman people are very aggressive in Milford where I went to vote. I informed Lieberlady that if here running unopposed I’d write in SpongeBob.
State Rep Dick Roy described the Milford turnout as steady.
One amusing incident this a.m. one of the candidates showed up with donuts and a “box of coffee from Dunkin Donuts called: “A Box of Joe.”
Iy was immediately hit with two Lamont stickers and became a box of Ned.
Back to work and hopefully turn a couple of votes
vidocq
vidocq @
90
Awesome.
ifthethunderdontgetya @
86
Yeah I emailed him to let him know. He’s contacting the FBI to prosecute the LieberYouth.
What is this thing you call Bandwidth?
1. For what it’s worth, driving about 15 miles through towns of Avon, Unionville, Farmington, and Plainville, CT, on Sunday, I counted 23 yards with Schlesinger signs, 3 with Lieberman signs, and an intermediate number with Lamont signs (It’s a Republican area of CT). Could this mean that many Republicans are “coming home” to their man Schlesinger? Though he has no budget, he was the only candidate in the CT debates who seemed to be genuinely having a good time.
2. In Avon today, weather is good and turnout is heavy, with 32% already voting by noon.
3. Lots of positive comments were received from voters for Ned Lamont and Chris Murphy, which is unusual for Dems running in conservative Avon.
4. There has been only 1 Lieberman volunteer(?) at the busiest polling place in Avon, and he left at noon. No Lieberman workers were reported at the other 2 sites in town. Schlesinger signs were also in evidence at the Republican booth outside the largest polling place. Dem volunteers at the poll also far outnumbered Repubs.
Maybe there will still be a Lamont victory party tonight.
I just spoke to a friend in the CT Secretary of State’s office who’s watching voter turnout and potential polling problems. He said turnout state wide is extremely high and may well exceed 70%!
No notable voting problems to report, though lines are extremely long.
There is no one pole standing here for the declared Republican candidates. When a Republican voters asks are there any Republicans here, one of the Liberwursts with Sour Grapes chimes in “Right here, vote for Joe”
I’m going to sign off and save my batttery. Turnout here has been amazing. Go Ned!!!!!!
OT via Froomkin Tony Snow from yesterday’s White House press gaggle:
This was the same kind of thinking that got us in and stuck in Iraq. Some things never change.
back from voting. my h’wood (ca) polling place was abuzz, all ink-a-vote machines in use. turn out has been high, which is not the norm.
“voter rights” posted prominently at the door with numbers to call should trouble arise.
and fun fact, about 40% of voters so far are left handed. (poll workers were keeping themselves amused, though makes sense to me, a lot of creative types in the hood…)
A previous poster asked if CT voting machines had levers that select entire slates of candidates by party. Answer : no, they don’t. If I recall correctly, under CT election law, voting machines aren’t allowed to offer “party-line” voting.
Live ass huh? Joe on a rope.
Doc @ 98
Yeah, that was changed recently. They used to have party line levers IIRC. Most of the state has either lever machines or optical scanners, though there are some places that are using computer voting (sans paper trail of course).
Just a word of advice: Don’t believe a word that comes out of Chris Jansings’ mouth. She’s pro Lieberman and not afraid to sway it. In the 11:45 a.m. broadcast of MSNBC, she seemed quite happy when David Gregory excitedly announced that “Lieberman is poised for the win.” At 11:45 this frickin morning. Do they know something the voters don’t? Or are they just the idiots they look like. IQ around 85.
Smiley — thanks, I don’t know why my addy isn’t linked to my name above.
Silver Owl — if you trip back here, email me at rayne_today -at- yahoo.com with any other info about your robocall - thanks.
Richard J @ 93
Schlesinger has family in the area and will be able to pull more votes than previously thought there.
Actually, somewhere in the middle would have been worse for Joe. People always skip to the end, that’s why mail marketers put all those p.s. and p.p.s. messages at the bottom of their letters.