Dem Jeff Merkley Declares Victory Over GOP Senator Gordon Smith
In a major Democratic pickup this year, Oregon Senate candidate Jeff Merkley is set to claim victory in the race against incumbent GOP Sen. Gordon Smith, Merkley's spokesperson has just told us.
"We will have a comment from Jeff at 9:30 this morning [Pacific Time], where he will claim victory," Merkley spokesman Matt Canter told Election Central.
The Oregonian, the Associated Press, NBC News and Fox News have all called the race for Merkley.
It's taken a while to get this race counted because of Oregon's mail-in vote system, but it's now very clear that almost all the outstanding ballots are from Dem strongholds that Merkley has been winning handily -- and he's already up on Smith by a few points in the count as it is.
This brings the Democrats to a gain of six Senate seats so far, with three GOP-held races still up in the air. The Dems now have 57 Senate seats, counting Joe Lieberman.
Late Update: Gordon Smith has conceded the election.
Yes, yes, yes!! Another one bites the dust! Congratulations to Merkely!
November 6, 2008 12:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
"The Dems now have 57 Senate seats, counting Joe Lieberman."
So when does Reid and Lieberman have that little conversation?
November 6, 2008 12:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
The Dems now have 57 Senate seats, counting Joe Lieberman.
Wrong. The dems have 55 Senate seats. If they are very, very nice to Independent and Socialist Bernie Sanders, he may graciously agree to continue caucusing with them.
Even if Harry Reid continues his repug-fellating behavior and lets Lieberman stay in the caucus, a 55-plus-one dem caucus plus Lieberman is still a 55-plus-one dem caucus.
55 plus one. Not 57.
November 6, 2008 12:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
"The Dems now have 57 Senate seats, counting Joe Lieberman."
So when does Reid and Lieberman have that little conversation?
November 6, 2008 12:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
Reid and other Senate Dem wheels have already started negotiations over next session's committee assigns and chairs. Joe LieberSchmuck is not a party to those negotiations. He'll be told what he's left with when they're done.
November 6, 2008 12:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
Do we have a mandate now, Novak? Do we have to hit 400 before you will admit we won?
Fuckingneocons.
November 6, 2008 12:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
57 seats and Obama won North Carolina. His mandate is growing.
November 6, 2008 12:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
I really hate the talk of a "mandate." You win the White House, you get to try some shit out. That's how it works. This isn't some basketball game where you need to win by 2 or something.
November 6, 2008 12:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes and no - the bigger the popular vote, the more the opposition is nervous about crossing the new president because it makes it clear that he has the approval of a vast majority of Americans.
It really does matter -
November 6, 2008 12:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
I don't know that Obama has won a mandate, but he's won by a significantly greater margin than in the last two elections, and that does matter. A win is a win is a win, sure.
But a win by 20 in a basketball game is signicantly more telling than a squeaker by 2 at the buzzer.
Obama's got the 20 point win.
November 6, 2008 1:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
KA-CHING!!! One more seat closer to 60, baby!
November 6, 2008 12:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
Can't remember if it was Tweety or Olbermann last night who said if the Dems don't reach 60, Lieberman will remain a Independent - but if they do reach 60, he's definitely converting to Republican.
Jackhole!
November 6, 2008 12:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Further to this, I'd love to see Chuck Hagel turn Democrat if Lieberman goes Republican!!
Anything is possible and I know Hagel is not at all happy with his party!
Talk about the ultimate face-in-shit retaliation move! Oh, let that happen!!
November 6, 2008 12:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
Personally, I think they should ditch Leiberman, and start kissing Olympia Snowe's ass, work her for a conversion to Democrat. Stranger things have happened. Caucus with reasonable Republicans, ditch Lie-berman, he cannot be trusted.
November 6, 2008 12:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
Didn't Hagel retire?
Also, on the other hand, if the Dems don't get to 60, they'll kick Lieberman out of their caucus. So, that's the bright side.
November 6, 2008 12:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
How long did it take you to get out of Grant Park Tuesday night? I left as soon as Obama left the stage and high-tailed it back to my condo before Michigan Avenue flooded over with people.
November 6, 2008 12:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
Not too bad at all. I left right after the speech and it took about 15-20 minutes to get to Miller's Pub, where we hung out while the crowd dispersed.
November 6, 2008 12:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
Not too bad at all. I left right after the speech and it took about 15-20 minutes to get to Miller's Pub, where we hung out while the crowd dispersed.
November 6, 2008 12:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
Didn't Hagel retire?
Also, on the other hand, if the Dems don't get to 60, they'll kick Lieberman out of their caucus. So, that's the bright side.
November 6, 2008 12:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
I suspect not.
Oh, he'll lose his committee chair, and that might make him want to leave the caucus, but those majority-party perks are a strong temptation.
November 6, 2008 1:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yup. Mr. Hagel, he retire.
Good addition to Obama cabinet, mebbe?
November 6, 2008 11:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
I wish like hell we'd hit 60 - I want to see him gone so badly. Those last rallies of McLame's, where he always had that smiling fuckwit standing behind him infuriated me beyond measure.
I really would give so much to never have to look at or hear Lieberman ever again.
November 6, 2008 12:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sweeeeet! Now, if we can only get Franken and Begich across the finish line.
November 6, 2008 12:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
Like I said the other day, had Gore won in 2000, Lieberman would have run this year as a Democrat. Had Lieberman won in 2008, we'd have a Democrat in office with Republican ethics and ideals. It would have been a complete mess!
For that SOLE reason, I'm happy Gore didn't win...even though he did win and had it stolen from him.
For all we know, he would have changed parties as a sitting President after he won...if that's even legal.
November 6, 2008 12:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think 60 has been overplayed because of the Blue Dog, Snowe, Lieberman, Sanders issues.
Cloture will be a moving target depending on the issue.
November 6, 2008 12:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
Totally agree.
Unfortunately, however, the symbolic importance of reaching that figure would probably mean the difference here between putting up with Lieberman and not putting up with him.
I do think that Republicans like Snowe and others will be working with the new administration. I don't think we need Droopy, but we need him less the more seats we pick up -
November 6, 2008 1:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
AP has called North Carolina for Obama.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aGJmi4G1QfDE
November 6, 2008 12:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
CNN International: Emanuel is the new Chief of Staff.
November 6, 2008 12:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
CNN just sent me a e-mail that Rahm Emanuel officially accepted the COS job!!
November 6, 2008 12:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ok, we got that over with.
Next!
November 6, 2008 1:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
Rahmbo is a real pit bull but I like his style. A little in-your-face South Side politics for their East-coast elitist asses! Oops! I mean Blue Blood old-money elitist asses!
November 6, 2008 1:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
Emanuel represents the North Side of Chicago, but he's definitely a pit bull!!
November 6, 2008 1:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
My bad...
November 6, 2008 1:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sorry, my correction above sounded rude - I just meant North or South Side, they're still pit bulls!
This Obama team will be up front making history!
November 6, 2008 1:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Friends and enemies agree that the key to Emanuel's success is his legendary intensity. There's the story about the time he sent a rotting fish to a pollster who had angered him. There's the story about how his right middle finger was blown off by a Syrian tank when he was in the Israeli army. And there's the story of how, the night after Clinton was elected, Emanuel was so angry at the president's enemies that he stood up at a celebratory dinner with colleagues from the campaign, grabbed a steak knife and began rattling off a list of betrayers, shouting "Dead! . . . Dead! . . . Dead!" and plunging the knife into the table after every name. "When he was done, the table looked like a lunar landscape," one campaign veteran recalls. "It was like something out of The Godfather. But that's Rahm for you."
Of the three stories, only the second is a myth -- Emanuel lost the finger to a meat slicer as a teenager and never served in the Israeli army. But it's a measure of his considerable reputation as the enforcer in Clinton's White House that so many people believe it to be true. You don't earn the nickname "Rahmbo" being timid."
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/8091986/the_enforcer/
Thanks to my boyfriend for sending this too me, months ago. It's a good article, check it, yo!
November 6, 2008 1:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
Fantastic news!!!!!
Btw, isn't it time for TPM to take down the poll tracker and replace it with the actual electoral map?? I love looking at what really happened, and the poll tracker is so yesterday's news.
November 6, 2008 1:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
Buh-bye, Gordon.
I love this state.
November 6, 2008 6:29 PM | Reply | Permalink