From the "Since you asked…" file.

John Cole is curious...

Is it possible that the bullet we dodged in 2008 wasn’t Palin, but McCain?

Since you asked, sure, it's possible.

Personally, I think it was a push. One ignorant bigot's pretty much the same as the next to me.

Map of the day.

Via Juan Cole...


We've got a lot of work to do on the change front, but that's what hope looks like.

And I've got a hunch our the kids are blue here in the upper left, too. Anybody got numbers?

I can't, of course...

...let the date pass without notice. It's hard to say anything about what it means that folks much younger than me would understand, though, and folks my age? Well, we know, don't we?

It's an anniversary that's been commemorated for 45 years, but this year is different.

This year, I can't escape the feeling that much of what we lost on November 22, 1963 was restored on November 4, 2008. It's been a long time coming...

Well, yeah…

The Governor of Alaska...

It's amazing that we did as well as we did.

I gotta give her that. Some people actually voted for McCain-Palin.

A bunch of 'em.

Amazing to me, too.

Brighter again.

A little less hate in the House...

...Blue America candidate Tom Perriello came from behind and won a slim, hard fought, grassroots victory against one of Congress' worst members, corrupt bigot Virgil Goode...

And the lights dim a bit…

Darcy:

It is likely at this point that Congressman Reichert has won re-election, and while we will certainly ensure that every valid vote is counted, we accept the decision of the voters.

The classy gesture you'd expect from Burner, but she was robbed, plain and simple, by the conjunction of a front page smear in the Seattle Times and the likely criminal line of credit extended by Reichert's media buyers, allowing him to broadcast the smear in the closing days of the campaign.

Darcy will be fine, I'm sure. Smart, personable, attractive Harvard graduates tend to do fine in our society.

Our country, though, has lost a treasure.

Bright moments…

GOP Congresswoman Marilyn Musgrave was unseated tonight by Democratic challenger Betsy Markey after another intense campaign that blasted voters with nasty attack ads.

The only thing Musgrave was good for was spiking the progressive outrage meter with the hate that rolled so trippingly off her tongue. Good riddance.

Ousting 22-year veteran Rep. Chris Shays in Connecticut gave Democrats every House seat from New England. Their victory in an open seat on New York's Staten Island gave them control of all of New York City's delegation in Washington for the first time in 35 years.

Another stake in the heart of the 'moderate Republican' myth.

Rep. John P. Murtha, D-Pa., who chairs a subcommittee with the most influence on the Pentagon's spending, who had a scare after calling his district south of Pittsburgh "racist," won easy re-election.

He's not exactly the model of a progressive Democrat, but he's a critical ally to the Speaker when she needs to move the Blue Dogs in the right direction and he's been in the right place, if not always for the right reasons, on the war. Good to see he wasn't punished for honesty.

“Democrats won new majorities in the Delaware House, Ohio House, Wisconsin Assembly, New York Senate, and the Nevada Senate.”

There's a census coming up, isn't there? This is a bigger deal than you might think.

Democrat Jeff Merkley has ousted Republican Gordon Smith from his U.S. Senate seat, The Oregonian projects.

Good news from the lower upper left.

OLYMPIA _ Trailing by more than 100,000 votes – and well behind in several counties he easily won four years ago – Republican Dino Rossi has conceded the race for governor.

Done. Chris is back. Whew.

Still pulling for Darcy and Peter and Al and some others. Glad, too, about I-1000 passing, and saddened by California's slip into the shadows of inequality.

But on balance? This is a good 'un. Maybe the best of my life.

From the "What he said..." file.

Joe Sudbay...

Good morning. And, I mean that. It is a good morning.

driftglass...

Last night was America's IQ test. The good news: We passed.

Damn straight.

Goldy...

There are more of us than there are of them

It's past time we acted like it, and it looks like this time we will.

Landslide...

...in Dixville Notch.

McCain - 6
Obama - 15

From the "Generalissimo Franco is still dead" file.

The Hotline…

VP Dick Cheney today endorsed John McCain and Sarah Palin...

That's it? At the eleventh hour they roll out the guy who's hated by even more people than the number of people who hate the president who is hated by more people than any other president in history.

And we're not supposed to get cocky?

Good advice.

Joe Sudbay...

We cannot get distracted by the noise. Stay focused. Work harder. Give more. And, crush the Republicans.

Yep.

La, la, la…

…the future former governor of Alaska can't hear you...

As she climbed the stairs to her plane, she ignored a reporter's question about how she'll vote next week in her state's Senate contest.

Me neither.

Me neither.

And you shouldn't oughta, either.

Hat tip to Blue Gal.

From the "Credit where it's due" file.

Former Bush speechwriter David Frum, via Political Wire…

"There are many ways to lose a presidential election. John McCain is losing in a way that threatens to take the entire Republican Party down with him."

At least he's losing the right way.

From the "Be careful what you ask for." file…

Palin's 'going rogue,' McCain aide

…or, if you prefer, she's going 'maverick.'

(Cross referenced to the "You get what you pay for." file.)

· From the "Slightly bowdlerized" file.

David Sedaris on undecided voters, via Kos…

To put them in perspective, I think of being on an airplane. The flight attendant comes down the aisle with her food cart and, eventually, parks it beside my seat. "Can I interest you in the chicken?" she asks. "Or would you prefer the platter of sh*t with bits of broken glass in it?"

To be undecided in this election is to pause for a moment and then ask how the chicken is cooked.

Heh™.

Kind of a drag.

The LA Times, in it's first presidential endorsement since 1972…

Palin is the most unqualified vice presidential nominee of a major party in living memory. The decision calls into question just what kind of thinking -- if that's the appropriate word -- would drive the White House in a McCain presidency.

The Chicago Tribune, endorsing a Democrat for the first time in the paper's 161 year history...

McCain failed in his most important executive decision...His campaign has tried to stage-manage Palin's exposure to the public. But it's clear she is not prepared to step in at a moment's notice and serve as president. McCain put his campaign before his country.

Both papers endorsed McCain in the Republican primary contest. It's not unreasonable to assume, given their histories, that both would have welcomed the opportunity to support him in the general. Sarah Palin made it impossible.

There's some speculation out there that Governor Palin may be the face of the Republican future. As a proudly partisan Democrat, I can only hope so.

X 50…

…I hope. Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rokita (Republican)...

"I will say that this is the first time I have ever seen a Democratic presidential campaign this engaged in this state."

Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wagn'nagl fhtagn.

Shrill is the new black. Howard Fineman...

If you're in this White House, you want another Republican administration to follow. You don't want a Democratic administration coming in there while the evidence is still fresh, so to speak.

New majorities and a functional Justice Department? Could be fun.