Results and Analysis of Key US Races

Results and analysis of key state races in the US off-year election of 2006, with a strong pro-Democratic Party spin. I stayed up all night jonesing on election junkie fix, mostly writing this post. I finally went to bed at 10:30 AM. My eyes were aching.

I would like to extend my gratitude to the fantastic Political Cheat Sheet blog, without which this post could not have been written, as I borrowed heavily from its analysis.

New update! 6:44 AM, November 22.




THE US SENATE



The D's are up in the Senate, 51-49, because traitor and Israeli agent Joe Lieberman and Bernie Sanders, independent socialist from Vermont, are supposedly going to caucus to D's. Lieberman, dog and traitor that he is, is reportedly demanding a Congressional committee chair, specifically, Homeland Security, as a price for caucusing with D's.

He will get that and Israel will control our homeland security even more than they already do. The D's picked up an incredible 6 seats! Amazing!

Jim Webb barely won in Virginia, as George Allen waited a day or so to concede. The Dems have won the Senate!

The winners are in bold.



ARIZONA

Kyl (R - incumbent) vs Pederson (D)

D's had hoped that former AZ Democratic Party Chair Jim Pederson with his big bucks could pick up this seat. Kyl is a good campaigner and Pederson was not able to pull this one out and Kyl won easily 53-44.


CONNECTICUT

Schlesinger (R) vs Lamont (D) vs Lieberman (I - incumbent)

It’s hard to believe how Ned Lamont blew this race, but never underestimate the sheer sleaze of Joe Lieberman, Senator from Tel Aviv, who actually campaigned as an antiwar candidate.

Lieberman will probably caucus with the D's if the D's give him the Homeland Security chair that he craves. Lieberman was always more loyal to a s-y little country than either political party, Connecticut or America. R voters broke heavily for Lieberman, who ran as an independent after getting his ass whooped in the primary. 50-40-10 Lieberman Lamont Schlesinger (the Republican).


MARYLAND

Steele (R) vs Cardin (D) (Open seat)

Michael Steele is a black man who is way too conservative for Maryland, a state were D's outnumber R's 2-1. He is pro-Iraq War, anti-abortion, anti-gay rights, and anti-stem cell research. He campaigned for Black votes all over MD, where the Blacks were very friendly, but then marched off to vote against him, as they always do to any Black R. Cardin ended up winning handily 54-44.

Cardin ran Michael J Fox ads for stem cell research, and that seems to have given him the election, although Cardin was a terrible, wooden candidate.


MICHIGAN

Bouchard (R) vs Stabenow (D - incumbent)

This race was over from the beginning. Bouchard was a lousy candidate and Michigan is quite hostile to R's this year. The only chance the R's had here is the Governor's race (being run with Amway money), which, while up in the air, for a while, was pulled out by the not-so-popular Dem incumbent. Stabenow won 57-41.


MINNESOTA

Kennedy (R) vs Klobuchar (D)

Klobuchar slaughtered Kennedy for this open seat. R's had big hopes of grabbing this one. No way. Klobuchar creamed him, 58-38.


MISSOURI

Talent (R - incumbent) vs McCaskill (D)

McCaskill won this race, but it was very, very close. The rural White areas go totally R, and the 3 big Black cities - Springfield, St. Louis and Kansas City - all go D in a big way. Rural and suburban areas get counted first and big cities get counted last. With 60% counted, Talent was ahead, but later, McCaskill pulled ahead and in the end, she barely won the race 49-48 and Talent conceded.

Talent is actually a decent man, although he is a fundamentalist Christian. At least he is honest, unlike so many of these Republican criminals. This was the closest race in the country and it was mostly about stem-cell research (Talent oppose it and McCaskill favors it), if you can believe that. Rightwing Christians are a huge factor here, as is their turnout.

A stem cell ballot measure, which won by 20 points, and ads by Michael J Fox, along with Rush Limbaugh's horrible comments about them, hurt Talent. Elections here depend heavily on how many rural Whites come out to vote.


MONTANA

Burns (R - incumbent) vs Tester (D)

Conrad Burns is wrapped up in with many of the top R scandals, and on top of that, he blew it over and over in the race. Organic farmer Jon Tester was considered by D's to be too liberal for Montana. This one should have been an easy R win. Guess not. Tester ran a great campaign. Tester won by only 2,850 votes. Cliffhanger!


NEW JERSEY

Kean (R) vs Menendez (D - incumbent)

Cuban-American Menendez, an ethically challenged D, took this one from Kean, a popular former Governor, in this very D state. This state tends to break D at the end, and the D vote tends to surpass all polls. Kean appears to have gotten nailed over the Foley scandal.

The NJ Supreme Court ruled in favor of gay marriage, and it was thought that this would help Kean, but it was not enough. NJ conservatives don't like Kean, who they see as too liberal. Many probably stayed home. Menendez 53-45.


NEW YORK

Clinton (D-incumbent) vs Spencer (R)

Total wipe out by Hillary, 67-31. Ouch!


OHIO

DeWine (R - incumbent) vs Brown (D)

DeWine, linked to George Bush, Bob Ney, unpopular governor Bob Taft and the criminal gangster Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, got nailed by Sherwood Brown, who ran a great campaign. A couple of years ago, he had a 60% approval rating. Not anymore. Ohio was a total disaster for R's this year. Blackwell lost; all the Representatives lost and DeWine got pummeled. Brown won 56-44.


PENNSYLVANIA

Santorum (R - incumbent) vs Casey (D)

Casey is a conservative anti-abortion former Governor. Santorum got totally creamed in this election. He is an extreme rightwing Christian Taliban crazy who was always wrong for this state. He launched a bevy of desperate attacks at the end as the Titanic was going down. Casey won 59-41.


RHODE ISLAND

Chafee (R - incumbent) vs Whitehouse (D)

The most moderate Republican in the Senate went down to defeat. Whitehouse won 53-47. Moderate R's are now an endangered species in the Northeast.


TENNESSEE

Corker (R) vs Ford (D)

Corker won this race by 3%, 51-48. This should have been a Republican shoo-in. Corker is a moderate but he ran a horribly racist campaign against Harold Ford, who is a mulatto. Ford ran a great campaign but screwed up by crashing a Corker campaign rally to demand that Corker stop dissing his family.

This was the dirtiest campaign of all, and both candidates clearly hate each other. The racist ad the R's ran showing a blond bimbo saying she met Ford at a party at the Playboy Mansion turned White rural racists against Ford. It's really hard for any D to win Tennessee, especially a Black or mulatto D. Why the D's ran a mulatto here, I have no idea.


VIRGINIA

Allen (R - incumbent) vs Webb (D)

Webb barely won by 7,250 votes. Webb was down by 26,000 votes and at the end he turned it around with the votes from Black cities like Richmond and Arlington. This was a horribly dirty campaign. Twisted sadistic freak Allen was supposed to be a poster boy for a GOP run for President in 2008, but that is over. That means that the Dems take the Senate!


WASHINGTON

McGavick (R) vs Cantwell (D - incumbent)

The R's should have won this one. Safeco Executive Mike McGavick was supposed to be a good choice, and Maria Cantwell barely won in 2000. McGavick ran a lousy campaign, fighting dirty and having to confess to a drunk driving arrest. This is a Democratic state. In the end, Cantwell massacred McGavick, 58-39. Cantwell was said to be "the most vulnerable" D Senator. What a joke. She creamed McGavick.




HOUSE RACES



Dems have picked up 29 seats so far to take comfortable control over the House with 233 House votes, defying most reasonable expectations. A few races are still up for grabs. Moderate Republicans in general were almost driven to extinction in the Northeast and increasingly in the Rust Belt. They are becoming an endangered species everywhere.

The Deep South is actually getting more Republican with each election (especially Georgia), which is why Webb's beating Allen is all the more startling. Since the Dems won the Senate 51-49, picking up 6 seats, the Dems now control Congress. Yo! I am drinking wine right now as a type!


ARIZONA

1 Renzi (R - incumbent) vs Simon (D)

5 Hayworth (R - incumbent) vs Mitchell (D)

8 Graf (R) vs Giffords (D) (Open seat)

Rightwing extremist and former State Rep. Randy Graf won the Republican primary in AZ8, and the national party gave up after that. Gabby Giffords ran a great campaign against him. Graf made hay on immigration at the start but it was too little too late. Giffords won easily 54-42. Not even funny.

At first D's thought Mitchell, the D challenger, had a good chance against JD Hayworth, a far right winger. But initially, Mitchell was far behind. The Foley scandal turned the whole thing around. It ended up being down to the wire, with Hayworth set to win, but in a wild upset, Mitchell won, 51-46. Incredible.

But gangster Hayworth, true to his thuggish style, has actually had the gall to refuse to concede the election, although there is not a snowball's chance in Hell that he can win. What an ass!

Rick Renzi was supposed to have a safe seat but is all tied up in a corruption mess. He won anyway, but it was close, 51-44.

Amazingly, Arizonans defeated a measure to ban gay marriage! This has always been a fairly libertarian state though, and the Christian nutcases are not so popular here.


CALIFORNIA

4 Doolittle (R - incumbent) vs Brown (D)

11 Pombo (R - incumbent) vs McNerney (D)

50 Bilbray (R - incumbent) vs Busby (D)

Almost no races in gerrymandered California districts are competitive. None of these three races should have been close at all. Pombo and Doolittle are both long-term Congressmen who have always won handy victories.

Anti-environmental rancher and extreme right winger from the Modesto - Tracy area in Central CA's Central Valley Richard Pombo was in the most trouble and was deeply tied to Abramoff's scandals. Incredibly, McNerney beat Pombo 53-47! Unbelievable!

Doolittle, another very rightwing Californian, this time from northeastern CA where there are more antelope than people, was also tied into just about every Republican scandal out there. Doolittle barely won 49-46. It is unthinkable in this district that this race should have been this close district.

Francine Busby challenged Brian Bilbray to replace R felon and former Rep Duke Cunningham. Bilbray won 54-43, but that is way too close.


COLORADO

4 Musgrave (R - incumbent) vs Paccione (D)

5 Lamborn (R - incumbent) vs Fawcett (D)

7 O’Donnell (R - incumbent) vs Perlmutter (D)

Two of three of these seats were supposed to be safe. Guess not.

Ed Perlmutter always had the best chance, and he beat Rick O'Donnell 55-42. This campaign was very nasty and mostly centered around illegal immigration. Coloradans are hopping mad about illegals, who have recently invaded the state in a huge way.

Rightwing radical Marilyn Musgrave led an anti-gay crusade, but faced a serious challenge from former pro basketball player Angie Paccione in CO4. The scandal involving the gay prostitute and the head of the National Evangelical Association, headquartered in CO, hurt Musgrave badly.

Musgrave was closing the gap 2 weeks ago with Paccione but more recent polling showed her falling behind again. Somehow, Musgrave squeaked it out, 46-43. I guess her evangelical base did not stay home like we thought they would. Musgrave is increasingly regarded as out of touch with her district. Angie Paccione had money problems at the end and that may have done him in.

Doug Lamborn is in a reliably Republican district and he beat Jay Fawcett easily 59-41. He ran an incredibly sleazy and dishonest campaign in which during the primary, he labeled his conservative R opponents as tax-raising liberals in thrall the homosexual agenda. Fawcett was a great candidate - a retired Air Force officer. In any sane district, Fawcett would have won handily.

But Lamborn's district centers around Colorado Springs, Ground Zero for deranged Christian Dominionist lunatics. Lamborn's evil campaign accused Fawcett of being pro-gay marriage, pro-pornography, pro-illegal alien, pro-gun control and a tax and spend East Coast liberal. None of which, apparently, are true. In the end, Christian Taliban freaks gave the election to the rude, vicious and wicked Lamborn.


CONNECTICUT

2 Simmons (R - incumbent) vs Courtney (D)

4 Shays (R - incumbent) vs Farrell (D)

5 Johnson (R - incumbent) vs Murphy (D)

Joe Lieberman's independent race was helping all three of the R incumbents above.

Shays was losing early in the evening but he somehow squeaked it out 51-48, which doesn't make a lot of sense.

Shays almost wrote his own death sentence with stupid moves. He refused outside R party help, defended Denny Hastert by bringing up Chappaquiddick, then topped it all off by saying that there was no torture at Abu Ghraib. That kind of nonsense may not fly in CN anymore. This guy was born with his foot in his mouth.

Republican Nancy Johnson got nailed by her Democratic opponent, Chris Murphy, 56-44.

On Election Day, Joe Courtney was up only 167 votes over Rob Simmons! A recount over a 6-day period gave the race to Courtney by 91 votes. Cliffhanger!


FLORIDA

13 Buchanan (R - incumbent) vs Jennings (D)

16 Foley (R - incumbent) vs Mahoney (D)

22 Shaw (R - incumbent) vs Klein (D)

Buchanan and Foley's seats should have been secure, but due to Foley's gay scandal and Katherine Harris' idiocy, they were not. FL13 is Harris' seat that she vacated to insanely run for Senate, though her own party despises her and she got totaled anyway.

Clay Shaw, a hard right winger in a D district, went down to ignominious defeat in a major upset in Ron Klein, who ran a great campaign. Both he and Klein poured money into the race. Klein won in a close race 51-47.

Buchanan should have been a shoo-in here, with all of his cash, but instead, he was supposed to lose this race to Christine Jennings. Katherine Harris' old seat almost took down her replacement, Buchanan. She and Foley are dragging down FL R's with them. In the end, Buchanan beat Jennings by 373 votes.

A recount has been completed and Buchanan won it but there appears to be excellent evidence of some typical Florida-style voting machine fraud in one county here which recorded 18,000 votes that voted for other offices but did not vote for Representative.

This is the sort of thing we saw all the time during the Election of 2004 that George Bush stole by hacking the voting machines. The best way to describe these votes is to say that they have "gone missing".

Jennings is now filing a lawsuit over this apparently obvious fraud and is asking for a new election, a request that is certainly legitimate.

The Foley-Mahoney race was a toss-up, but Mahoney beat Foley (actually, his replacement) by 4,400 votes.


GEORGIA

8 Collins (R) vs Marshall (D - incumbent)

12 Burns (R) vs Barrow (D - incumbent)

The R's should have grabbed these seats. Georgia is becoming more and more of a red state, and R Governor Sonny Perdue won easy re-election. Bush was down in GA campaigning for Burns and Collins but to no avail.

Marshall won by 1,700 votes.

Barrow barely pulled this one out after the results were certified on November 15, winning by 864 votes. Burns has conceded and will not seek a recount.

41% of voters here are Black, and the district contains heavily-black enclaves in Savannah. Barrow also somehow improved his performance in rural parts of the district. Curiously, this district was recently redrawn by the Republican Legislature, but Barrow won anyway.

Cliffhangers!


IDAHO

1 Sali (R - incumbent) vs Grant (D)

Bill Sali seemed to be a walking disaster. He was thought to be the only Idaho R to go down this year, but somehow, defying all expectations, Sali pulled this one out 50-45. Go figure. He is hated by many in his own party. The ultra-rightwing Club For Growth poured money into his campaign, seemingly sealing his doom. Grant is a moderate Dem.


ILLINOIS

6 Roskam (R - incumbent) vs Duckworth (D)

8 McSweeney (R) vs Bean (D - incumbent)

10 Kirk (R - incumbent) vs Seals (D)

14 Hastert (R - incumbent) vs Laesch (D)

Why was Hastert's seat even competitive? Hastert won 60-40, but he should have won a lot more than that. No way should that race have been close at all.

IL6 is the seat vacated by longtime R Henry Hyde (R). It is a conservative, wealthy district and this race went right down to the wire. Democrats ran a great candidate - disabled Iraq War vet Tammy Duckworth. Roskam vs Duckworth was back and forth all the way and right down to the finish line.

Clinton and Michael J Fox came in to work for Duckworth. The D Party poured $3 million into Duckworth's campaign at the end but Roskam won by 4,230 votes in a cliffhanger.

Melissa Bean was thought to be dead meat in this R-leaning district, but Bean moved to the center to keep her seat, 50-45.

Moderate R Mark Kirk, in a D-leaning district, was thought to be an easy winner but he has had to fight a hard race to keep his seat. Kirk is one of the few moderate R's surviving this 2006 R debacle, having won 53-47.


INDIANA

2 Chocola (R - incumbent) vs Donnelly (D)

3 Souder (R - incumbent) vs Hayhurst (D)

7 Dickerson (R) vs Carson (D - incumbent)

8 Hostettler (R - incumbent) vs Ellsworth (D)

9 Sodrel (R - incumbent) vs Hill (D)

The Republican governor here is really unpopular, and he is taking down many Indiana R's with him. This is a traditionally conservative state but the R's are getting creamed there this year.

Donnelly beat incumbent R Chocola 51-46.

Ellsworth massacred incumbent R Hostettler 61-39. That hurts!

Hill beat incumbent R Sodrel 49-46.

R incumbent Souder kept his seat 54-46.

Democratic incumbent Carson kept her seat 54-46.


IOWA

1 Whalen (R - incumbent) vs Braley (D)

2 Leach (R - incumbent) vs Loesback (D)

Whalen is history. Bradley beat the R 55-43.

Jim Leach, a moderate R who has been in trouble for a long time in this Democratic district, always seems to win. Loesback was not thought to be able to defeat incumbent R Leach this time, but he somehow won by less than 6,000 votes.


KENTUCKY

2 Lewis (R - incumbent) vs Weaver (D)

3 Northup (R - incumbent) vs Yarmouth (D)

4 Davis (R - incumbent) vs Lucas (D)

The R governor is suffering from scandals. Democrats made great gains in polls in recent weeks. Only Ken Lucas should have been in play here at all. Northrup and Lewis should have been shoo-ins, but this is a bad year for R's.

The Lucas-Davis race went back and forth in the polls but Davis won 51-44.

Conservative Democrat Col. Weaver fought incumbent R Lewis well but Lewis won handily 56-44.

Newspaper owner John Yarmouth kept moving up on incumbent R Ann Northup in the polls and amazingly squeaked past her 51-48.


LOUISIANA

3 Romero (R) vs Melancon (D - incumbent)

R's once thought they could pick up this seat. No way. Melancon won easily 55-40.

The crooked D Jefferson won in a crowded field with 30% of the vote. There will be a runoff between him and his closest challenger.


MINNESOTA

1 Gutknecht (R - incumbent) vs Walz (D)

6 Bachmann (R - incumbent) vs Wetterling (D)

The Foley scandal hurt ultra-rightwing Bachmann badly. Wetterling, a national child safety advocate, moved ahead of Bachmann a few weeks ago but Bachmann pulled it out at the end, 50-42.

R incumbent Gutknecht's race was supposed to be a safe seat. Nope. Walz won 53-47.


NEBRASKA

1 Fortenberry (R -incumbent) vs Moul (D)

3 Smith (R - incumbent) vs Kleeb (D)

It would have been hard for D's to pick up Fortenberry's seat. Lt. Gov. Maxine Moul ran a good campaign but went down badly 59-41.

Adrian Smith, backed by the reactionary Club For Growth, is an ultra-rightwing maniac. He seems to be too conservative even for this Republican district. Rancher Scott Kleeb ran a great campaign but Smith won 55-45.


NEW HAMPSHIRE

2 Bass (R - incumbent) vs Hodes (D)

Incumbent Charlie Bass is a popular moderate R who went down with the Foley scandal. It's simply incredible that he should lose to Hodes. Bass plummeted at the last minute, another moderate R biting the dust in the Northeast. This was supposed to be a safe seat. Hodes won 53-45.


NEW JERSEY

7 Ferguson (R - incumbent) vs Stender (D)

Stender was a liberal star who ran a great campaign. New Jersey is becoming a more D state these days but Ferguson fought for his life to hold onto his seat in a very close race. He should have won his seat easily. The NJ Supreme Court ruled in favor of gay marriage but this did not cause the damage to D's that everyone feared it would. Ferguson barely squeaked this one out by 2,240 votes.


NEW MEXICO

1 Wilson (R - incumbent) vs Madrid (D)

This is a D-leaning district but Heather Wilson has won a couple of races by now. It was thought she might lose this one, and Patsy Madrid, a good candidate but not such a good campaigner (big mouth) was favored to win.

On November 21, Wilson won the toughest campaign of her life, as Madrid finally conceded. Wilson won by 879 votes. Voting is not completely over, and Madrid may still ask for a partial recount.


NEW YORK

3 King (R - incumbent) vs Mejias (D)

19 Kelly (R - incumbent) vs Hall (D)

20 Sweeney (R - incumbent) vs Gillibrand (D)

24 Meier (R - incumbent) vs Acuri (D)

25 Walsh (R - incumbent) vs Maffei (D)

26 Reynolds (R - incumbent) vs Davis (D)

29 Kuhl (R - incumbent) vs Massa (D)

The NY GOP is imploding. Hillary Clinton creamed her Senate opponent and Eliot Spitzer creamed his Gubernatorial opponent.

Gillibrand nailed R incumbent John Sweeney 53-47. Sweeney lost in part due to a last-minute scandal where it came out that his wife recently called 9-11 on her because he was beating her.

Acuri beat R incumbent Meier, as predicted, 54-45.

Hall beat incumbent R Kelly in an upset by 3,500 votes.

Walsh, Kuhl and Reynolds, Republican incumbents, squeaked out victories:

Kuhl won 52-48.

Walsh won by less than 4,000 votes.

Reynolds won by less than 6,000 votes. Unfortunately, Democrat Jack Davis was a bizarre candidate against this highly vulnerable candidate.

Down to the wire, all three.

R incumbent King won more easily, 56-44.

Cliffhangers!


NEVADA

72 Heller (R - incumbent) vs Derby (D)

3 Porter (R - incumbent) vs Hafen (D)

These should be have been completely safe seats. There was a scandal involving R Congressman Gibbons, who ran for Governor, but the R's should won handily anyway. Instead, they were close races.

Heller won 51-46.

Porter barely won by less than 4,000 votes.


NORTH CAROLINA

8 Hayes (R - incumbent) vs Kissell (D) Too close to call!

11 Taylor (R - incumbent) vs Shuler (D)

Former NFL QB Heath Shuler took out R incumbent Charles Taylor (R) in NC11, 54-46. The D's have been after Taylor for a long time but Taylor has always had a knack for pulling out at the end. Taylor fought a dirty race and spent tons of money but went down anyway.

NC8 was a major D target, as it is a traditionally D district but their best candidate, Iraq War vet Tim Dunn, dropped out of the D primary. High school teacher Larry Kissell took his place but he never had any money.

Nevertheless, he polled well and he was ahead of R incumbent Robin Hayes going into the stretch. Then Kissell ran out of money at the end, and the national party did not step in help him. A recount is ongoing here, and Hayes' lead has shrunk to 339 votes.

Final results are expected soon. Hayes' lead has already shrunk by 120 votes after a number of provisional ballots were counted.


OHIO

1 Chabot (R - incumbent) vs Cranley (D)

2 Schmidt (R - incumbent) vs Wulsin (D)

15 Pryce (R - incumbent) vs Kilroy (D) Too close to call!

18 Padgett (R - incumbent) vs Space (D)

The Ohio GOP is in terrible shape. There have been endless scandals and GOP Governor Bob Taft has abysmal approval ratings.

Deb Pryce (R-OH15), #4 ranking R in the House, was favored to lose to Mary Jo Kilroy, who ran a great campaign focusing on the Foley mess. Pryce said proudly that Foley was her best friend in Congress, even after the affair broke. Pryce was originally thought to have won early on election election night, but the race turned back to being too close to call.

Right now, Pryce is up by over 3,600 votes but 19,000 provisional and absentee ballots remain to be counted. Furthermore, 30 ballot machines with about 1,800 votes on them were just found to not have been counted because poll workers could not figure out how to shut them down properly.

OH18 is history. This was Bob Ney's seat, but he is going to prison. His replacement in OH18, Joy Padgett, has battled stories of her company going bankrupt. Space massacred Padgett 62-38.

Cranley was favored to beat Chabot, but Chabot saved his own ass in the end, 53-47.

Jean Schmidt, the rightwing freak who ludicrously called John Murtha a coward, has now been declared the winner by AP, though there are still votes remaining to be counted in a recount. Schmidt is up by 3,200 votes over Victoria Wulsin in her Southern Ohio district. Southern Ohio is more like the South than the rest of Ohio - it's very fundamentalist and the Whites are quite racist. Christian fundamentalism has been exploding in that region lately.

This is a formerly rural district that is now part-rural and part Suburban Republican due to some major industries moving in here. The Suburban Republicans are also heavily Christian fundamentalist, but they have been getting increasingly disgusted with Schmidt, who is regarded as one of the worst freaks in the Republican Crazy freak show. This is a very Republican district that is considered by some to be the "hillbilly" part of Ohio.

Kook Ken Blackwell got creamed in the Governor's race.

Ohio is Waterloo for the R's - a total disaster. They lost the Senate seat, the Governor’s race and most of the statewide races, while the 4 Reps have to fight for their lives. Wipeout.


PENNSYLVANIA

4 Hart (R - incumbent) vs Altmire (D)

6 Gerlach (R - incumbent) vs Murphy (D)

7 Weldon (R - incumbent) vs Sestak (D)

8 Fitzpatrick (R - incumbent) vs Murphy (D)

10 Sherwood (R - incumbent) vs Carney (D)

R's got seriously creamed in Pennsylvania, just like Indiana, Ohio, and Connecticut. Bad, bad, bad. Senator Santorum got destroyed and the R's lost the Governor’s race in a wipe out. All in all, it was a massacre!

At first only R Jim Gerlach in PA6 was considered at risk but he somehow pulled it out the hat at the last minute. But Curt Weldon (PA7) and Don Sherwood (PA10) got toasted too. Weldon was hit badly by scandals and Sherwood went broke.

R incumbent Gerlach ran a great campaign against D Lois Murphy, not the best campaigner. Gerlach was well ahead a while back until the Foley mess hit. Gerlach was so frightened of national R's that he canceled an event with House Majority Leader John Boehner. It originally looked like Gerlach was going to lose but he won by 3,000 votes.

Sestak beat incumbent R Weldon, seriously damaged by scandal, handily, 56-44.

Altmire beat R incumbent Hart 52-48.

Carney beat R incumbent Sherwood 53-47.

Patrick Murphy, decorated Iraq War veteran, beat R incumbent Mike Fitzpatrick by 1,500 votes.


SOUTH CAROLINA

5 Norman (R) vs Spratt (D - incumbent)

This should have been an easy R seat. All sorts of big name R's came down to here to campaign for Norman but it was all to no avail. George Bush dragged down R challenger Norman, and he lost to D incumbent Spratt 57-43.


TEXAS

17 Taylor (R) vs Edwards (D - incumbent)

22 Sekula-Gibbs (R - incumbent) vs Lampson (D)

Tom DeLay's scandals gave away TX22, an extremely safe R seat that reliably elected DeLay year after year. His replacement Sekula-Gibbs polled very well towards the end, but write-ins never win. D challenger Lampson won handily by 52-42.

The R's had high hopes for TX17, which is increasingly R, but D incumbent Edwards easily won 58-40. R challenger and Iraq War vet Van Taylor was a poor candidate.


VERMONT

Rainville (R) vs Welch (D - incumbent)

The R's should have been able to grab this seat with a great candidate like Rainville, but Vermont is very D, and Rainville drowned in the flood. This was part of the D wave swamping the Northeast. Welch won 53-45.


VIRGINIA

2 Drake (R - incumbent) vs Kellam (D)

10 Wolf (R - incumbent) vs Feder (D)

D's were optimistic about Kellam's race, their best chance here in years. Kellam was up by a few points until news came out that he assaulted a woman in college. This race was a dead heat all the way but incumbent R Drake barely won at the end by 6,500 votes. Kerry's bad joke in this very military district and the assault charge both hurt Kellam.

Judy Feder ran a tough campaign focusing on gas prices against incumbent R Wolf, but falling gas prices helped Wolf keep his lead, and he easily won 57-41.


WASHINGTON

8 Reichert (R - incumbent) vs Burner (D)

D challenger and Microsoft millionaire Darcy Burner gave R incumbent Dave Reichert the battle of his life. The last known vote count had Reichert winning by 3,500 votes with 75% of precincts in. They are having a terrible time counting ballots in Washington for some reason, apparently because the vast majority of voters voted absentee.

Now that all votes have been counted, Reichert has won. Burner raised a lot of money, but rubber-stamp Reichert ran a campaign deliberately distancing himself from Bush and emphasizing Burner's lack of political experience.
No Democrat has ever won Reichert's district.

Reichert is a former sheriff who is credited with catching the Green River killer. This is basically the only reason he won. The truth is that he screwed up the investigation so much that the guy got away for 18 years, but the voters never figured that out. Reichert is one of the worst anti-environmental Congressmen, and he is increasingly out of step with Western Washington, where being Green is a big deal.


WEST VIRGINIA

1 Wakim (R) vs Mollohan (D - incumbent)

The Republicans should have been able to pick up this seat. Mollohan is fighting corruption charges but Chris Wakim, the Republican challenger, never made use of it. Mollohan creamed him 64-36.


WISCONSIN

8 Gard (R - incumbent) vs Kagen (D)

Republican Mark Green is running for Governor, so we have this race. This is a Republican-leaning district, and Kagen recovered from a dumb comment he made when he arrived late to an event, referring to his tardiness as "Injun time". In the end, Kagen beat incumbent R Gard by 6,500 votes. Cliffhanger.


WYOMING

Cubin (R - incumbent) vs Trauner (D) Too close to call!

This is a Wyoming district that R's usually win, but Barbara Cubin, an extremely rightwing, Christian Taliban, insanely pro-gun and anti-environmental Western R, can't seem to get no respect. She has never campaigned well and this campaign was worse than usual. Gary Trauner ran a tough campaign and sought out R votes.

During the campaign, Cubin threatened to slap a wheelchair-bound Libertarian challenger in what may have been the single stupidest move of the year by any candidate but Wyomingans probably don't even care. Cubin is ahead right now by 970 votes in preliminary votes that are due to be certified on November 15. Cliffhanger! Trauner will have to request his own recount if he wants one and pay for it himself.