Culture City News
Live and Local Coverage
Of the 2006 Vote
“Midterm Midtacular”
(Sourced Key: TPM - Talking Points Memo/K-OS - Daliy Kos/

3:16 AM
it geting late night in Foggy Detroit
So Let me wrap it up

Home Base State (Michigan)
Jennifer Granholm did blow away Dick DeVos Big time winning a second term in office

Granholm (i) Dem 1,941,854 56.21
DeVos GOP 1,466,370 42.44

Debbie Stabenow Easyly won over Mike Bouchard

Stabenow (i) Dem 1,955,113 56.75
Bouchard GOP 1,426,029 41.39

so as Cox as A.G. and and Land as S.O.S.

Prop 1 Conservation Fund - Passed
Prop 2 Affirmative Action - Passed
(But it will be in the court for years)
Prop 3 Dove Hunting - Faoled
Prop 4 Eminent Domain - Pass
Prop 5 School Funding - Failed

US Housed
Nothing Change

Outside the 313

The Dems Have taking over
almost clost to the senante
need to win MONTANA and win the RECOUNT in VA

A Little up Date tomorrow
and back to pop Culture

Thank you for reading
GOOD NIGHT EVERY ONE

2:41 AM

Virgina Update
Precincts Reporting: 2435 of 2443 (99.67%)
Webb Jr Democratic 1,169,373 49.56%
Allen Republican 1,161,739 49.24%
Lead - 7634

Precincts Reporting: 625 out of 867 (99.67%)
Tester (D) - 149,249 - 50%
Burns(R)(Incumbent)- 141,733 - 48%
Lead - 7516

2:17 AM

Update on the last post

James Talent Cried uncle and give up
Claire McCaskill Win the Show Me State

2:07 AM

I was away Form the desk for two hours seeing some friends
So here some update From TPM

(November 08, 2006 -- 01:58 AM EST // link)
In the post below, TPM Reader DH is right. But get on this. It looks like Virginia will decide the senate. Karl Rove has turned races like this around before. You don't know the lengths they'll go to. Believe me, you're not being imaginative enough.

Check out Josh Green's article on Karl Rove from two years ago. Look what Rove pulled off in the disputed Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice race. Read it.

Get ready for the bogus headlines on Drudge. The rumors and innuendo. Live boys and dead girls. Like I said, your imagination will only get you maybe half the way there. Get ready.

-- Josh Marshall
-------------------------------------------

(November 08, 2006 -- 01:50 AM EST // link)
TPM Reader DH on the Virginia senate race and probable recount ...

The Republicans have backed themselves into a corner in Virginia. If you're going to go to the mat with dirty tricks and voter suppression, your counting on staying under the rader and that once the election is over, folks will move on. If Allen contests the results of the election it changes the election from a single day event into a 3 or 4 week event, plenty of time to chase down those callerid numbers and phone bank contractors. Virginia isn't Ohio. It doesn't have Ken Blackwell to cover up the GOP shenanigans, and the state has already requested the FBI to look into them. The Allen campaign is going to have to make the choice of whether contesting the results is worth the chance of exposing criminal activity. Let's hope they choose to contest. It's our best hope of fully exposing the shenanigans of the GOP to the light of day and getting the mechanisms in place to prevent their use in the next election cycle.
Good point.

-- Josh Marshall

------------------------------------------

(November 08, 2006 -- 01:45 AM EST // link)
Jim Leach (R-IA) concedes defeat in Iowa.

-- Josh Marshall
-------------------------------------------

(November 08, 2006 -- 01:38 AM EST // link)
More fun than the last two elections.

Late Update: Come to think of it. Make that the last three.

-- Josh Marshall
-------------------------------------------

(November 08, 2006 -- 01:18 AM EST // link)
Dem Senate candidate Jim Webb on CNN declaring victory before his supporters:

"I apppreciated what Senator Allen not long ago said when he came on the news and said, `We all need to respect the process in this country, the Democratic process.' We all go out, we vote, we argue, we vote, but also I'd like to say the votes are in. And we won."

Webb is leading 49.43%-49.36% with 99.47% precincts reporting.

-- Greg Sargent

------------------------------------------

(November 08, 2006 -- 01:03 AM EST // link)
Is Rep. Pombo (R-CA) going to be another Abramoff victim?

McNerney (D) 49.3%, Pombo (R) 50.7%, with 31% of the votes counted.

That'd be a satisfying win.

Late Update: Ha. Looks like I had those numbers transposed. It's McNerney with the slightly higher number. Even better.

-- Josh Marshall
------------------------------------------
(November 08, 2006 -- 12:56 AM EST // link)
Tennessee Senate seat goes to Bob Corker, CNN projects.

-- TPM Reader DK
------------------------------------------

(November 08, 2006 -- 12:42 AM EST // link)
With 76% reporting, Democrat Claire McCaskill has emerged with a very narrrow lead over Sen Jim Talent. Most of the late vote in Missouri breaks for the Democrat, so you would expect to see McCaskill stretching that lead as the night wears on. But no guarantees.

Late Update: CNN was reporting on its website a very narrow McCaskill lead, but the latest numbers--with just 71% reporting--show Talent up by 3 percentage points.

Later update: McCaskill back on top. With 80% reporting, she leads 49-48.

-- TPM Reader DK
------------------------------------------
(November 08, 2006 -- 12:26 AM EST // link)
It's interesting. It didn't always show up in an obvious way in the polls. But I always thought the corruption issue had a pervasive, atmosphere effect, pulling down the Republicans and particularly the GOP Congress. At least the exit polls seem to show that that was true. Makes me really happy we launched Muckraker earlier this year.

I'll be curious to see how that conversation goes over the coming days, what the conventional wisdom becomes on the relative weight of Iraq, Bush and the corruption issue in ending the Republican majority in the House.

What do you think?

-- Josh Marshall
-------------------------------------------
(November 08, 2006 -- 12:24 AM EST // link)
The White House strategy for going forward is pretty apparent from this Reuters dispatch:

President George W. Bush, disappointed at the Democrats' seizure of the House of Representatives, will hold a news conference on Wednesday to urge his opponents to work with him, the White House said.

The news conference was set for 1 p.m. EST (1800 GMT).

White House spokesman Tony Snow said the outcome of the elections, in which Democrats were projected to win control of the House and pick up several Senate seats, was "not what we would've hoped."

"But it also gets us to a point: Democrats have spent a lot of time complaining about what the president has done. This is an opportunity for them to kind of stand up," Snow said.

No concessions. No retreat. No surrender.

There will be much more to say about this in the coming hours and days, but it's not a bad time, even as the Senate remains in the balance, to emphasize a point we have made here from time to time during this campaign.

The election marks a beginning more than an end. Savor the moment tonight. But there is much to be done and no time to linger. Plans must be implemented. More battles waged. Our opponents have been planning for this moment for many months. They are ready. We must be, too.

-- TPM Reader DK
-------------------------------------------
(November 08, 2006 -- 12:20 AM EST // link)
The two Georgia House districts which have been fiercely contested are still too close to call. Both Democratic incumbents, Marshall and Barrow, hold small leads with most of the votes counted.

-- TPM Reader DK
-------------------------------------------

(November 08, 2006 -- 12:16 AM EST // link)
Democrat Bruce Braley picks up the Iowa-01.

-- TPM Reader DK
-------------------------------------------

(November 08, 2006 -- 12:13 AM EST // link)
Karl Rove formally told the President tonight that the House had gone to the Democrats, Reuters reports.

To have been a fly on that wall.
-- TPM Reader DK

1:54 AM
Wednesday, November 8
The Day After

All Of Michigan is Decide i Thorw a link to the Free Press for all the Michigan Reslut

late update of Three Senate seats (ALL CLOSE)

MISSOURI
McCaskill (D) - 867,683 - 49%
Talent(R),(I) - 842,251 - 48%
Lead - 25,432
85% precincts reporting - Updated: 1:56 a.m. ET

MONTANA
Tester (D) - 124,395 - 51%
Burns (R)(I) - 114,687 -47%
Lead - 9708
64% precincts reporting - Updated: 1:55 a.m. ET

Webb (D) - 1,151,230 - 50%
Allen (R),(I) - 1,145,511 - 49%
Lead - 5719
99% precincts reporting - Updated: 2:00 a.m. ET
and Can you say recount in Virgina

11:52 PM
From CNN

Macca is almost going down

Virgina Senant
Webb - 1,141,052 - 50%
Allen - 1,138,676 - 49%
99% of precincts reporting

11:30 PM Nothing new in Michigan
but in the Virgina Senant seat

Allen(R) - 1,133,424 - 50%
Webb (D) - 1,126,510 - 49%
98% reporting
can you say recount
like i say the senant could be decied by the Michigan/ Ohio Sate Game

11:07 PM
Dick DeVos waves the white Flag
He cry uncle and give up
Jennifer Granholm win 2nd term in Michigan

11:04 PM
NBC News
Dems Win the House

10:45 PM - Well it the top of Hours to the witching Hours (11PM)

Here are the update on the make up of the 110 Congress

Senante
46 GOP/ 43 Dems/ 2 Indie (one vote for Dem, the other i dont know)
House
138 Dems/ 124 GOP
with a pick up of 3 more seats incling former Tennessee QB Heath Shuler winning a house seats in Tennessee.

And back here in Michigan, CNN is calling the conserve Pro 2 pass Ouch

10:17 PM Local Headlines From the Home Base State (Michigan)
And ot my loveable Furball at riff2 you dont want to go to the free Press web page
but the headline is

Granholm wins second term
Gov. Jennifer Granholm turned away an aggressive and hugely expensive challenge from wealthy Republican businessman Dick DeVos on Tuesday to win a second term as Michigan governor.

Cox cruises to re-election
Republican Attorney General Mike Cox cruised to victory over his Democratic opponent Amos Williams in the general election by a margin of 55% to 40%, according to exit polls conducted by Mitchell Research for the Free Press and WDIV. The poll has a margin of error of 3.9%.

Stabenow wins re-election to U.S. Senate
U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow scored a landslide victory over Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard, according to exit polling which showed her with a 20-point lead over her Republican opponent

Land wins second term
Republican Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land handily won a second term against Macomb County Clerk Carmella Sabaugh, a Democrat

Poll: Affirmative action ban too close to call
Election Day telephone poll also shows: • PROP 1: DNR money likely protected • PROP 3: Mourning doves likely safe • PROP 4: Voters likely opt for land protection • PROP 5: Funding increases for schools likely defeated

10:04
New make up (From Cnn.com)
Senate
GOP 46/Dem 43/ Indie 2
House
114 Dems /GOP 97

10:02 PM This Just in Samtorem cry uncle he give up
Casey win and worst
a Lot of the new sight are running slow

9:52 Pm
From Think Progess
NBC News projects that Baltimore Mayor Martin O’Malley, a Democrat, will win the Maryland governorship - unseating Republican incumbent Robert Ehrlich.
So Sinclair Broadcasting Fave Gov is OUT.

9:48 PM - Update From TPM
Yarmuth takes out Ann Northup in KY-03. Amazing! And Donnelly takes out the Count in IN-02.
Called hot races:
Indiana 02: Donnelly (pickup)
Indiana 08: Ellsworth (pickup)
Kentucky 03: Yarmuth (pickup)
Vermont AL: Welch (hold)

9:35 Pm A GOP Senter have been show the door
Lincoln Chafee goes down in Rhode Island, according to CNN, losing to Sheldon Whitehouse

Michigan update

Governor - Michigan 288 of 5681 Precincts Reporting

Granholm , Jennifer (i) Dem 104,804 53.05
DeVos , Dick GOP 89,945 45.53

U.S. Senate - Michigan 254 of 5681 Precincts Reporting

Stabenow , Debbie (i) Dem 101,438 55.49
Bouchard , Michael GOP 77,735 42.53

Proposal - 2 Affirmative Action - Michigan 150 of 5681 Precincts Reporting

Yes 55,899 62.20
No 33,971 37.80

Proposal - 3 Dove Hunting - Michigan 150 of 5681 Precincts Reporting

No 58,464 64.50
Yes 32,183 35.50

Proposal - 5 School Funding - Michigan 150 of 5681 Precincts Reporting

No 57,845 64.89
Yes 31,300 35.11

9:16 - Make up

Senate
44 GOP/ 41 Dems/ 2 indie
House
61 Dems/ 55 GOP



9:12 PM -
From K-OS

Governor races
Latest hot races called:
Illinois: Rod Blagojevich (hold)
Massachusetts: Deval Patrick (pickup)
Michigan: Jennifer Granholm (hold)
Ohio: Ted Strickland (pickup)
Senate Races
Latest called competitive races:
Michigan: Debbie Stabenow (hold)
Minnesota: Amy Klobuchar (hold)
New Jersey: Bob Menendez (hold)
Ohio: Sherrod Brown (pickup)
Pennsylvania: Bob Casey (pickup)
Update: All that late GOP money into Michigan was wasted. Stabenow wins.
Update II: Mark Kennedy is a rising star in the Republican Party. Haven't you heard? Too bad Klobuchar kicked his ass.
And bad News Liberman have been called the winner in CT by MSNBC

9:04 PM Latest live and Local update

Governor - Michigan 47 of 5681 Precincts Reporting

Granholm , Jennifer (i) /Dem/13,858 /55.65
DeVos , Dick /GOP /10,692 /42.93

U.S. Senate - Michigan 44 of 5681 Precincts Reporting

Stabenow , Debbie (i)/Dem/12,453/55.63
Bouchard , Michael/GOP/9,466/42.29

Proposal - 2 Affirmative Action - Michigan 19 of 5681 Precincts Reporting

Yes/6,433/64.09
No/3,604/35.91

Proposal - 3 Dove Hunting - Michigan 19 of 5681 Precincts Reporting

No/ 6,394/62.95
Yes/ 3,764/37.05

Proposal - 5 School Funding - Michigan 18 of 5681 Precincts Reporting

No/5,903/65.76
Yes/3,073/34.24

8:43 PM

Latest called competitive races:
New Jersey: Bob Menendez (hold)
Ohio: Sherrod Brown (pickup)
Pennsylvania: Bob Casey (pickup)

Update: the dems have pick up 2 seats each in the house, the Sen.and the Gov.

8:34 PM UpDate

Prop 2 decision too close to call
Marisa Schultz and Karen Bouffard / The Detroit News

The battle over Proposal 2, the controversial ballot proposal to ban affirmative action at public colleges and governments, was too close to call early Tuesday night based on exit polling.
Voters who wanted to preserve racial, gender and ethnic preferences at public colleges and governments prevailed by about 4 percentage points, according to the poll sponsored in part by The Detroit News, WXYZ (Channel 7) and WWJ (AM (950). That is within the margin of error of the exit polling.
If passed, Michigan would become the third state to ban affirmative action at public entities by way of a ballot issue. As a result, Prop 2 has attracted notable national attention, sparked passionate debate and even divided friends.

8:28 PM More updates
From K-os

Called hot races:
Ellsworth (D) IN-08 (pickup)
Hodes (D) NH-02 (pickup)
Welch (D) VT-AL (hold)
KY-03 may be the first to be called, with Yarmuth holding on to a slight lead.
Update: Woo hoo! IN-08 falls to Ellsworth.
Update II: CBS just called Pennsylvania for Bob Casey. The easy calls are coming in.
Ohio: Ted Strickland (pickup)
Massachusetts: Deval Patrick (pickup)
Illinois: Rod Blagojevich (hold)
Update: Massachusetts is officially ours. Meet Gov. Deval Patrick.
Update II: Blago has been called in Illinois. That's a hold on a seat that was scary for a while.

8:21 PM Three More have been shown the Door
Sen. Rick Santorum beat by Democrat Bob Casey
Mike DeWine kick out the Doors by new senter Sherrod Brown
and the policial life of Kattleen Harris is over
BueBye

Gov. Jennifer Granholm, U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow and Attorney General Mike Cox were leading by wide margins in election day polling, while legalized dove hunting appeared to have been shot down, and a controversial affirmative action ban proposal was leading.

The election day telephone poll of 600 voters, conducted by Mitchell Research of East Lansing for Local 4 and the Detroit Free Press, also showed Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land far ahead of her opponents, and Proposition 5, a schools funding proposal, failing.

The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

The official turnout hadn’t been determined, but the Secretary of State’s office estimated earlier in the day that 3.4 million Michiganders would vote – nearly 45 percent of state residents 18 years of age or older. In the last gubernatorial general election in 2002, 3.2 million of the state’s 6.8 million registered voters voted, or 47 percent.

In the Mitchell Research polling, these were the early results:

GOVERNOR: Granholm, the incumbent Democrat, was leading Republican challenger Dick DeVos, a wealthy Grand Rapids businessman, by a margin of 56% to 42%.

U.S. SENATE: Stabenow, the state’s freshman Democratic senator, was leading Republican challenger, Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard, by a margin of 60% to 39%.

ATTORNEY GENERAL: Cox, the incumbent Republican, was ahead, 55% to 40%, over Democratic challenger Amos Williams.

SECRETARY OF STATE: Incumbent Republican Land was far ahead of Democratic challenger Carmella Sabaugh by a margin of 57% to 39%.

On the state’s five proposition items, meanwhile:

PROPOSITION 1: Passed easily. Polling said the margin was 81% to 19%. (The issue would require money collected from park fees, hunting licenses and so forth to be reinvested in those areas.)

PROPOSITION 2: In a vote watched closely by the rest of the nation, this proposal was ahead 55% to 45%. (The issue would amend the Constitution to ban affirmative action programs for public employment, university admissions and government education or contracting purposes.)

PROPOSITION 3: Mourning doves appeared to be one of the night’s biggest winners. The poll showed this measure failing 67% to 33%. (The proposal would have directed the National Resources Commission to establish a dove hunting season.)

PROPOSTION 4: This proposal appeared headed for passage, 68% to 32%. (The proposal would make it unconstitutional for government to condemn property for private purposes.)

PROPOSITION 5: Appeared headed toward defeat, failing 38% to 62%. (It would require funding for public education from kindergarten through college to rise at the rate of inflation every year.)

8:14 PM UpDate
From TPM

As expected, Democrat Ellsworth is pulling away from longtime GOP incumbent Hostettler in the Indiana 8th.

In the race to replace Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL), Republican Joe Negron is holding his own in early returns, despite not having his name on the ballot.

In Indiana, Dem Joe Donnelly takes a lead over GOP Rep. Chris “the count” Chocola, 59%-41%, with 26% precincts reporting.

In early returns, the U.S. Senate race in Virginia is neck and neck.

8:03 EST: Webb up 50-49 with 23% reporting.

The night's first GOP upset in the House is brewing in the KY-03, where Yarmuth is edging Northup 50%-49% with 68% of precincts reporting.

7:56 EST: Yarmuth edges further ahead, 50-48, with 78% reporting.

------------------------------------------

From K-os

Latest called competitive races:

Ohio: Sherrod Brown (pickup)

Update: And yes, Cruella is officially dead. And she spent her family fortune to lose bad. Sweet.

8:00 PM Polls Close from michigan
Here We Go

WXYZ-TV is calling the Governor race to Jennifer Granholm base on Exit polls and will win her second them as Governor also XYZ is also calling it a second term for Debbie Stabenow over Mike Bouchard as Sen., AG(COX) and Sectuary of state(Land) won easy re-election
Prop 3 and 5 Failed did not get any info on two

7:44 PM - in about 15 mintues all hell will break loose so i will not get to everythings untill later but a 8 PM the only result willl from michigan from Exit Polls in Detroit Tv station the rest will be added later.

7:30 PM - Someone is going down
OHIO Gov go to a Dems
Ben Blackwell is the first shown the door, as Air America Randi Rhodes would sa BUy by.
A blowout in Ohio has been called.

Governor races
Latest races called:
Ohio: Ted Strickland (Pickup)

Other News
TPM
VA-SEN: CNN Exit Polls: Webb Well Ahead Among Women
By Greg Sargent

Virginia Senator George Allen tried to make Dem Jim Webb's treatment of women a central issue in the campaign, attacking Webb on the stump and in ads for his allegedly misogynic fiction writings and his essays about the problems of having women in military academies. But CNN's exit polls are finding that these attacks may have failed: They find that Webb is winning over Allen among women 56%-43%.

And there More

OH-SEN: Judge Orders Cuyahoga Polls Open Late
By Justin Rood

Only two areas were keeping their polling places open late to compensate for delays and problems earlier in the day, we reported earlier.

Now a third -- Ohio's Cuyahoga County -- will extend voting hours for its residents, because of "technical glitches an delays in opening," the Cleveland Plain Dealer is reporting. Voters there will have until 9 p.m. local time to cast their ballot.

7:25 Pm - 35 Mintues untill all hell break loosed
the intro of tonight 6:30 Network newscast

From TVNewser.com:

Brian Williams(NBC): "Tonight American voters decide the direction of their nation. By this hour, almost all of the shouting is over and all eyes tonight are on the American electorate."

Charles Gibson (ABC): "Good evening. This is going to be a fascinating night. An election day is always a great day for a democracy. We are going to learn a great deal tonight about how Americans feel about the war, about the president, about taxes, immigration -- the list is long. And voter opinions passionately held."

Katie Couric(CBS): "Hi, everyone. Well, it's election night, and voters all over the country are deciding who will control the new Congress." After summing up the balance of power, Couric said: "Polls are still open in much of the country. If they're open where you are and you haven't voted, please do. Then, come back to CBS and watch your vote count."

7:11 PM Latest called races:

Vermont: Bernie Sanders (I)- Hold
Indiana: Richard Lugar(R) - Hold

Polls have closed in Virginia, Vermont and Indiana

7:06 PM

Viewer Guide from to the michigan Canadate Party
Gov
Jennifer Granholm - Downtown Detroit
Dick DeVos - Lansing
Sen
Debbie Stabenow i think it Downtown
Sheriff Mike Bouchard - Ponatic

7:02 PM
first Exit Polls
Virigia - Too Early to call

6:55 PM - The first polls are about to close and will se who going home

6:50 PM - From TPM

From Wilburtronic, on the ground in Wyoming:

Turnout is up, apparently higher than 2002. The Trauner campaign met their goal of increasing turnout by 1,000 in Fremont County. Since that's mostly Native American, that's probably an extra 700 votes for Trauner.

CW is that Trauner would benefit from a low-turnout election. That's not happening. But the Wyoming Democratic Party, thanks to money from the 50-state-strategy and new staff, have put together their strongest GOTV operation ever.

Phone banking in Teton county has made 3,000 phone calls into Cheyenne, Laramie, etc after they finished Teton. They feel good about GOTV. If turnout is higher, it's hard to see that being for any race other than the House race. Since Cubin is so disliked nobody is really thinking that a high turnout would be for her.



6:46 PM - Update from TPM

House Results Thread #1

Polls have closed in Kentucky. Indiana should've closed, but polls will be open later because of voting problems.

Latest called races:
None

Update: And on a non-House note -- don't look at the exit polls. DON'T. They don't mean squat. We'll be getting real results in a few hours. I'm not blogging them because, quite frankly, I don't believe them.

Good Call

6:41 PM - Sorry i have to pulled down the the Exit polls Fro Huff Po because they incluld races that have not yet closed so i pull down this info some of the polls are close in Indian and Kentuckey other parts of the states will be close at 7 Pm, but this will go nuts at 8 PM in cluding Michigan

6:11 PM - this story just cross on the detroit Free Press web sight
Weather, long lines just part of voting problems

November 7, 2006

By AMBER HUNT

Free Press Staff Writer
Icky weather and long lines were far from the only problems reported at voting polls in metro Detroit.

Complaints ranged from parking problems to voting machines being down.

Some said they watched as frustrated would-be voters stomped away, sure their ballots wouldn't be counted.

Among the complaints:

• On Detroit's west side, where parts of the 17th and 18th Districts vote at Harding Elementary School, one of three voting machines was down the bulk of the day, voters there said. That machine handled all of the voters from the affected 17th area, said Dan Baker, 33. Baker refused to hand over his ballot to poll workers, who stacked the uncounted ballots in a box on the floor, he said. And he wasn't the only one. Warren Scott, 35, of Detroit, said his grandmother, 73-year-old Dorothy Scott, refused to turn over her ballot for fear it wouldn't be counted after the polls closed, as promised. Frustrated voters raised such a ruckus that the Detroit Police came, Warren Scott said – and the machine began working within five minutes, onlookers said. "I was the second one through the machine when it started up," Baker said. "It made me wonder, ‘Why are they making my people go through this?'" he added, noting that the Detroit polling location catered mostly to blacks.

• Advancement Project, a national civil rights organization that's been working with the NAACP to "ensure a problem-free election," according to officials, also cited voting machine problems and reports of large numbers of voters who are not on file but who have their voter registration information. Earlier in the day, the organization had highlighted problems with the Detroit Bureau of Elections' phone lines. Three lines were alternately busy or diverting callers to answering machines.

• The Michigan Republican Party filed a lawsuit against the Michigan Democratic Party with the Wayne County Circuit Court in Detroit, alleging that MDP officials wore party-issued vests that read, "I can help you" and acted like election inspectors. "This type of conduct by the Michigan Democratic Party is outrageous," MRP Chairman Saulius "Saul" Anuzis said in a released statement. "Poll challengers are not to talk to voters."

• Meanwhile, Advancement Project accused Republican challengers of also attempting to identify themselves as representatives of the state.

• A hacker bombarded the website of U.S. Senate candidate Mike Bouchard, crashing the site mid-morning Tuesday. The same thing happened last week, said David All, spokesman for the Bouchard campaign, but the problem was fixed in a few hours. This time, the attack was so widespread that campaign officials had little hope that they could get the site up and running again today. "We're getting thousands of hit simultaneously," said All. "We're not pointing any fingers. But somebody is trying to keep Mike's message down."

• In Pontiac's precinct 6, poll workers were quickly overwhelmed with lines that began to form before the polls opened at 7 a.m. As a result, two more voting booths were put up to accommodate the crowd. By 11 a.m., the line was still at least 10 people long.

• Some voters got confused by language at the top of the ballot, which stated to mark the oval opposite of their candidate of choice. Poll workers, who aren't allowed to advise on voting matters, wouldn't explain which oval voters should fill, so some learned after they filed that they'd voted for the wrong candidate.

6:06 PM - If you have not vote yet please do so

6:03 - From TPM
Reportedly very high turnout in Virginia, Missouri, Montana, and Tennessee.

6:00 PM - first Exit polls withing the hours
The State Exit polls in Michigan just before 8 PM

5:55 PM - it looks good in VA
From TPM
A Republican poll watcher writes in to the National Review's Jonah Goldberg:

Jonah,

Spent my lunch hours working the polls in the People's Republic of Old Town, Alexandria. My polling place is city hall, where Clinton et al. had their rally last night. I couldn't avoid the rally, since it was right around the corner from my house. The turnout and the energy of the crowd made me very concerned about the results today. True, this is a very liberal area, but I've been through many elections and never seen that sort of buzz for a political rally here. These people are pretty fired up. True to form, Clinton arrived late and spoke to long, crowding others off the schedule.

Turnout today was about 1,000 voters by lunchtime. Last year for the gubernatorial eleciton, it was less than half that. While passing out Allen literature, I was called macaca once, and another person said he was getting his noose for Allen - a reference to a Post story about a noose he kept in his office I believe. The talk was generally that Allen ran a terrible campaign, and if this election decides anything, it is that Allen and Kerry are both toast for 2008.

A pickup truck with a coffin in it was parked in front of Market Square, the site of last night's rally. The owner appeared to be a middle aged Hispanic man, mourning his son who was killed in Iraq. He had a pickup truck with information on his son, and a coffin in the back with his service information. I wasn't close enough to hear, but he appeared to be blaming Bush for his son's death to the TV cameras. It was really a pretty moving sight. Although I think the conclusions he has drawn are incorrect, I am sure that sort of thing can sway many people.

My report from the front.

The reports from the field in Virginia are incredible -- with the Dem GOTV operation absolutely swamping the Republican effort.



5:45 PM - Just to Let you know what at stake
Before to night
Sentane - GOP 55/ Dems 45
Dems needs to win 6 seats
House - GOP 231/ Dems 202
Dems Need to win 15 to win back the House
Gov. - GOP 28/ Dem 22

5:40 PM - In about 20 minutes the First result will come in over the wire From Indiana and Kentuckey (Polls close at 6 PM)

5:24 PM - from the Four sight (Daliy kos(KOS), Talking points Memo(TPM), Huffington post )(HPo) and Crooks and liyers .com(C&L)

VA-Sen: Historic Turnout

Connecticut isn't the only state with possibly historic turnout levels:

Sources in both camps [Allen & Webb] tell CNN they are getting reports of record turnout approaching presidential election-year levels from Fairfax County (Webb turf) to southwestern portions of the state (Allen territory).

There has also been a sharp increase in absentee ballots, according to the Virginia Board of Elections. During the last midterm election year in 2002, there were 44,000 ballots cast. This year, 131,000 absentee ballots have been requested.

Will the pace hold up or taper off? Apparently, it may hold up, and turnout in Virginia may be double that of 2002:

Reports from around Virginia early Tuesday indicated an extraordinarily high turnout for a midterm election, with perhaps 65 percent of registered voters expected to cast ballots, state elections officials said. That would double the midterm turnout in 2002.

5:20 PM - Story right now in Detroit 2 and a half hours left
there voteing dispiet the rain in Detroit there still voteing

the big story in Michigan is The FBI is investigating an apparent attack by hackers that today shut down the Internet Web site of U.S. Senate candidate Mike Bouchard.

Anyone trying to log on to MikeforMichigan.com gets a message saying the site was shut down as a result of an attack by hackers.

David All, a spokesman for Bouchard's Republican campaign, said attackers created a program that resulted in the site being bombarded with massive requests for information that shut the site down. Workers were trying to get the site back up but it was unlikely to happen before the polls closed, All said.

Investigators tracked the source of the attack to Maryland, he said.

"The Detroit FBI office had a referral on this matter," said FBI spokeswoman Dawn Clenney. "We've been advised of it and our cyber-crime squad is looking into it."

All said a smaller attack with similar fingerprints happened about one week ago. At the time, campaign officials were not sure whether the problem was due to heavy volumes resulting from a new video message that had been posted on the site.


5:03 PM - this is the first of what could be almost mintues by mintues post of the big midterm eletion I have been raining in detroit tri-country since this morning, but that have not stop people from voteing turn out have been modernt, the have been some problum in the detroit area a candite for senate Candiatie Mike Bouchard have Been Hack and there are problum around the country on voteing around the country so tonight it ge some things spatarular big time an i will up date the best i could as the GOP goes down onr by one ny one this will be fun to watch or worst culture city will have egg on ours face tonight