Getcha Peanuts! Getcha Popcorn!! Getcha Double Shot Single Malt!!!

Can’t Tell the Players without Yur Program!!!!!

Jon, do you have any idea what the turnout was like in AR? High? Low? Median?

It’s a done deal in Arkansas.

The Wal-Mart Senator lives on………..

Until November.

To bad. It would have been nice to see Blanche knocked off. Oh well Arlen’s gone and Blanche will probably lose in the fall anyway. Of course Obamarahma will see a HUGE surge toward the right from all of this. Friggin idiots.

Blanche squeaks by. She is going to have to work hard this fall. She could go down then if she does not watch it. Many Dems are not too happy with her..obviously

Politico has called it for Lincoln. With 84.5% of the precincts reporting, it stands like this:

Lincoln – 51.8%
Halter – 48.2%

This sucks. Is there any way to find out what sort of affect the business in Garland county and it’s two polling places had?

thanks to Jason Rosenbaum and the Democracy for America team and the rest of the folks who went down there and worked for Halter. You guys did a bang up job

What is the good news tonight, very bummed by AR.

It won’t break my heart if she loses in November.

And I won’t go celebrating if she wins wins either.

Whatever happens, we’re going to have a right wing, corporate whore of a Senator from Arkansas. They’ll just have to wait until November to find out whether to put a Mr. or Mrs. on the door.

Bubba the Prick might have helped. Thanks to the Democratic party’s first corporatist President for giving the working class NAFTA. Perot was absolutely right. That giant sucking sound were American jobs heading south and then west to China. Thanks to NAFTA farmers in Mexico have lost their livelihoods and MMuricans wonder why they leave Mexico for the Corporate States of MMurica.

A markos tweet:

GOP backing most electable candidates, sabotaged by teabaggers. Dem base backing most electable candidates, sabotaged by Dem establishment

Sad, but true

Probably all that Lincoln needed. A great night for the corporatists and the status quo.

I think ya’ll need a few shots o’ something!

If a Republican wins in Arkansas we’ll never notice the difference.

If they’d actually allowed the early voting that was promised it might have been different.

Barely pulling 50% in the runoff, Blanche is going to get pummeled in November.

Unless there are some Halter strongholds that haven’t reported in, this one’s over. From the SoS site with 68% of counties reporting:

Lieutenant Governor Bill Halter (Democrat) 78,757 48.46
U.S. Senator Blanche Lambert Lincoln (Democrat) 83,756 51.54%

Halter has been losing ground the last couple of updates.

MSNBC says Little Rock put Blanche over the top – granted, my gaze has turned to the Gulf, but I thought Halter had an advantage in LR – ????

Halter won it by 600 last time .. Lincoln by 60 or so this time .. so yeah .. I am sure the dirty tricks worked

Just give me one thing that I can hold on to. . .

Cool Markos gets it I was worried.

OT, but Jon Stewart just went all Glenn Greenwald on Obama.

Ed just said that “Halter got bubba’d in Arkansas” wow what was this about Garland county. Only 2 precincts open and something like 40 something open last time.

Any other precincts like this? Ed talking about not many union members in Arkansas

Lincoln’s giving an acceptance speech now.

Blanche Lincoln points at herself and says ‘this vote is not for sale” what a bunch of hooey

To paraphrase “Space Cowboy”:

The vomitous of bleh

Very Last Fucking Thing I wanted to hear tonight.

Good point. As Emma Goldman said, if elections made a difference they would be outlawed. Is there no part of political life in the U.S. that isn’t all just kabuki theater?

Even though we didn’t win this one, I still say it was a well-fought battle against the right target and for the right reasons. No regrets for me.

Same here. Fortunately, I had the mute on.

Josh Marshall’s math might need some work:

CA-SEN (R) Votes
Campbell 37%

DeVore 17%

Fiorina 668%

Ed “corporate Dems pulled off a victory here”

Only 2 precincts open and something like 40 something open last time.

I think Halter gots grounds to challenge this election based on that. I want the Supremes to revisit Bush vs Gore.
Do the Dems really want to back Blanche in a voter suppression case right before the November election?
We have cards to play even if Halter loses we just need Halter to be a Leader.
We need to find Dem leaders with a Spine. Halter loses then we find out.

I guess there’s a certain nobility one can garner from the myth of Sisyphus.

Well, few people will want Jane saying that we will primary them in the future.

I agree and it got the old blood stirring again.

I just looked at the results on Politico with 90% reporting and with the results from the May 18th primary. It looks like turnout was much lower. Both Lincoln and Halter are on track for fewer votes and it looks like DC Morrison’s supporters didn’t show up.

So much for Halter picking up her supporters.

Hah! Jane tweets:

Blanche Lincoln has to deliver on her derivatives bill now. Somewhere, Goldman Sachs is weeping.

I hope everybody’s TeeVee survived Blanche’s Victory lap… Mine barely did…! ‘My vote is not for sale’…! WTF…? *gah*

What did Halter concede?

Is there no part of political life in the U.S. that isn’t all just kabuki theater?

No, that America is a representative democracy is a lie perpetuated to make we the lowly believe we have some control over our own destiny as they lead us to slaughter.

Fortunately I haven’t allowed it to make me cynical. :)

No, it’s true. Lincoln will never sell her vote outright if she can barter it away instead.

If there are voters who were not able to vote, and enough of them, due to the shenanigans, I hope there is a ruckus.

I am so totally disgusted by the Dems using this tactic. It really is about the lowest I think it goes. Fuck.

Just give me one thing that I can hold on to. . .

happy to oblige….

DAMN!!!

Damon Dunn 159,657 73.5%
Orly Taitz 57,638 26.5%

Are you kidding? Blanche BARELY hung on. I think it means “Watch out – ’cause WE’RE watching, and there will be a price for you to pay.”

Also, look at the Dem machine record. This is the only incumbent facing a challenger in the primaries or a special that the OFA machine has won so far.

In SC, either Alvin Greene was a Republican stalking horse to take out Rawls or he is a candidate who networked the black community to turn out the vote. We will know if he starts seriously campaigning to broaden his base.

It’s going to be interesting.

404 – Page Not Found

lol!

Aw, gw, I get the dreaded 404 error, but thanks for throwing me a line.

No actually she’s right about that. She sold out long ago. Bidding is now closed ; )

Blanche how about when you run against the GOP in November your stronghold only has 2 polling places open!

Hold on to it! “g”

I haven’t seen that happen, but I’m not paying close attention. Those idiotic commercials are on often enough, at ear-splitting volume, that the mute’s been on more than it’s been off.

I think you are misreading my comment. Nobody will want Jane threatening them with a primary.

I would be the most astounded person on the internet if Lincoln went forward with any of the progressive-washing actions she’s taken recently, now that she’s won.

i think this is the link

Gotcha!

As she grasps the thin air.

crap that didn’t work either

That is not working either.

how about this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6htvaXa3k9Y

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6htvaXa3k9Y

I think that’s the link ya want

Don’t worry your pretty little head Blanche, that’s what the other Dems are for, to get you out of that eensy weensy little fib you told about derivatives. Now go put on your white make-up and get ready to dance…

if dreams were thunder . . .

here ya go. totally bitchin’ it means so much to so many of us here

Hold that womans feet to the fire.

i’ll try again

I want Holder and the Justice Dept to investigate voter suppression.

The National Voting Rights Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. § 1973–1973aa-6)[1] outlawed discriminatory voting practices that had been responsible for the widespread disenfranchisement of African Americans in the United States. Echoing the language of the 15th Amendment, the Act prohibited states from imposing any “voting qualification or prerequisite to voting, or standard, practice, or procedure … to deny or abridge the right of any citizen of the United States to vote on account of race or color.”[2] Specifically, Congress intended the Act to outlaw the practice of requiring otherwise qualified voters to pass literacy tests in order to register to vote, a principal means by which Southern states had prevented African-Americans from exercising the franchise.[3] The Act was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson, a Democrat, who had earlier signed the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law.
The Act established extensive federal oversight of elections administration, providing that states with a history of discriminatory voting practices (so-called “covered jurisdictions”) could not implement any change affecting voting without first obtaining the approval of the Department of Justice, a process known as preclearance. These enforcement provisions applied to states and political subdivisions (mostly in the South) that had used a “device” to limit voting and in which less than 50 percent of the population was registered to vote in 1964. Congress has amended and extended the Act several times since its original passage, the most recent being the 25-year extension signed by President George W. Bush in 2006.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voting_Rights_Act

Blanche hates White people poor enough to not afford Private Healthcare! We must defend the rights of our oppressed White Brothers to vote!
2 polling places is a Joke! Blanche out Now!

( I never thought I ‘d say those words )

now i got 404!!

Beverages are owed; what’ll you have? :)

Hey Jane a big thanks to you,FDL and others who made her work for those votes. Now let’s hold her feet to the fire. She is going to want progressives help.

Jane and others made her work for those votes./

Jane did not say but could say “we dare Blanche to prove that her vote is not for sale”

coffee, lotsa coffee please

He didn’t even campaign this time.

That’s a good one. Been thundering outside here, btw.

You gettin’ ready for the ll shift?

its gonna be a long nite i think

sliding yer fav brew down the bar atcha…

No affirmative right to vote

While the title of the Voting Rights Act might imply that it established an explicit right to vote for President for U.S. citizens, there is no such federal right. However, the Voting Rights Act and three constitutional amendments that prevent discrimination in granting the franchise have established in United States Supreme Court jurisprudence that there is a “fundamental right” in the franchise, even though voting remains a state-granted privilege. However, states are given considerable leeway when it comes to this “fundamental right”.
In Bush v. Gore, 531 U.S. 98 (2000), the Supreme Court noted that, “The individual citizen has no federal constitutional right to vote for electors for the President of the United States,” a logical conclusion given the history of the Electoral College. States do not have to extend suffrage to ex-felons, nor do they have to allow citizens to register and vote on Election Day. In 2008, the Supreme Court upheld voter ID laws, claiming that the states had an interest in deterring voter fraud.[24] While the Supreme Court has stated that the right to vote and the right to be a candidate are connected, they have often upheld state laws that make it difficult for independent and minor party candidates to be included on the election ballot.[25]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voting_Rights_Act#No_affirmative_right_to_vote

Come on Halter challenge this in court I want the Supremes to use these arguments again…to take away White people’s right to vote.
I want to discredit Bush vs Gore. I dare Rahm to let it get that far! I want this fight.

Didja Irish it up?

LOL, did you notice what the cause was? And another one’s gone and another one’s gone and another one bites the dust.

Not this time – she had her “on duty” face on, I do believe.

thanks dood

Blanche has nothing to brag about. It looks like she got roughly 12k fewer votes today than on May 18th. Halter got 15k fewer votes. And the other 42k that Morrison got didn’t show.

This is hardly a ringing endorsement for either of them. It will be interesting to see whether the Reps give the Dems a run for their money in November in AR.

Edited to note that the links are in my comment at #38.

Halter draws more attention to this race if he does not concede. He makes his case stronger in the public mind if he goes to court.
We sell Ron Paul on supporting a Congressional investigation of the race. The GOP should love this.

witnessed a bolt take out a transformer last night – even the Texans were impressed. My Cali friends would have cardiac arrest over what passes for routine here :D

Perhaps more ammo for Halter voters if they file a suit.

OT Jerry Brown now has 83.6% of the Dem vote and eMeg has 65.0% of the R vote.

Garland Election Commissioner Charles Tapp had unilaterally (without the vote of his two other commissioners) decided to reduce the number of polling locations from 42 during the general primary on May 18th, to just 2 for today’s run-off primary.

http://www.bradblog.com/

Halter has nothing to complain about if 42 polling places were reduced to 2.

And California shows up!

I watched a bolt strike the flagpole at the school across the street once. So cool, it lasted for 3-4 seconds. About 100 yards away.

Halter conceded.

Yep. Still the vote differential tonight is shaping up to be about 10k votes. That’s a lot of disenfranchising in just one county. Have there been any other reports of shenanigans elsewhere in the state?

Well, shit fire.

I’m here. Orly only has 25.8 and her opponent has 74.2

Yep we need final reports from Garland county from this race and the last one and then we can average out the voter turnout from all the other counties from the last race and this one.
Those numbers will be very interesting.

Fuck!

Wow, looks like we can probably sign off on the CA gubernatorial matchup.

I have not heard. I guess it would not make a difference, but it should be done just on principle, I think. I sent e-mails to my friends who work on these issues, who knows what will happen?

Can I just tell how I loves me some Jane? Tweeting:

Msg 2 Sr WH Advisor: If Halter means derivatives amendment makes it into fin reg bill, it was worth it & u can eat s#*t http://is.gd/cIa3R

The search for a Dem with a spine goes on.

A lawyer has already filed suit, something or other Hooten. I think Marion put up the link in a prior thread. I absolutely think Halter should file suit. Whether he wins or loses the contest is entirely beside the point. The voters rights must be respected by election officials. I would throw the book at Tapp.

That’s the kind of stuff I like to look at.

there’s a new post on the front page

Yes, yes and yes.

Voter Lawsuit Filed in Arkansas

Except that it won’t. Blanche needs all the establishment help she can get in November which I’m guessing means she’ll kill or gut the amendment without much prodding.

Hope I’m wrong.

On the bright side, it is good to know that CA voters are not batshit insane. Still, I was hoping for at least one ad done in a Cher dress with topple-me-over fake eyelashes ; )

ooh thanks Mary ! was seeing some FB buzz but nothing concrete

Excellent!

Sure. My middle name is Google.

Thanks Mary!

So Wednesday Rush screams Obama’s candidate suppresses poor white votes.

So AR elections are run by volunteers? Crikey. That is incredible.

A lawsuit on behalf of three Arkansas voters against the Garland County Election Commission was filed late Tuesday afternoon, adding a dramatic twist to Tuesday’s runoff between incumbent Sen. Blanche Lincoln and Lt. Governor Bill Halter for the Democratic Senate nomination.

The lawsuit, filed by Hot Springs attorney Ben Hooten, states that the commission intentionally scheduled only two polling sites for “the purpose of disenfranchising ” minority, elderly, poor and disabled voters in the county. It also says that “the greater part of the voting electorate are unable to find or reach” the polling places and are “thereby deprived of their right to vote and were disenfranchised.”

http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/06/08/voter-lawsuit-filed-in-arkansas-blanche-lincoln-bill-halter-se/

Yes Mary Snoopy Dance time I hope Jane live Blogs this one:)

Paid volunteers?

Blanche, into the mud pit, with the hogs.

It appears not. Check out the link to the lawsuit. Incredible. At least I think so.

This is from the article:

According to the Secretary of State’s office, Arkansas is one of the few remaining states to rely primarily on volunteers to administer elections that have become “increasingly time-consuming and technologically complex with the passage of federal mandates.”
Last year, a bill was introduced in the legislature that would have required each county to hire an election coordinator. That bill was withdrawn because county officials were worried about tapping their budgets to pay for someone to oversee elections.
In Garland County, the commission is made is up of three people – the Democratic Party chair, the Republican Party county chair and a third member from the majority party – in this case, the Democratic Party.
The county does not have a paid election coordinator.

Message from the White House-

“Organized labor just flushed $10 million of their members’ money down the toilet on a pointless exercise,” the official said. “If even half that total had been well-targeted and applied in key House races across this country, that could have made a real difference in November.”

I call that gloating.