Associated Press
Sen.-elect Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.)
Following up on an earlier item, the two unresolved U.S. Senate races have been called, both in Democrats' favor.
This was true in Montana...
U.S. Sen. Jon Tester prevailed Wednesday in a tight re-election battle, beating back nearly two years of attacks for his support of some Obama administration policies to hand Republican U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg his first election loss since 1996. [...]
"I have been waiting a long time to say this. It is over," Tester told supporters early Wednesday.
...and in North Dakota.
Republican Rick Berg concedes US Senate race in North Dakota to Democrat Heidi Heitkamp.
Heitkamp's red-state victory is especially impressive, given that it came on the same day as North Dakota voters supported Mitt Romney by 20 points, and supported a Republican governor by 29 points. The former state attorney general proved to be one of 2012's most impressive candidates.
Meanwhile, National Journal reports that Maine's Sen.-elect, Angus King (I), appears "likely to announce within weeks that he will caucus will Senate Democrats," which has been widely expected. If accurate, King would be the 55th member of the Senate Democratic caucus and give the party a net gain of two seats in this campaign cycle.
Finally, consider this jaw-dropper: in a year that was supposed to be awful for Senate Dems, zero Democratic incumbents lost this year. Literally, none.
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While it's wonderful news that democrats didn't loose any seats - don't crow too loudly. Now is the time to roll up our sleeves and get to work - just pick an issue: voter suppression, war on women, immigration, climate change - NOW IS WHERE THE RUBBER MEETS THE ROAD!
And don't forget that in 2014 another third of the Senate is up for re-election, including the orange man, Mitch Mc Connell. Support your Democratic senators and work for opponents to any Republican ones.
The Democrats keeping the majority and actually increasing it is a CLEAR MESSAGE fron the American people to Democrats in the SENATE, DO NOT SACRIFICE Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid in the name of Fiscal Responsibility !...
The American people understand that EVERYONE has to have skin in the game like Barack Obama likes to say,When it comes to getting our National Deficit under control, YET that does not mean that we PROGRESSIVES will allow for Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid to become the Sacrificial Lambs in order to achive a BALACED BUDGET !...
Keep that in mind Mr. President...
Come to these negotiations with Republicans an offer an olive branch...
But dont forget to carry a big stick....
It ain't over 'til it's over.
Every public officeholder swears an oath of office. Ask yourself, 'What's the point of ANY additional pledge?' Follow the money.
Any officeholder who genuinely believes in representative government should have already publicly denounced the Teaparty/Taliban's efforts to disenfranchise Americans.
If you stood in line to vote, write your STATE legislators an invitation to the 21st century. Washington state voters had their ballots weeks before election day.
The Teaparty/Taliban are still afraid of women making decisions. (John 8:3-11)
Trickle down not only doesn't spur economic growth, it stifles it.
"Corporations are people" = "He with the most gold rules"
Time to get rid of the filibustger and let majority rule in the Senate, the most otherwise-useless legislative body on earth.
I know I'm crazy, but on some votes I can see a possibility of flipping Susan Collins and Mark Kirk, so 57 votes, maybe, on a good day, if you squint real hard. Are there three others that might ditch Yertle?
Great point TCinLA! Harry Reid made rule deals with Mitch McConnell which he later regretted (shocking, make a deal with the devil...). Now is the time to re-write the rules for the new session. Especially for the appointments of judges. Also, keep in mind that this election there were a disproportionate number of Dems up, next time it will be Reps. I'm not saying "over-reach" but its is time for the Senate to reach!
Fantastic!
Now pay attention immediately to this grab for more corporate power at the expense of our own safety--since it may get pushed fast to a Nov 15 vote!
Sen. Rob Portman has pushed legislation to make it harder for federal agencies to use the best available science to issue rules that protect us from dirty air, unsafe workplaces, tainted drugs, and contaminated food. His plans favor big corporations' agenda to reduce their costs, people-be-damned.
His current proposal is the Independent Agency Regulatory Analysis Act. Sounds wonky and harmless, but it's serious stuff. The bill was just introduced & is co-sponsored by Susan Collins (R-ME) and Mark Warner (D-VA). It focuses on independent agencies like the National Science Foundation, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the Federal Communications Commission, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Why does it matter if one Senate committee votes on this in Nov? That key vote could open the door to lame-duck shenanigans that permit the bill to be added to a must-pass bill in the dead of night.
2 sources of info I've seen this a.m.: Read it and make noise now!!!
http://takingnote.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/06/making-independent-agencies-less-independent/
http://blog.ucsusa.org/portmans-proposals-would-endanger-both-science-and-citizens/
Does Manchin count as a half or whole?
When people sit there and would want some Politician who would be to the likes of George W. Bush must really be missing something. Bush’s only comment about Global Warming was it is already too late so why bother doing anything. Now to want another typical moron like that in our government is quite ridiculous, especially when that moron was Big Oil that refuses to do really anything about stemming the problems of Global Warming. To people like that, it is only about power, control, and greed, how foolish can you get. Here is more like what will be happening Global Warming will keep pounding the heck out of America and other countries, until we finally get off our butts from all the abuse, misery, despair, and death caused on the people from Big Oil and the coal industry. Than are we finally going to get justice from these power craving, arrogant, hypocrites, greedy, corrupt, lying, and deceiving people? We just avoided having a walking misfit Romney and Ryan in the White House, we do not need another moron there.
The good news, Heitkamp is a democrat. The bad news,a blue dog democrat.
What I've seen of Heidi Heitkcamp, I think she is a very awesome woman, deserving of anyone's respect.
Blue dog or no, she is in North Dakota, sooo…
Congratulations and happy day, we are finally getting some more women in the Senate!
:0)
Would have been nice to flip Arizona and Nevada, too.
Who was it who said, "If I had a big enough spatula, I could flip the world"?
Herd them cats, Senator Reid! (And, also, too- shape the hell up, yourself!)
One thought about the Senate races and some House races. In 2008 and then again, in 2010, the Republican leadership in Congress converted their party into a single caucus on virtually all issues. It resulted in filibusters in the Senate where most if not all Republican Senators would not vote against their leadership. This effectively resulted in a parliamentary system of government.
So when Elizabeth Warren and many Democratic House candidates ran in part on the theory that a vote for their Republican opponent was a vote for the Republican/Tea Party and the Republican leadership, notwithstanding that a particular Republican candidate (viz Scott Brown) might be more moderate, those Republican candidates lost the ability to say they were different from the Republican caucus. They voted with the Republican caucus and then lost the election in many cases because of the Republican caucus. It didn't matter that they were different from the Republican caucus, since they didn't generally act on that difference.
Of course, given Mitch McConnell's election night statement, I don't believe the Republicans in Congress have yet realized and accepted that their losses in the election are directly related to their approach to governing over the last 4 years. Maybe, they'll reflect on that when votes come up over the next year.
Great news!
OTH, the indolent GOP house, will dig in even further. Time to start painting Rayn ans a do nothing hero, because he's vying for the 2016 ticket. Paint his ideas as rejected, SCOTUS health care is the law, fund it, or enjoy being in the wilderness.
Leverage that win, cudgel, browbeat, and give Boehner room to take the center.
Gerrymandering has allowed these people to wrestle power into a radical ethos corner which, as results show are not mainstream.
Allowing them to continue because the states reinforced their positions during redistricting, is rewarding bad behavior, with bad behavior.
The press and the POTUS need to paint Rayn and Cantor as unreasonable, starting now, do exactly what the GOP did so successfully to Nancy Pelosi, drive the imagery home. The big difference is, these people are actually radicals, and feed off one another, young guns and all.
this is excellent news