Election Day Coverage

As is traditional, I’ll be doing the usual Election Day live-blogging. Those of you in the Twin Cities can catch the Northern Alliance Radio Network on AM 1280 The Patriot this evening for live election coverage. Those of you who can’t get that station can also listen in on the live web stream.

So far, it’s looking good for the Republicans in the Senate. There was a probably false poll showing Santorum within 4 of Casey in PA — that poll is almost certainly inaccurate, but I’ve heard some internals that show a dramatic tightening of that race. Steele is still very much in the game, depending on how well he can motivate the African-American vote. Talent’s race in MO is going to be one to watch, as that one is on the cusp and could provide an edge to the Democrats.

The House will likely flip Democratic, but not by much. As bad as having the Democrats in charge in even a small way will be, two years of Speaker Pelosi will be enough to guarantee a GOP blowout in 2008. That is, of course, assuming that someone doesn’t pull a Brutus with her and ensure she’s out of the picture.

In Minnesota, I’m hoping that Pawlenty pulls through. Mike Hatch would be a disaster for this state, as Lileks puts it, he’s a mean, small man. Minnesota deserves better than that schlub. Still, I think enough Minnesota voters know who Pawlenty is and know who Mike Hatch is to see the obvious, especially in outstate and the metro. In my district, John Kline will beat Colleen Rowley like a rented mule. It won’t even be close. Rowley is an incredibly poor candidate who doesn’t have the brains to pull off her patronizing attitude. Watching the two of them debate was like watching Mike Tyson box Woody Allen — there’s just no contest.

The transportation amendment will go down, I hope. It’s a good idea in theory, but there’s no reason why what should be a statutory change needs to be made as a constitutional amendment. Furthermore, we don’t need any more funding for light rail. Either it succeeds on its own merits or it doesn’t. I’m not opposed to the idea of light rail, but not so big a fan of it that I’m willing to see more money sunk into a system that can’t sustain itself over the long term. The transportation amendment would be a sop to the metro area, while outstate Minnesota would end up subsidizing metro-area transit. Local problems need local solutions, and making Worthington and Waseca pay for transportation fixes to the Crosstown or more light rail between Minneapolis and St. Paul is simply a misallocation of dollars. Even though such a light-rail system would be nice personally, I don’t feel the need to force others to pay for it.

More updates as the day goes on.

UPDATE: For all those Republicans worried about today’s results, a little blast from the past: