2:01 am MST: VA was a state that was a place of change in the 2008 elections. The state voted for a Democrat for US President for the first time since 1964. Obama ended with about a 52 - 47 margin with about 1.791 million votes out of 3.426 million cast and counted so far. With 99 % of the precincts reporting, Obama had a margin of about 156,000 votes.
As was widely expected, Democratic challenger Mark Warner scored a decisive nearly 2-1 win over the GOP candidate Jim Gilmore to fill the seat being vacated by the retirement of longtime GOP stalwart John Warner, no relation to Mark Warner. This is one of about five pickups so far in the US Senate for the Democrats at this point. Mark Warner joins James Webb in the US Senate making Virginia's senators both Democrats for the first time since the 1960s.
The eleven seat Virginia congressional delegation will consist of five Republicans and five Democrats. One seat is still not decided in finality, but the Democratic challenger is leading the Republican incumbent by less than 1200 votes out of over 314,000 cast. The district has a full 100 % of its precincts reporting. This means two Republican incumbents went down to defeat in The Old Dominion. Democrats ended up gaining three seats in Virginia for the upcoming 111th United States Congress.
2:18 am: The results from Montana changed since they were last checked a few hours back. John McCain came back to win the state and claim its three electoral votes. At this time, 89 % of precincts had been counted in Big Sky Country, and McCain had over 208,000 votes or 51 %, to just under 188,000 or 46 % for Obama.
This changes the electoral college tally to 361 for Obama and 177 for McCain, and thats including MO as a McCain state.
2:23 am: Checking the latest results from WA shows incumbent Democratic Governor Gregoire has been projected as the winner over GOP challenger Rossi in a rematch from the contest between these two in 2004. With 51 % of precincts reporting, its 54 -46 for Gregoire as she has over 803,000 votes comparted to over 697,000 for Rossi.
No change from the earlier reported US House results as the Dems will have six or seven of the nine seats. Eight of the nine incumbents were winners, as the GOP incumbent representative losing in House District Eight at the moment with but 26 % of the precincts in that district reporting.
2:29 am MST: The race for the US Senate seat in OR currently held by GOP incumbent Smith still remains close and undecided. With 71 % of the precincts reporting at this moment, Smith has a lead of just over 4800 votes out of the over 951,000 counted thus far which is essentially a tie.
The results for the five US House from The Beaver State remains as before with four Dems and one Republican to be part of the next Congress just as there is for the current Congress ending in the coming weeks.
2:38 am: AK has some updated results, and they are surprising and unsettling. Incumbent GOP US Senator Stevens continues to hold a narrow lead in his quest to remain in the Senate despite his felony criminal conviction recently. At this moment, with 81 % of precincts reporting, Stevens leads his Dem challenger Begich by less than 4000 votes out of about 187,000 cast and counted thus far, for a margin of 48 - 46.
Republican incumbent US Congressman Young leads Democratic challenger Berkowitz by a 53 -44 margin or by less than 15,000 votes. It would appear Young will hold on to his seat.
If Stevens (in the US Senate since being appointed in late December 1968 to fill the seat of recently deceased AK US Senator and having been subsequently elected in 1970 and re-elected six more times) does win, it will set up a very comfortable confrontation. Leadership of the Senate, both Republican and Democratic, has vowed to expel him from the Senate if he tries to be seated in January's new Senate. An expulsion of Stevens could lead to Sarah Palin becoming the next US Senator from AK. Palin, currently governor of AK, could resign, and the succeeding governor, current Lieutenant Governor Sean Parnell, could appoint her to fill out the near complete remaining term of Stevens if he is expelled or resigns. Quite a strange turn of events if it does come to pass.
2:55 am: Checking back on the First Congressional District race in ID shows at this point with 79 % of precincts reporting in that part of ID shows Dem challenger Minnick still leading GOP incumbent Sali by over 5500 votes out of more than 247,000 cast and counted thus far, giving the upset hopeful Democrat a slim 51.1 to 48.9 percent lead. Stay tuned.
2:59 am MST: Results from NV are now all final. The GOP incumbent from House District Two, Heller, did win re - election to that seat with a 52 - 41 margin of victory over Dem challenger Derby that broke down to a better than 170,000 to over 136,000 raw vote total for each candidate.
3:03 am: The number of popular votes on the national level shows the President - elect with over 61 million votes (61,621,079) to nearly 55,000,000 for John McCain (54,894,307).
This breaks down to a 52.89 % to 47.11 % totals for each.
3:10 am: Ohio was an important battleground state that was essential for McCain to win for him to have a chance to take the White House. But Obama won the state by over 200,000 votes out of over 4.9 million cast and counted so far for a 51 - 47 margin at this point. At this late hour Ohio is showing 95 % of its precincts reporting.
The eighteen member delegation in the US House from Ohio for the upcoming 111 United States Congress will consist of nine members of each party. Democrats picked up two seats from The Buckeye State, with one incumbent Republican losing and one seat being vacated by a Republican switching to Democratic representation. Among the incumbents winning was Congressman Dennis Kucinich, a Democrat from Cleveland who unsuccessfully ran for the Democratic nomination for President earlier this year and led the effort to get President Bush impeached unsuccessfully in recent months.
3:17 am: Like OH, PA was a state that McCain desperately needed to win to have any chance of gaining victory in the election. He really did not come close in spite of spending much time and resources in The Keystone State in the final months and weeks of this very long campaign. Obama won going away with a 55 - 44 margin of victory as he won by over 600,000 votes out of over 5.7 million cast and counted thus far.
PA will have twelve Democrats and seven Republicans in the next Congress. One Republican incumbent was defeated in The Keystone State which means the Dems picked up one seat in the US House from PA. Among the incumbents winning was Congressman Paul Murtha, a small bit of a surprise.
3:25 am: MN is going to be a photo finish for the race for the US Senate seat from The Gopher State. Republican incumbent Coleman had a narrow lead of less than 2600 votes out of the over 2.409 million cast and counted thus far. 99 % of MN precincts have reported at this moment. Stay tuned.
As for the eight US House seats from The Land of 10,000 Lakes, serve held form as five Democrats, all incumbents won; three Republicans, two of them incumbents, also were winners. So the delegation remains at 5 -3 for the Democrats.
3:32 am: Colorado had many ballot issues for voters to consider. One of the more important ones would have mandated that governments in The Centennial State end affirmative action. At this moment with 84 % of precincts reporting, the measure is barely losing by just over 15,000 votes out of the over 1.945 million cast and counted thus far. Amendment 50 which expanded gambling in CO was a winning issue, as was Amendment 54 which sets restrictions on campaign contributions from government sole-source contractors. All other amendments (a total of seven) and referendums ( three) went down to defeat in CO. Among the losers were some that involved questions of taxation sources and outlays.
In the contests for the Colorado State Senate, Democrats won 12 of the 18 seats being considered. The Colorado State House looks as if went 38 - 27 for Democrats.
3:52 am: The Wyoming State Legislature has been overwhelmingly Republican for many years and this election did not change that. The Wyoming State House appears as if it will hav 40 Republicans and 17 Democrats. The Wyoming State Senate had 20 seats up for election with Republicans winning 16 of them. Both houses of the Wyoming legislature will have veto proof majorities for Republicans to limit powers of sitting Democratic Governor Dave Freudenthal.
One strongly disturbing story about these legislative elections in WY was that 34 of the 60 seats up for vote in the WY House were uncontested, and 11 of the 16 seats up for election in the WY Senate were also uncontested. Very sad and troubling.
4:04 am MST: Still no final results from ID in regard to that First Congressional District contest. Democratic challenger Minnick continues to hold a slim lead over GOP incumbent Sali with 90 % of the precincts reporting. Minnick had a lead of a little more than 4300 votes out of the over 297,000 cast and counted thus far. That works out to a 51 -49 percent margin at this point.
4:07 am: 99 % of precincts are now reporting in AK, and what seemed improbable has happened. Unless there are a lot of absentee and military ballots that are yet to be counted, incumbent GOP US Senator Stevens has scored a narrow win over Democratic challenger Begich by a little more than 3300 votes out over 209,000 cast and counted thus far. This sets up the big fight and possible subsequent turn of events I discussed earlier.
In the race for the at-large US House seat from AK, GOP incumbent Young has apparently won with a 52 - 44 margin over Dem challenger Berkowitz, a margin of less than 17,000 votes.
Could AK Lt Governor Parnell betray Palin in the scenario I discussed earlier and appoint Rep. Young to fill out Steven's seat, putting Palin into the House seat instead ? Stay tuned....
4:18 am: Preliminary results from CA show 34 of the 53 US House seats from The Golden State going to Democrats - no change from the current Congress and no CA incumbents losing.
With 86 % of precincts reporting from across CA, the highly charged Proposition 8 banning gay marriage is winning by a 52 - 48 margin or by about 335,000 votes out of 9.24 million votes already cast and counted thus far.
4:23 am: ND went for McCain over Obama by a 53 - 45 margin or by a better than 26,000 vote margin out of over 302,000 cast and counted thus far. It was thought by some in recent weeks that Obama could possibly win The Peace Garden State presidential vote.
The at - large US House seat remains in the hands of Dems as the incumbent Pomeroy wins over the GOP challenger Sand by almost 75,000 votes out of over 306,000 cast and counted thus far for a 62 - 38 margin.
The Republican Gubernatorial incumbent Hoeven easily won re-election with a 74 - 24 rout of the Democratic challenger Mathern, with a margin of over 157,000 votes out of over 302,000 cast and counted thus far.
4:29 am MST: At this point CNN is projecting the US House to have 251 Democrats, 173 Republicans, and 11 seats still undecided. Thats a pick up of just 16 seats for the Democrats thus far, less than what many estimated including yours truly.
4:33 am: There were eleven contests for governorships across the nation on Election Day, and Democrats won seven of those contests. Republicans were winners in UT, ND, IN, and VT; while Democrats won WA, MT, MO, WV, NC, DE, and NH. The only seat that turned over was in MO.
4:36 am: The contest in MN between Coleman and Franken remains razor tight at this moment with Coleman, the GOP incumbent, leading Franken, the Dem challenger, by 676 votes out of over 2.86 million cast and counted thus far. A third party candidate, Independent Barkley, has amassed 15 % of the vote with over 437,000 votes thus far. Barkley has certainly had an impact on this election.
4:41 am: KS went Republican as expected with a even a US House seat switching over from a Dem representative to an Republican one in what is a rare case in this election. Incumbent GOP US Senator Roberts won re-election by a 60 - 37 margin over Democratic challenger Slattery.
4:44 am: Republicans won convincingly across OK for federal offices as the GOP incumbent Inhofe scored a 57 - 39 win over Dem challenger Rice to keep his US Senate seat. The Repubs also kept their margin in the US House from the state by taking four of the five US House seats as incumbents won all five contests in The Sooner State.
4:48 am: TX remained a solid cradle of Republicanism as McCain won the state's presidential vote 55 -44; incumbent GOP US Senator Cronyn won re - election over Dem challenger Noriega by a 55 -43 margin; and Republicans picked up one US House seat by ousting the Democratic incumbent in the 22nd House District to increase the party's margin in the delegation to 20 - 12. Eight of the US House seats in TX were uncontested, with the GOP the winner of six. One of those contests saw former candidate for the Republican nomination for President, Ron Paul, win again.
4:55 am: Little change in the numbers from ID as now 95 % of precincts are reporting. Democratic challenger Minnick continues to hold a slim lead over GOP incumbent for that First Congressional District from The Gem State. Minnick leads by more than 43oo votes out of nearly 328,000 cast and counted thus far. This translates to a narrow 51 - 49 margin.
4:58 am: The race in OR between incumbent GOP US Senator Smith and Dem challenger Merkley remains close with 74 % of precincts in The Beaver State reporting. Smith leads by a little more than 10,000 votes out over 1.09 million cast and counted thus far. Stay tuned.
5:01 am: MI went for Obama for President, and returning incumbent Dem Levin back to the US Senate by comfortable margins.
The 15 US House seats from The Wolverine State switched to a Democratic majority for the delegation as two Republican incumbents were defeated to make it 8 -7 for the Dems. Among the Dem winners were John Dingell, returning to the House for a 28th term as he has been in DC representing Michigan since 1955; and John Conyers, first elected in 1962 and returning for a 24th term in the US House.
What is additionally amazing about Dingell is that his father, John Dingell, Sr, served the same congressional district in MI from 1933 to 1955. That means
this district, which makes up the SW suburbs of Detroit, has been in the same family for 75 years and will continue to until Dingell, Jr probably passes away sometime in the next decade or two.
What a dynasty, and one that has greatly benefitted middle class and poor Americans thankfully.
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5:16 am: Well, the Mountain Time Zone Perspective Blog is going to wrap up its coverage in the next several minutes after being on the job for over ten and one - half hours largely uninterupted.5:18 am: Results from AK remain the same as recently discussed.5:19 am: In ID, Minnick leads by over 4500 votes over Sali with 98 % of precincts in. It looks like a Dem pickup in The Gem State for the US House and an increase in the lead for Dems from the eight state Mountain States region to a 17 - 11 margin, a reversal from the current Congress.
5:23 am: Coleman leads Franken in MN by 757 votes out of over 2.857 million cast and counted thus far. Stay tuned.
5:25 am: Time to call it quits for the long night into morning. Employment responsibilities for this writer loom in about nine hours. A complete and final update will be published on this blog after 12:30 am on early Thursday morning 6 November following my employment obligations on WED 5 November afternoon and evening. *****
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