Clowns to the right of me, jokers to the far right…

One of my favorite sequence of photos from the 2012 campaign – Senator Claire McCaskill (D) going

door to door in her old neighborhood in Kansas City on November 2, 2012.

Here’s the thing. There are now fifty-five Senators (if you count Angus King, the Independent from Maine) in the Democratic Party caucus in the United States Senate. Elizabeth Warren (D), representing Masschusetts, and Tammy Baldwin (D), representing Wisconsin, are formidable individuals, both in intellect and political acumen. Now that the Overton Window has moved slightly away from the insane right wing do you think it might be a good time to make pragmatic compromises with the left rather than just give the store away to the obstructionist right? Just asking.

You did do better than Jeff Flake (r), John Tester (D), Dean Heller (r), Martin Heinrich (D), and Sherrod Brown (D) – just to name a few. Take the gig for a spin and see what it can do.

And, if our math is correct, being number fifty in the United States Senate puts you somewhere within your party and not to the far right edge of it. 1,484,683 Missouri voters weren’t exactly enamored with Todd Akin (r), so there might not be a need to cater to the whims of the 39.2% in Missouri and their kindred spirits in the United States Senate who were.

Besides, you should know by now that we’ve got your back.

Previously:

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D): door to door in Kansas City – November 2, 2012 (November 2, 2012)

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D): anyone in Missouri who is not Todd Akin (r) is a radical leftist… (September 8, 2012)

High Broderism (February 24, 2012)

This morning the Kansas City NBC affiliate ran a story on their early morning news show about a sharp increase in ammo and gun sales at a shop in Oklahoma. Seriously.

I predict a correlated increase in emergency room visits from self inflicted stupidity in the same locale.

60,662,601 votes and still counting. I’m not done with my schadenfreude dance yet.

Via the Missouri Secretary of State:

State Senator – District 1 (106 of 106 Precincts Reported)

Scott Sifton Democrat 45,486 50.9%

Jim Lembke Republican 43,858 49.1%

Total Votes 89,344

[emphasis added]

Yes, this Jim Lembke (r) will no longer serve in the Missouri Senate come January.

Scott Sifton (D), the Senator-elect, will have a different agenda (from his campaign web site):

….”Lobbyists shower gifts, meals and trips on elected officials for one reason – it works,” said Scott Sifton. “There aren’t lobbyists for ordinary citizens in Jefferson City. We need to take the gifts-for-access model off the table.”

Sifton has never accepted a meal, trip or gift from a lobbyist – and he never will.

Sifton continued, “I agree with Republican State Senator John Lamping (R-24), who was quoted, ‘We, as elected officials, need to hold ourselves to the highest standards.'” Lamping, like Sifton, accepts no gifts, no trips, and no free meals.

“My first piece of legislation I file will be a total ban on lobbyist gifts to legislators, their staffs and their families. It has to stop.” Sifton concluded.

[emphasis added]

That would be a good start.

Heads or tails? In the universe of political stenography all stupid ideas or concepts have the same value as anything else.

A few days ago:

KRASKE: Forecasting all the big races, including Akin-McCaskill….

….Predictions: Obama (yeah, I’m a flip-flopper. I picked Romney in January), McCaskill, Nixon, Peter Kinder for lieutenant governor and Chris Koster for attorney general (Koster instantly becomes the 2016 gubernatorial frontrunner). KC’s own Jason Kander, a secretary of state candidate, and fellow Democrat, treasurer Clint Zweifel, get swallowed up in the pro-Romney tide in Missouri and fall short.

The cigarette tax passes….

Well, Kansas City also has the Royals and the Chiefs. Nope, the cigarette tax didn’t pass, Jason Kander (D) will be the new Secretary of State, and Clint Zweifel (D) will continue as State Treasurer.

Previously:

Too damn close, but we’ll take it (November 7, 2012)

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D): have we got a poll for you… (November 7, 2012)

President Barack Obama (D) at a campaign rally in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on July 10, 2012.

From Molly Ivins, a while back:

Ivins: GOP ineptitude and some advice for Dems

POSTED: 5:23 p.m. EST, October 31, 2006

….First rule: No gloating. Actually, there is gloating aloud, but only in the exclusive presence of other Democrats. Gloating in the face of Republicans is rude and unsportsmanlike, and just gives them one more thing to complain about….

To hell with that. Times have changed. I’m doing a schadenfreude dance for the next four years.

Via the Missouri Secretary of State:

U. S. Senator (3320 of 3387 Precincts Reported)

Claire McCaskill Democrat 1,442,997 54.2%

Todd Akin Republican 1,057,492 39.7%

Jonathan Dine Libertarian 163,906 6.2%

William Dean Write-in 246 0.0%

Bernard J. (Spark) Duraski, Jr. Write-in 0 0.0%

Bernie Mowinski Write-in 2 0.0%

Charlie L. Bailey Write-in 2 0.0%

Arnie C. (AC) Dienoff Write-in 0 0.0%

Ted Kimzey Write-in 1 0.0%

Total Votes 2,664,646

[emphasis added]

Why, that’s a margin of 15.5%. Go figure.

Interesting:

SurveyUSA: Claire (D) 51, Akin (r) 36 and the polling of parallel realities (November 4, 2012)

Oopsie:

PPP – 11/4/12: McCaskill (D) – 48%, Akin (r) – 44% (November 4, 2012)

And, from a Claire McCaskill (D) internal campaign poll:

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D): up by 14 points in Kiley Poll (October 27, 2012)

McCaskill – 53%

Akin – 39%

Other – 1%

Not sure – 7%

Close. And as a consequence, not even close.

President Obama wins and Mitt Romney gets something:

Daily Kos Daily@dailykos

Romney has not yet conceded. Also, has not yet released tax returns. 9:08 PM – 6 Nov 12

Via the Missouri Secretary of State:

State Representative – District 51 (22 of 22 Precincts Reported)

Gary L. Grigsby Democrat 6,236 46.4%

Dean A. Dohrman Republican 6,706 49.9%

Bill Wayne Libertarian 504 3.7%

Total Votes 13,446

Unlimited money and attack mail from the Missouri republican party win the day.

Today, via Twitter:

Rick Santorum ‏@RickSantorum

Today is the day for America to stop leading from behind.[….] 8:11 AM – 6 Nov 12

To which there was a reply:

FakeSarahPalin ‏@FakeSarahPalin

You know, it’s hard being a hilarious fake politician when the real ones are doing such a good job [….]11:59 AM – 6 Nov 12

And another:

Daniel X. O’Neil ‏@danxoneil

@RickSantorum stop looking at me that way, plz. 12:16 PM – 6 Nov 12.

Snark lives.

We got in line to vote at our precinct about ten minutes before the polls opened at 6:00 a.m. There were fifty to seventy people in line when they opened the doors. My voting precinct is a mixture of small town and rural addresses. There were two older men in line wearing NRA propaganda tee shirts.

It was interesting to observe the demeanor of voters as they snaked through the line to get their ballot. In past presidential elections there has been a much more jovial atmosphere. Given the demographic present this morning I was left to wonder if this was the grim resignation of the losing side.

I, on the other hand, kept a smile on my face throughout my voting experience. I voted a straight Democratic ballot, then I turned to the Governor race. I thought about that blank for a long minute. Then I voted for Jay Nixon because his opponent, Dave Spence (r) would be several orders of magnitude worse. But I had to think about it.

An hour later I drove by the precinct and realized that I had indeed made the correct decision to not leave that race blank. In that short period Dave Spence (r) campaign elves deposited yard signs at the parking lot entrances to the polling place:

A sure sign you’re losing when you invest more man hours in sign placement on election day than you do in GOTV the week leading up to it.

While legal (In Missouri the electioneering restriction is twenty-five feet from the front entrance of a polling place) this is the first time in over twenty years of voting here I’ve ever witnessed a campaign do this in my county. That’s the problem with a one size fits all approach to campaigning. Yeah, that’ll go over well with people showing up to vote in this county. But, of course, the usual republican pearl clutchers won’t complain because *IOKIYAR. If it was a Democratic Party candidate it would be an entirely different story.

And, at an intersection, just a short distance down the street from the polling place:

A lonely metaphor for the entire campaign.

* it’s okay if you’re a republican