November 7, 2006

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  It's Election Day in America

  
  

  

  
  

  Did YOU?????????

  
  

  EDIT: 11/08/06 6:00 am pst

  
  

  Democrats need Va., Mont. to take Senate

  AP - 42 minutes ago
  

  WASHINGTON - Democrats captured four of the six Republican-held seats they needed to take control of the Senate, winning critical contests in Ohio, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania and Missouri, and inched closer Wednesday to erasing the GOP's majority.

  
  

   

  
  

  Resurgent Democrats win control of House

  
  

  
  

  
  

  By LIZ SIDOTI, Associated Press Writer 2 hours, 22 minutes ago

  
  

  
  

  WASHINGTON - Democrats won control of the House early Wednesday after a dozen years of Republican rule in a resounding repudiation of a war, a president and a scandal-scarred Congress.

  
  

  "From sea to shining sea, the American people voted for change," declared Rep. Nancy Pelosi (news, bio, voting record), the hard-charging California Democrat in line to become the nation's first female House speaker.

  
  

  "Today we have made history," she said, "now let us make progress."

  
  

  Lameduck Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., was elected to an 11th term, but several GOP officials said they expected him to step down as party leader and possibly even retire from Congress.

  
  

  The White House made plans for President Bush to call the speaker-in-waiting, Pelosi, first thing in the morning; he will enter his final two years in office with at least half of Congress in the opposition party's hands.

  
  

  "It's been kind of tough out there," Hastert said. Presidential spokesman Tony Snow observed: "It's not like a slap on the forehead kind of shock."

  
  

  By 5:15 a.m. Wednesday, Democrats had won 228 seats, enough for control, and were leading for another 4, which would give them 232. Republicans, who hold 229 seats in the current House, won 193 and were leading in another 10, which would give them 203.

  
  

  Democrats had captured 27 Republican-controlled seats, and no Democratic incumbent had lost thus far. Races were too close to call in more than a dozen seats, making it impossible to determine exactly how large the Democratic margin would be.

  
  

  Democrats take majority of governorships

  
  

  AP - 50 minutes ago

  
  

  For the first time in a dozen years, Democrats hold a majority of the nation's governorships after taking 20 of 36 races across all regions, including victories in states — such as Ohio, Pennsylvania and Colorado — that will be crucial to the 2008 presidential race

  
  

  
  

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  NOTE Local News: The Governator made good on his word "I'll be back" and won easily in California, but we still have a pretty strong Democratic House in the State and Ahnold has been leaning to a more centrist position for the past 6-8 months, after his disastrous first year, aligning some Dems with his camp and promoting his policies. "I love doing sequels, I can tell you. But this is my favourite sequel," a beaming Schwarzenegger said.

  
  

  The Hot Button California Propositions fared as follows:

  
  

  Proposition 83 Passed: An initiative that would raise penalties for violent and habitual sex offenders, bar sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of a school or park and require lifetime satellite monitoring of sex offenders convicted of felonies.
  Proposition 85 Rejected: An initiative that would require parents to be notified 48 hours before their child had an abortion, unless the parents or a judge waived the requirement.
  Proposition 86 Rejected: An initiative that would raise cigarette taxes by $2.60 a pack and boost taxes on other tobacco products to raise about $2 billion a year for emergency medical services, nursing instruction, health insurance for children, anti-smoking programs and enforcement of tobacco laws.
  Proposition 87 Rejected:  An initiative that would raise taxes on oil producers to fund a $4 billion program to reduce oil and gas usage by 25 percent by providing incentives for alternate-fuel and energy-efficient vehicles.

  
  

  Proposition News taken from NBC website.  MFN 11/8/06 6:00 am pst.

  • 7:58 pm
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