Well I am certainly following my own advice in looking at 2008 and congress. You can continue to think it is just Texas voters who are stupid. Of course given that no republican has lost a statewide election in Texas since 1994 shouldn't interfere with the reality as you see it that says the only thing between Bell and victory was either Strayhorn or Kinky dropping out. The fact that the re-districting came about because the democrats lost control of the Texas state house and senate obviously shouldn't be given any weight either.

Its nice to see people like you on the other side after last nights drubbing. It gives me hope for the future.

Looking at what it is about the democratic party that is causing them to be consistently rejected in Texas for state wide office would be a much more productive avenue for exploration on how to win in the future.

Not the way I look at it, Little John. I'd rather wonder what is wrong with Texas that is causing them consistently reject the Democrats. (Other than Tom DeLay's gerrymandering, of course.) I know what it is, of course. It's all those Ford F150s.

Speaking of old Tommy... let us not forget to thank him for giving us another Democratic congressman. Thanks, Tommy!

Indeed, given that the balloting was mostly electronic, I’m not even sure how a recount will be accomplished.

If VA has paper trails, they really should be used for the recount / official count. Or at the very least heavily sampled.

Again, I think Burns and Allen will ultimately lose.

Say goodnight, gracefully.

As far as the races, sure it hurts to look at Missouri, Montana and Virginia seeing third party votes that could have switched the election. But hey, the candidates didn't make the sale on those third party votes. Both the candidates who lose and the third party voters have to live with the results of the election being someone they didn't want to see win.

Virginia had another 550K GOP presidential supporters in 2004, Missouri another 400K and Montana another 70K that the party didn't turn out. The dems left 300K in VA, 170K in MO and actually increased their vote in MT by 17K. The dems turned out their vote better than the GOP. That I think had a much larger impact on the election than third party candidates.

A bit of reality. The total for Perry and Strayhorn (who was last elected to statewide office as a republican) was 57% which was awful close to the LT governor election number of 58%. The republicans won every state wide race by double digit margins except one supreme court position that they won by about 5%. Saying that Kinky or Strayhorn is the reason Texas doesn't have a democratic governor is not dealing with reality. Looking at what it is about the democratic party that is causing them to be consistently rejected in Texas for state wide office would be a much more productive avenue for exploration on how to win in the future.

In my state's governor's race, I had a "yellow dog" moment and voted for the one candidate who numerically had a chance to oust the Republican incumbent. Fortunately the guy who got my vote is a decent, competent person, but I figured he would lose, which he did. I'm OK with that; I did my bit.

It would be great to vote for the "best candidate," but when I look for moderates, it's simply too hard to find them in the Republican party right now. I didn't move to the left since I started voting at 18; the GOP went to the right and they can't seem to field a fiscal conservative/social progressive anymore.

And knock off the "values voter" finger-pointing (which I resent the hell out of; I have values, thank you) and stop telling me that Democrats dislike the military. Since I'm retired military, that doesn't wash.

I see nothing wrong with independent candidates; I like some variety, and I do not care to be told to not vote for a candidate "because they can't win." People are dying in Iraq right now so that folks can be free to vote for whichever wingnut they like.

You vote for your wingnut, I'll vote for mine, but we both live in the City on a Hill.

Some people congenitally enjoy messing things up for other people, without having any constructive purpose. It's human nature. In ordinary social intercourse, we call those people "jerks" and shun them. (Ed.-- I thought those were "Democrats." A.-- Shhhh!)

On comment threads, however, they attempt to elevate jerkhood into a highminded principle.

it astounds me that people keep voting for candidates with no prayer of winning.

Look at our governor race here in Texas. Only 39% of the electorate voted for Rick Perry, the winner. More Texans voted against him than for him.

The problem was what I call the "ego candidates" - Strayhorn and Friedman. There are also going to be people who feel, for whatever reason, that they are entitled to the office. And there are always going to be voters who want to "screw the system" and will vote for those ego candidates.

Had either Strayhorn or Friedman not been in the race, Texas would have a new, Democratic governor this morning.

Again, I think Burns and Allen will ultimately lose.

Say goodnight, Gracie.

Really? Then why not have just one candidate ... that would make it really simple, eh? You could justify that by saying "well, the 2nd candidate just didn't have any chance of winning." How stupid.

Given that everyone knew these races, along with Missouri, would be decisive and razor thin, it astounds me that people keep voting for candidates with no prayer of winning.

Its interesting to look at the Illinois Governor's race where you had an unpopular incumbent Democrat from Chicago battling an unpopular Republican.

Normally the Democrat rakes in the Chicago votes and everywhere else in the state votes Republican.

I don't know if it would qualify as a spoiler, but you saw pretty strong Green party support in rural Illinois counties. In Boone county, the Green candidate received like 26%.

I suspect that you had disaffected Republicans voting Green in many of these places. I don't know if it would be enought to breech the gap, but it is important to note that Greens don't necesarily take their votes from Dems. Many Greens are closer to traditional libertarians. This was certainly the case with the Green candidate in Illinois who was a big gun-rights supporter.