Still Some Races To Be Decided

Norm Coleman only leads Al Franken by 221 votes in the Minnesota Senate race. That .01 margin triggers an automatic recount. The recount will be by hand, and an analysis of the undervotes (ballots where a Presidential vote was counted, but no Senate vote was recorded) shows that most come from counties where Obama won. And you know Franken is likely to win a recount as Coleman has already sued to stop votes from being counted; and lost.

Alaska is another state where the Senate race is in doubt. Convicted felon Ted Stevens is leading by about 3200 votes, but the website FiveThirtyEight.com (which had the most accurate prediction of Obama's win) says counting the early and absentee ballots may put Democratic challenger Mark Begich over the top.

In New York's 29th Congressional District, Eric Massa leads Randy Kuhl by 4400 votes with approximately 11,500 absentee and military votes yet to be counted. Kuhl would have to win those votes by a 2 to 1 margin to overtake Massa. The vote count won't take place until November 17th as that is the date military votes must be received by.

Corporations Bailing Out Randy With Money They Stole From You

Just received this in email from Eric Massa's campaign:

Randy's latest "48 hour" FEC financial report reads like a who's-who of the financial services industry (the recent recipients of $850 BILLION of your tax dollars), as well as oil and gas companies.

Here's just a small sample, lifted directly from Randy's report:

$5,000 - EXXON MOBIL CORPORATION
Date Contributed = 10/30/2008

$3,000 - SALLIE MAE INC POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE
Date Contributed = 10/30/2008

$2,000 - CONOCOPHILLIPS SPIRIT PAC
Date Contributed = 10/30/2008

$2,000 - JPMORGAN CHASE & CO. PAC
Date Contributed = 10/30/2008

$1,000 - KPMG PARTNERS/PRINCIPALS & EMPLOYEES
Date Contributed = 10/30/2008

$2,000 - WAL-MART STORES INC. PAC
Date Contributed = 10/30/2008

$1,000 - AMERICAN GAS ASSOCIATION
Date Contributed = 10/29/2008

The same Sallie Mae that receives PUBLIC funds and just got a huge cut of the bailout bill? Why, yes.

The same Exxon Mobil that is gouging working families at the pump with record prices while only days ago reporting the largest single quarter profit in American history? Yup.


Please give what you can today. We cannot allow Wall Street to decide who our next Congressman will be.

It's an outrage that these companies -- whose greed has so damaged our political and economic system -- would receive billions in tax breaks and grants from hard-working Americans, and then funnel that same money back to the career politicians that perpetuate the system.


It's outrageous, it's wrong, and it has to stop.

Good News

The Albany Project: NY-29: CQ Politics Upgrades Race From 'No Clear Favorite' To 'Leans Democratic'

New York News

RNC pulling out of all but two Congressional races in New York.

In the 20th Congressional District (Coach Mom's Congresswoman), no more money for Kirsten Gillibrand's opponent, Sandy Treadwell. This could be seen as conceding the race, but since Treadwell has sunk $6 million of his own money into the race, it may just be allocation of resources.

The two races where the RNC will continue to fund the Republican candidate are NY-29, Crazy Randy Kuhl (R-Shotgun) v. retired Admiral Eric Massa (D-Sanity), and the 26th District, where Democratic attorney Alice Kryzan is battling Republican Chris Lee to take the seat of retiring Republican (and Mark Foley coddler) Thomas Reynolds.

Congressional Updates

1. Eric Massa, Democrat trying to take NY-29 from crazy mofo Randy Kuhl, is up in the polls (yeah) and is getting a little help from his opponent, who said this

I firmly believe the Democratic majority wants the American public to suffer and to hurt so that they can make some political gains at election time and I think that's wrong.

and now Markos Moulitsas, of dailykos, is asking dailykos readers to contribute to Massa's campaign. You can, too. Eric is a good guy, served under Wes Clark, very smart and very progressive.

Eric Massa for Congress

P.S. If you live in New York, check your voter registration status. New York has purged 1.6 million names from the voting rolls this year; mistakes have surely been made. Make sure your vote counts. If you find out now that you've been purged, you may be able to avoid voting by provisional ballot on election day. They can fix it now; they're not going to have the time on election day.

2. The national Republican Party has pulled all its funding from the race of Joe McCarthy-channeling Michelle Bachmann (MN-6). Ha. Guess she will have to investigate the un-American members of Congress by herself - from home after she loses her seat.

3. The Rethugs are also pulling out the races of Tom Feeney (FL-24) and Marilyn Musgrave (CO-4). I only wish Angie Paccione, who lost a close race to Musgrave two years ago, was her opponent this time; but Democrat Betsy Markey seems likely to win this seat.