What might a GOP House mean for science? We'll start at the top science agencies and work our way down over the next few weeks:

Smith said the Republican victory likely will put more political pressure on Obama to do more to rein in federal spending as he looks ahead to the 2012 presidential election. She also said NASA’s Earth science program, which is earmarked for spending increases by the Obama administration but has long been a target of Republican lawmakers, “may encounter rough seas ahead instead of the smooth sailing it enjoyed this year.”  

The next time a talking head is lamenting science and math education in the US, maybe someone could point out that a million homeschooled kids being taught that NASA climatologists are part of an international conspiracy and the earth is 10,000 years-old might help produce parants with a contempt for facts.

• Speaking of facts, corporate profits have risen faster in the last year than during any post WW2 boom period.
• Gliese 581d may or not be a statistical ghost in the machine, but the menagerie of exo-solar planets grows, and perhaps a quarter of them are 'earth-like'.  
• Another anniversary of a failed Intelligent Design Creationist prediction: "In the next five years, molecular Darwinism–the idea that Darwinian processes can produce complex molecular structures at the subcellular level–will be dead." Uh-huh.  
• Will Teabaggers permit Republicans who support embryonic stem cell research to exist?
• Haha, pretty soon it'll be battlin bots!

  Tired of arguing with climate change deniers in 140 character quips, the programmer wrote a script to do it for him. Chatbot @AI_AGW scans Twitter every five minutes searching for hundreds of phrases that fit the usual denier argument paradigm. Then it serves them up some science.

WSJ on the still undecided CT Gov race:

In an election that included ballot shortages, changing tallies and an all-night hand-recount, Mr. Malloy beat Republican Tom Foley by more than 5,600 votes, the website shows. Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz hadn't certified the results as of Friday afternoon.

Connecticut voters cast 566,498 votes for Mr. Malloy and 560,861 for Tom Foley, according to returns posted Friday on the state website. The 5,637-vote margin exceeds the 2,000 votes needed to avoid a recount.

If the results are certified by Ms. Bysiewicz, Mr. Malloy would be the state's first Democratic governor in 20 years, since William O'Neill served. He would replace Gov. Jodi Rell.

Malloy's not Governor yet, but he will be. Some of the networks are making that call.

Gail Collins:

Many women are horrified by people like Bachmann because they fear that when the rest of the country watches her bizarre performances, they see not just an addled person from Minnesota, but a woman in politics. We have to get past that. Men don’t cringe on behalf of their sex when Newt Gingrich goes Islamophobic, or Carl Paladino threatens to take out a reporter. There are many battles yet to be fought, but I think women have achieved enough success in this country to stop feeling as if Bachmann reflects on anyone but her party and herself.

Palin, meanwhile, was engrossed in her own postelection minicrisis when she "favorited" an Ann Coulter Twitter message praising a church sign that referred to President Obama as a "Taliban Muslim." Coulter would be another one of the women we are not taking responsibility for.

Many men are horrified as well. Why did otherwise sensible Minnesotans elect a clown?

EJ Dionne on Nancy Pelosi:

"One of the members called me and said, 'I'm in a tough race. It's even. I don't know how it's going to turn out,' " she recalls. " 'But I know one thing: that I wouldn't do anything differently. I wouldn't change my vote on health-care reform no matter how they tried to describe it. It was important for me to vote to give the opportunity that that bill provides.' "

"These members know what they believe in," she notes, channeling her own feelings through those of her colleagues. "They will have plenty of options in life. I hope one of them is to consider coming back to Congress."

Eugene Robinson on the truly historical effectiveness of Pelosi:

President Obama still has the ability to set the nation's agenda -- and also the power of the veto, in case of emergency. Harry Reid is still Senate majority leader -- and after the way he punched and scrapped his way to victory, who wants to mess with him? As for John Boehner, he'll soon learn that his new job requires a more extensive vocabulary than "no."

But amid the wreckage of Tuesday's GOP rampage, there's one person for whom I feel awful: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. She's losing her job not because she does it poorly but because she does it so well.

Reid Wilson:

The freshman class that will make up the 112th Congress, too, could give Boehner headaches. It is unusually large, and unusually comprised of members who are committed to changing the fundamental underpinnings of Washington. They are unlikely to go along with the established order of things, even though Boehner appears more like the stereotypical Washington insider than tea party members would like.

Boehner's balancing act is delicate. He must appease the base while appeasing the middle, compromise where he can while standing against a president his party loathes. But for Obama and the Democrats, the stakes are higher, and compromise seems inevitable.

What is far from certain is that the economy will actually turn around in time for the 2012 election. New policies, or just an inevitable market-driven recovery, may begin creating jobs and restoring hope, but it's unlikely things will be back to pre-recession levels.

If voters are still angry and still believe Congress or the White House has steered them wrong, Washington should strap in. It promises to be another bumpy ride.

Steven Stark:

Now that the midterm wipeout has concluded, analysts are already sizing up the GOP challengers to a weakened Barack Obama. Not only that: some Democratic party elders are considering the once-unthinkable scenario of a debilitating challenge to Barack Obama from inside his party — most likely from a disgruntled critic on the left. But in truth, Obama has little to fear there. It's an urban myth that any inter-party challenge to a president weakens him. George Wallace challenged Lyndon Johnson in 1964 and Pete McCloskey ran against Richard Nixon in 1972 — both to little effect. Even Pat Buchanan's insurgency against George Bush in 1992 was far more symptom than cause of the incumbent's loss in November.

Remind the ambitious Heath Schuler before he runs for President.

Tonight's Rescue Rangers are Alfonso Nevarez, jlms qkw, vcmvo2, YatPundit, and ybruti, who also edited .

• Beginning with the discovery of prebiotic molecules in outer space, Tom Ball connects the Democratic Future, Black Holes, and Obama Polls. (ybruti)
• Rich in PA has some ideas on how we can take back the momentum with Neo-Republican Change I Can, Like, Totally Believe In! (Alfonso Nevarez)
• revelwoodie in In which I add my two cents offers Democrats some lessons from history to guide the way forward. (ybruti)
• DWG ironically uses the teaparty's own words against Mitch McConnell and his "anger" in "Grow a pair". (vcmvo2)
• Ralph Lopez highlights war profiteers in Republicans Want to Give Taliban More Money. (ybruti)
• 728huey has A novel view on the future of outsourcing manufacturing jobs, one that could bring the production of tangible goods back to our communities. (Alfonso Nevarez)
• Jim Mallon marks Sparky Anderson's passing with a personal reflection in On Sparky Anderson and My Dad. (YatPundit)
• In Confessions of a Former Kanjorski Intern, RamblinDave spills all his juicy secrets, or more accurately, gives us a pragmatic portrait of what it's like to serve at the pleasure of a conservative Democrat. (Alfonso Nevarez)
• Miep offers "A diary about timing" in Several Days. (YatPundit)
• NourishingthePlanet reports that rural communities are jumping into the information age by Texting on the Farm: Mobile Technology Provides Farmers with Useful Information. (Alfonso Nevarez)

jotter has High Impact Diaries: November 4, 2010.

va dare brings us Top Comments 11.5.10 The ugly underbelly of populism (w' eye candy).

As always, feel free to suggest your own favorite diaries of the day, and use this as an open thread.

   This Rescue Diary covers the period from 6 PM, Thursday, 11/4 to 6:00 PM EDT, Friday, 11/5

Today's Menu Includes :
31 Diaries Overall

- 6 On House races

- Covering 3 individual Districts in 3 states

- 7 On Senate races

- Representing 3 different states

- 9 On Various election races and ballot issues

- Encompassing Governor, Secretary of State, Local, and more

- 9 General election-related diaries

   Please note - Tonight's diary is the final one in this year's EDR Series, v3.0. In keeping with tradition, the floor is open to members of the EDR crew to share their thoughts. Please join us below the list of tonight's diaries.

   The entire crew thanks you for your support and readership!

In Wednesday's press conference, President Obama offered an assessment of his relationship with American business that left the New York Times wondering, "Is Obama's War with the Chamber Over?"

[I]n his post-“shellacking” news conference Wednesday, Mr. Obama came close to conceding the Chamber’s main argument, that American businesses have concluded — wrongly, in Mr. Obama’s view — that his policies are anti-business.

“I think business took the message that, well, gosh, it seems like we may be always painted at the bad guy,” Mr. Obama told reporters. He admitted that relations with the business community has not been “managed by me as well as it needed to be.”

Mr. Obama did not mention the Chamber by name, or refer specifically to the public war of words that has dominated the relationship between the White House and the president’s senior staff.

But he seemed to suggest that his often-repeated goal of creating “new rules of the road” for business needed to be better balanced against a new appreciation for the need to buck-up firms that are struggling in the faltering economy....

“I think setting the right tone publicly is going to be important,” he said, “and could end up making a difference at the margins in terms of how businesses make investment decisions.”

Maybe that “new tone” will apply in the war between the Chamber and the White House as well.

Yeah, not so much. Ben Smith highlights their response, included in a BusinessWeek story.

[Chamber president Tom Donohue would] like to start by chipping away at the President's legislative achievements such as health-care and financial reform, which must still be implemented at the regulatory level.

In short, the battles between the chamber and the White House are far from over. "Oh, hell no," Donohue laughs. "They are in the second inning."

The Chamber's agenda is in direct opposition to the well-being of the majority of Americans. Having them as a foil will actually be great for Obama and the Dems, provided they use them as that foil. They want war, give them war, but just make sure to keep reminding the American people know what the Chamber is about: outsourcing our jobs.

The presumptive new chair of the House finance committee, Spencer Bachus, is promising to fight his level best to make sure that banks can still gamble with our money. Yglesias has this from Bachus:

Spencer Bachus, a potential Republican chairman of the House financial services committee, has fired the first salvo in a battle with regulators – warning them against harming US banks by curbing their trading activity....

“The derivatives provisions in Dodd-Frank alone... as they stand now they’re going to take a trillion dollars out of our economy. Think how many jobs that’s going to kill,” he said.

So it's a war on the Volcker Rule, one of the handful of provisions in the Wall Street reform bill that had the potential to make a significant difference in how the big banks bet their capital. Wall Street just bought themselves a shiny new GOP House, and are counting on payback. Looks like the GOP is primed to deliver it.

Update: Tonight the AP has called Gabby Giffords (D) the winner in AZ-08. -- Barb

The AP has finally called Rep. Grijalva the winner in his bid for reelection. Grijalva had declared victory on Wednesday, when it was clear he would win, but his opponent refused to concede. That leaves a handful more Dem incumbents waiting for final results, including Grijalva's fellow Arizonan, Rep. Gabby Giffords, who leads her Republican opponent by about 3,000 votes, with about 30,000 absentee and provisional ballots outstanding.

In Washington state, WA-02, Rep. Rick Larsen is up about more than 1,400 votes, as of last count, over John Kuster. The late vote in Washington has been breaking hard for Dems, and Larsen continues to benefit, having overcome a 1,500-vote deficit on election night. While Goldy has called it for Larsen, the traditional media hasn't yet, and the Koster campaign is trying to instill the possibility of voter fraud, with no evidence as of yet, because that's what Republicans do.

In California, Rep. Jerry McNerney in CA-11 has expanded a very slight lead of 441 votes (as of this writing) over David Harmer, with thousands of absentee ballots still to be counted. McNerney has solid leads in two counties, while his opponent has smaller leads in a third, and they're tied in the fourth. Also in California, Rep. Jim Costa, CA-20, is trailing by about 1,800 votes. California doesn't have automatic recounts but candidates can request recounts within five days of the election being certified, and have to pay for the recount.

In VA-11, Rep. Gerald Connolly has about an 930 vote lead, but the Republicans are of course hinting at potential fraud. "suggesting that 'there are several developments in the ... race that may call into question the accuracy of the current vote totals.'" They're still counting provisional ballots in the race. If the final tally ends up below 1 percent, either candidate can ask for a recount after the vote is certified on Nov. 22.

In KY-06, Ben Chandler won by more than 600 votes, according to the Kentucky Board of Elections, but his opponent has asked for a recanvass of the votes. So "election boards in each of the 16 counties in the district must convene at 9 a.m. Nov. 12 to double-check their vote tallies, then fax their results to the Secretary of State."

In IL-08, Rep. Melissa Bean trailed by 365 votes at the end of yesterday's count. Her opponent has declared victory, but she hasn't conceded. They're still receiving absentee ballots across the district, which will be counted on Nov. 16.

In TX-27, Rep. Solomon Ortiz is down by 792, though he picked up seven votes from a bag of previously uncounted ballots. He's considering a recount.

Finally, NY-25 freshman Rep. Dan Maffei is waiting on absentee and provisional ballots to find out his fate. He's behind 659 votes, but "Tuesday’s preliminary results do not include 11,645 absentee ballots, nearly 8,731 of which have been mailed back to their respective counties so far." Absentee ballots have to be received by Nov. 9 to be counted, and military ballots by Nov. 24.

Look at this trend:

Yet the voters had other ideas:

A misty-eyed Bill Brady conceded defeat Friday to Gov. Quinn after the tighest race for governor in Illinois in three decades.

“I just a few minutes ago got off the phone with Gov. Quinn, and I congratulated him on his victory, as he deserved,” the Bloomington Republican told reporters, family members and supporters at a hotel in his hometown.

“After days of counting ballots and looking at potential outcomes, we came to the conclusion that Gov. Quinn won this race.

This was the biggest shocker upset of the night. Rod Blagojevich's Lt. Gov, who once sat at 32% in the polls, won his election 46%-46%, plus a few extra thousand votes.

What's coming up on Sunday Kos ….

• Dante Atkins will evaluate the many happy returns from the Golden State.
• In an election cycle like this, there are inevitably some cases of "right candidate, wrong year." Laura Clawson will name some candidates who didn't quite make it this time but should considering keeping the campaign going to 2012.
• Mark Sumner is not enthusiastic about the idea of an enthusiasm gap.
• President Obama cut taxes for the middle class in 2009, but people still believe their taxes went up. If President Obama approves new tax cuts for the middle class and the rich, brooklynbadboy asks why would the political result be any different? He will propose a better strategy.
• Republicans said 2010 was going to be another Year of the Woman. Turns out, it was just another Year of the Man. Again. Kaili Joy Gray explains why -- and why there's hope for 2012.
• Steve Singiser will look at the polling for this cycle and wonder whether some of the “most accurate” pollsters at the end should have to sit in the penalty box for their earlier sins.
• A political era is ending. Laurence Lewis hopes the Democrats are paying attention.

Politico's Ken Vogel flags another donation from MSNBC host Joe Scarborough to a Republican candidate, this one made in April of this year for $5,000 to a GOP candidate in Alabama. Combined with his 2006 contribution of $4,400 to a GOP congressional candidate, Scarborough has donated at least $9,400 to Republican candidates as an MSNBC host -- more than the amount that led to Keith Olbermann's suspension.

It's not just contributions, either: Vogel points out that in August, Scarborough traveled to Alabama to headline a fundraiser for the county GOP where he made his contribution.

Given the obvious double-standard here, Griffin's decision to suspend Olbermann but not Scarborough seems to be motivated by personal or political factors. After all, Joe Scarborough not only has contributed more money than Keith Olbermann, he's headlined fundraisers.

It's implausible that the issue here is that Olbermann didn't ask permission. First, the policy in question doesn't appear to apply to MSNBC -- it's for "impartial journalists" on NBC News' staff, and nobody would claim Olbermann or Scarborough are impartial. They are opinion show hosts. Second, even if the policy did apply, and even if Scarborough did ask permission, it's clear that these types of donations are permissible at MSNBC. And given that it would be illegal for MSNBC to allow Republican donations but not Democratic donations, there's no chance that Olbermann was suspended for failing to ask permission to do something that he would have been granted permission to do.

So it's clear Griffin's decision was the wrong one and it was motivated by the wrong reasons. But the question remains, how long will it take for him -- or the network -- to back down?

Update: Props to Chris Hayes for declining the opportunity to host Countdown tonight.

Update: CNBC's Larry Kudlow also has made political donations -- to Republicans, of course. No suspension there.

Update: Sign your name to the petition demanding Keith Olbermann's immediate reinstatement.

From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE...

This Late Night Snark is Still Too Close to Call:

"Christine O’Donnell, after losing her election in Delaware, said "Our voices were heard." In your head, lady."
---David Letterman
-
"Republicans won big on election day. They say their two big priorities are cutting taxes and reducing the debt. Which is sort of like wanting to lose weight and win 'Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest.'"
---Jimmy Kimmel
-
"[In] Oklahoma, voters overwhelmingly approved state question 755 [to ban Islamic Sharia law], one of the most important initiatives in their state's history. This is great news. Just because something doesn’t exist doesn’t mean you shouldn’t ban it. That's why I have long fought for ballot measures to ban cat pilots, baby curling, and man-futon marriage."
---Stephen Colbert
-
"Former President George W. Bush reveals in his book that he considered dropping Dick Cheney to prove he was in charge. But then Cheney nixed the idea."
---Jimmy Fallon
-
"In an interview on Entertainment Tonight, Mary Hart was told by Sarah Palin she may run in 2012 if there was no one to do it. That's not how you run for President. That's how you offer to babysit."
--–Seth Meyers

And one more gem from You-Know-Who for old-times' sake, via Real Time with Bill Maher:

"I don’t celebrate Halloween because of what it means; because it is a satanic holiday, it is a pagan holiday. And while people are going around gettin' free candy, other people are falling victim to human sacrifices. That's the reality of what's going on on Halloween."
---Failed Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell, circa 1999

Oh, we'll miss the ol' gal. Or at least we will until next week when Sean Hannity starts broadcasting from his new set inside her back pocket.

Meanwhile, I was thinking of something we could collectively do to support Keith Olbermann in addition to raising holy hell. Then I went to Amazon.com and noticed that George W. Bush's lame attempt at revisionist history is #1 on their bestseller list. Keith has a new book out, too. It's called Pitchforks and Torches. I'm thinking it might be fun if everyone in the progressive netroots bought a copy and knocked Bush off his perch. Yeah. That might be real enjoyable.

Your west coast-friendly edition of  Cheers and Jeers starts in There's Moreville... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]

The rightwingnuttia is abuzz with the news that President Obama's trip overseas will cost the American taxpayers $200 million a day, that 34 U.S. warships will be stationed for his protection, and that his entourage of 2,000 will use 870 rooms at a five-star hotel.

Except it's not true.

So, how did this truly ridiculous lie become a story? It's easy:

The numbers evidently originate with the Press Trust of India, whose report [based on one anonymous source] was linked on the Drudge Report and picked up by Fox News host Glenn Beck.

From there it exploded in what Rachel Maddow calls the "alternate, self-contained, right-wing media universe," where it has become "de facto fact."

And naturally, the traditional (sometimes called "liberal") media feels compelled to report that there is a story out there, never mind that it's a load of garbage ... because after all, it is the fair and balanced thing to do.

Welcome to a new majority, presumptive Speaker Boehner. And have fun with this.

In a draft of a confidential memo to be distributed to all incoming House Republican lawmakers, Dick Armey, a former Republican majority leader who is chairman of the conservative group FreedomWorks, and Matt Kibbe, its president, told lawmakers that a repeal of the Democrats’ health care law was “nonnegotiable” and warned that they would face a severe backlash from voters if they did not succeed in reversing the law.

“Politically speaking, your only choice is to get on offense and start moving boldly ahead to repeal, replace and defund Obamacare in 2011, or risk rejection by the voters in 2012,” Mr. Armey and Mr. Kibbe wrote.

That's just not going to happen. Even presuming that that they could override a presidential veto (and they don't have the numbers for that), sustaining a two-year battle on one issue is a losing electoral proposition, and while the Bachmann-like lizard brains might not be able to fully comprehend that, "leadership" has to, since they're in charge of looking ahead to the next election. Caucus leaders might also be smart enough to realize that there's an inherent contradiction in their top priority of reducing the deficit and spending and repeal, that is, if they really do care about the deficit.

Boehner's not only got to fight off the onslaught of Michele Bachmann clones, hyped up on Dick Armey-style dumb bravado, but also Mitch McConnell, who has the luxury of throwing bombs around without having the majority to have to back them up. Boehner is definitely not signing onto the "one term for Obama" bandwagon. This GOP civil war is going to be a doozie.

Even if you set aside the hypocrisy of the Joe Scarborough double-standard, Phil Griffin's explanation for suspending Keith Olbermann doesn't add up.

Griffin says Olbermann violated a policy requiring NBC News reporters to obtain approval for making political campaign donations that "jeopardize his or her standing as an impartial journalist." But Olbermann isn't an "impartial journalist" and doesn't claim to be. Neither is Joe Scarborough, a point that NBC itself made in excusing Scarborough's donations. To quote NBC in 2007:

Joe hosts an opinion program and is not a news reporter.

It's the same thing with Olbermann. As John Cook reports on Gawker, MSNBC's opinion hosts aren't subject to the same rules as NBC News reporters.

MSNBC's increasingly left-wing programming and personalities aren't required to abide by NBC News' exacting rules—if they were, it would be a much less bombastic and politically charged network. So while Olbermann's donations may have run counter to the NBC News brand and Griffin's wishes, there doesn't appear to be a chapter-and-verse policy applying to MSNBC employees barring them.

"The standards department has told us that MSNBC doesn't answer to NBC News standards," the insider said.  "They don't have coverage over MSNBC. They used to, back before MSNBC went political, but at some point it became too hard and MSNBC was taken out of their portfolio. As far as I know, there are no ethical standards at MSNBC. And if NBC says MSNBC is supposed to be living up to the NBC News standards, that's a preposterous lie."

Given that Olbermann is MSNBC's top draw, you'd think Griffin would have an airtight case for suspending him. The fact that he doesn't suggests that Griffin's real motivation is either personal or political, because from a business perspective, it just doesn't make any sense.

There is a lot going on right now, but don’t forget to show your support for Nancy Pelosi in her fight to stay Democratic leader in the House of Representatives.

Keep in mind that after the 2002 election debacle, we were told making Nancy Pelosi Democratic leader would be a disaster. Supposedly, we would have been better off with Harold Ford Jr. (yeah, that’s really who ran against her eight years ago). But instead of disaster, the result was that Democrats won more seats, and passed more legislation, than anyone thought was possible eight years ago.

Keep in mind that after the 2004 election debacle, we were told that turning to Howard Dean as DNC chair would be a disaster. The result was two consecutive Democratic sweeps in 2006 and 2008.

We have proven that Democrats can win with the progressive wing of the party in charge. And really, victory isn’t even possible for us unless the progressive wing is in charge, because Blue Dogs just agree with Republicans on too much policy.

We are not in this for the sake of electing people with D’s next to their name. The point is to make people’s lives better. To do that, we can’t go along with Republican policies. As Pelosi herself said today:

Our work is far from finished. As a result of Tuesday's election, the role of Democrats in the 112th Congress will change, but our commitment to serving the American people will not. We have no intention of allowing our great achievements to be rolled back.

Nancy Pelosi is the leader we need in the House of Representatives. Let her know you support her. Her staff is aware of your support, and it is making a difference. Join with over 15,000 other Kossacks, and bring this one home.

Update: Just FYI, there are no other candidates besides Pelosi and Heath Shuler's threatened candidacy. And the Progressives appear to have basically drafted Pelosi to run, so there will not be a different left-wing candidate. This is Pelosi vs. the Blue Dogs. Sign up to join Pelosi's team here.

If you have any doubt about Phil Griffin's real motive in suspending Keith Olbermann, you need look no further than how the network reacted to Joe Scarborough's donation of $4,200 to a Republican House candidate in 2006:

Joe Scarborough, host of the "Morning Joe" talk show and the evening newscast "Scarborough Country," $4,200 in March 2006 to Derrick Kitts, Republican candidate for the House from Oregon. ... A spokesperson for NBC, Jeremy Gaines, replied to questions sent to Scarborough. "Yes, he did make a donation to Derrick Kitts. Kitts is an old friend of Joe's. Joe hosts an opinion program and is not a news reporter."

Griffin might try to defend himself by saying the difference is that Olbermann interviewed one of the candidates that he contributed to after making the contribution. But Griffin's problem would be that Joe Scarborough did the exact same thing. As JohnKWilson pointed out in a diary, after donating to Derrick Kitts, Scarbrough interviewed Kitts on his program.

The bottom-line here that both Keith Olbermann and Joe Scarborough both host opinion shows. They both made personal contributions to political candidates. But Olbermann supports Democrats, and Scarborough supports Republicans, so even though Olbermann is the network's top-rated host, and even though Scarborough hides his ratings sheet in a little box in the basement, it's Olbermann that gets silenced.