Watching the Results Online

I’ll be using CNN’s Election Center to tract results tonight, they let you drill down to the county level as well as pre-select your races to watch. Google has this map.

6:59 PM: The New York Times county-level national presidential map includes historical data back to 1992.
7:25 PM: Here’s my favorite poll closing time map.
7:29 PM: Libby is really really excited about this.
7:52 PM: Libby’s watching Lapeer results on ElectionMagic.com.
7:52 PM: As of today, Obama has over 2.4 million Facebook friends.
8:00 PM: MSNBC calls Pennsylvania for Obama??
8:01 PM: New Hampshire! Maine!
8:03 PM: Aside: Shaw dog park proposal to reality in 6 months. The neighborhood’s public library branch closed in 2004, and the temporary trailer didn’t open for 4 years.
8:12 PM: Chris Matthews telling Howard Dean he “started this”
8:20 PM: MSNBC calls the New Hampshire senate race for Shaheen
8:24 PM: Live shot of Palm Beach County vote counting on MSNBC right now
9:26 PM: The Obama campaign has their own map
9:32 PM: Changing from CNN to MSNBC … what a difference calling Ohio makes!
9:34 PM: We want the hologram back
9:41 PM: Obama campaign announces they have made 1 million calls. Today.
9:57 PM: The Overhead Wire is blogging the transit results. The big kahuna is California’s $10 billion rail bond.
10:14 PM: New England House race update - all four seats in ME and NH go to Dems
10:38 PM: Mass. ballot questions: income tax preserved, marijuana decriminalized, dog racing banned
11:00 PM: CNN, AP, Fox call Virginia
11:01 PM: Race called for Obama!
11:02 PM: From Libby and I … thanks to our friends who worked so hard for the Obama campaign, including Will and Rachel in NH, Kristen, Aaron and Jenny in MI, Michael and Marissa in Chicago, Jackie, Rosie, Paul and Ramya in OH, Becky in NC, and any others we’re missing. Congratulations!

Races I Was Watching

With so many candidates and initiatives on the ballots across the country yesterday I thought it would be worthwhile to point out a few items I was watching.

Although it was exciting to watch the Democrats take back the House for the first time since 1994, the evening wasn’t without its disappointments. At the top of that list must be the success of the affirmative action ban in Michigan. Although the full impact will become clear in the next months and years, the ban threatens not only affirmative action policies for university admissions but also scholarships, retention programs, and other policies that assist not only racial and ethnic minorities but also women. A similar policy in California has led to sharp and stark declines in the number of black students at the top campuses in the UC system - as a particularly egregious example out of nearly 5,000 incoming students this fall at UCLA just 96 are black - around 2%. In Michigan this could mean we see the percentage of black students at the University of Michigan drop below 10% in a metropolitan region that is over 21% black. (Although University of Michigan president pledged today in a rousing speech they would use ‘every legal option available.’) My friend Dumi who is a graduate student at the University of Michigan has posted his thoughts about the initiative. (Which he points out was endorsed by the KKK) Also in Michigan, Carl Levin’s son Andy Levin lost his race for State Senate by a tiny margin in a hotly contested race for a Republican-majority district. Democratic challenger Jim Marcinkowski also failed in his attempt to knock off Republican Mike Rogers in Michigan’s 8th. Overall the picture in Michigan isn’t all doom and gloom — Governor Jennifer Granholm and Senator Stabenow won re-election, and Democrats took over the Michigan House. Another Michigan friend Chris Wilcox was helping out Michael Arcuri, who successfully won the contested race for New York House District 24.

Another largely-overlooked outcome of the election was the continuing popular backlash against the Kelo vs. New London case: eight states voted to prohibit or restrict the use of eminent domain for economic development purposes. I have mixed feelings about this. Although eminent domain has had a shameful history, I am mostly worried constitutional amendments and ballot initiatives is an inappropriate way of handling the issue and could lead to unintended consequences down the road.

Lastly, as I have already posted it appears my neighborhood ANC in D.C. will have a new chair - Kevin Chappele. Perhaps now that body will publish a regular agenda, post their meeting location on the web, and do a better job serving the needs of the neighborhood.

Lichtman for Senate

Trailing behind Kweisi Mfume and Ben Cardin in the Maryland Democratic Party Senate race, underdog Allen Lichtman is scrambling to get voters’ attention before the September 12th primary. Campaigning under the tagline “Too much government intruding in our private lives, Too Little government meeting our needs,” Lichtman’s platform includes withdrawing troops from Iraq and policies to make higher education more affordable. Today’s Post article describes his scrappy campaign, noting he likes to boast he’d be the only lifelong teacher in the U.S. Senate if elected.

> Post: “Behind the Pack, Lichtman Feels the Heat”
> See the campaign website, myspace, and Facebook group

Riding Scandal To November: Is It Possible?

With people like Robert Greenwald, perhaps. His company, Brave New Films, has teamed up with filmmakers Mark Birnbaum and Jim Schermbeck to make a feature-length documentary about Tom Delay which will premier in May 5th in Houston, Texas. According to the film website, The Big Buy: Tom Delay’s Stolen Congress will document Tom Delay’s role in both the re-districting of Texas and also his scheme to illegally funnel corporate donations to House candidates. Brave New Films is hoping to distribute the film through grassroots screenings, and are currently collecting the email addresses of potential organizers.

Eugene Kang Loses Primary

According to Eugene’s campaign and the Washtenaw County website, Eugene Kang has lost his primary for Ann Arbor’s Ward 2 city council seat against former Republican candidate for mayor Stephen Rapundalo with a vote of 480 to 575.

Eugene earned 45.5% of the vote to Mr. Rapundalo’s 54.5%. According to the canvass report, Eugene carried four of the ward precincts, and tied in one, with Rapundalo winning three precincts.

Had he won the primary and general election, Eugene Kang would have been the first undergraduate to serve on the Ann Arbor City Council in at least a decade.

UPDATE: Dale Winling of the New West Side Association has some thoughts.

Ann Arbor Ward 2 Voters: Vote For Eugene Kang!

U-M undergrad and candidate for City Council in Ward 2 (contains the Hill Dorms and Northeast Ann Arbor) Eugene Kang’s primary election is today. If you are a registered Ward 2 voter, go vote for Eugene!

> See Eugene’s official website
> See results as they are reported

Some campaign lit I had posted earlier is after the jump.
Read the rest of this entry »

Kang Campaign Launches Website

The Eugene Kang for City Council campaign in Ann Arbor has launched a candidate website: kangforcitycouncil.com. My Kang index post has links to all the other material about his campaign on my blog. Vote for him August 2 in the Ward 2 democratic primary!

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