Prop 8 and Al Franken - Page 2

Doesn't someone have to approve the appointment?
Jeez, this is tense.

Alaska law is tricky. She can only appoint an iterim senator and then 60-90 days later a special election has to be held.


http://www.adn.com/politics/story/569836.html

I'm pretty sure there would be a special election the next time there are Senate elections... two full years from now.

...the hell is up with Alaskan election law?

WTF? Franken's lead is increasing.

Oh! That was in response to Palin's predecessor appointing his daughter, I think.

Every half of a percent the lead changes hands.

I've never been so fuckin' invested in a senate race.

No, they changed the law. Read the article. Any vacancy can only be filled on an interim basis. After the dismisall of the elected official a special election has to be held either 60 or 90 days.


Palin's appointment wouldn't be for long. The problem is that there are two different laws on the books. That's why the confusion.

I'm still half drunk and smell of sex and rooting like fuck all for Stuart Smalley

and fielding text messages from various peoples for some damn reason!

So.Fucking.Close.

<400 vote lead for Franken.

Franken down by 2k now.

According to CNN, Franken's down by 1,639 votes. Well damn.

EDIT: 676 votes! Ow! This race pains me!

EDIT 2: Florida and Arizona's respective Gay Marriage Bans both passed, moderately so in Arizona, and resoundingly in Florida. Contempt.

~700 votes (+Coleman) now w 99% votes in ... expect recount.

The discontinuity of America doing a great thing last night, yet still passing anti gay marriage laws all over the place is making my head hurt.

Are we sure that Prop 8 has passed, or only that it is likely to pass?

This CNN article (linked on its front page), with a timestamp of 3:18 EST, says it's likely to fail... due to... exit polls. Sigh.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/...aws/index.html

Apologies if this is not right. But anyone have a link that shows it absolutely will win/has won?

As much as Obama winning makes me feel proud, even as a non-US citizen, Prop 8, and the other hate-policies, really darken my heart. It saddens me deeply that such giant steps can be taken forwards, and yet so many small steps take us back.

For me, Obama winning is huge, absolutely, but gay folk not being allowed to marry/adopt etc. almost completely negates his victory. I speak not as a bi-sexual, but as a misanthropic who just wants all you fuckers to finally get along, regardless of who / what / why you are.

God damn people. God damn.

This article has it leading 51.9 to 48.1 with 91% of districts reporting. No timestamp, though.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la...367,full.story

LA voted yes.

I'm hearing that Fox and WSJ have called it for Coleman. Dammit. I thought I was prepared to lose this one, but losing like this is just a fucking heartbreaker. I can't believe we're stuck with that prick for 6 more years.

but they got theirs right!! hahaha what a shame really, prop 8 was just fucking evil.

Coleman vs Franken was really a choice between different flavors of antichrist. Almost every person I know of that voted for Franken did so with SEVERELY gritted teeth. Hopefully this recount will go smoothly and not be a long, drawn out process.

Prop 8 passing is a sad, sad comment on current affairs.

CBS2 is saying that it's still too close to call on Prop 8. Where are you guys seeing this?

Here.

LA TIMES says it's 52-48 passing at the moment.

I still have the feeling that if it passes. It's immdiately going to get litigated ala Prop 187.

At least that bullshit abortion proposition was shot down. AGAIN.

Final on Franken/Coleman has Coleman winning with 528 votes. Think Al's gonna fight it?

Yeah, I can't imagine it staying in place either. Plus, if anything, I'd rather it pass by a razor-thin margin than an overwhelming one - at least that telegraphs that with the right kind of campaigning and information, this shit would be kicked to the curb tout de suite.

I really think the Obama robocalls and the ads associating it with Obama/Biden (two of which were promptly displayed on CHUD as banner ads for the past two days as someone mentioned before, natch) really did a number on any possibility of uninformed people voting 'No'.

We won't have an official victor in this campaign for about a month. Oh well, at least the fucking political ads have stopped.

Sounds like the strange 2000-esque BS that hit Washington state four years ago has come to MN.

From what little I know about MN election procedures, I don't think it's Al's call, right? I believe a recount is automatic for any race with less than a 0.5% margin of victory. Franken/Coleman was at around 0.14% the last time I checked in.

Yes, the recount is automatic; it's not even a question of IF Al/Norm/Dean calls for one, it will happen automatically because of the ultra slim margin. None of the candidates could or should contest this process.

AP has uncalled it anyways... they may smell shenanigans.

the issues that have been brought to light (so far) seem centered around voter registration issues in one district in Minneapolis. I don't think that they are reporting any election tampering issues at this point, but we'll see how the day progresses.

LA Times calls Prop 8 as passed.

Note: In the future, we need Obama's campaign staff working against all anti-gay ballot initiatives.

Like I said. Back to court. Espeically for the ones who married during the window. This proposition does nothing to explain their position.

What a fucking joke.

That it is. Once again, fundies without jobs. I don't know how. But I do pin some of the blame on using children and schools as a hit-job.

I wish I lived in California just to vote no on this piece of crap.

Without a doubt, gay rights will be the frontier of the new civil rights movement from here on out.

Got that right. Which is why the sig was changed.

This is the third time prop 102 (our equivalent of prop 8) has been on the ballot in AZ. It failed two times before and yet somehow now, as history is made in the general election, it passes. Ten years from now (hopefully sooner) Arizonans will find shame in the fact that we actually amended our constitution to deny a group of people a specific right.

Hardly a frontier and hardly new either.

Got to say this was an election of change.....for some not all.

You can bet this will go before the US Supreme Court. Someday it will.

Yeah, but for most of the country it's been mostly given lip service. It's not something that has been organized enough on a national level to garner the attention it needs.*


*I take that back, it's been given just enough attention to misinform and scare people. Exposure breeds acceptance.

this what did it, and it the liberals own fault.

Yes. Eventually. I remember when Texas' sodomy law got ruled unconstitutional.

Still, I don't think the tide will change in regards to gay rights until the bulk of Americans finally get the picture that gay Americas = regular Americans not as how the media portrays them.

Very true. The important thing to note is while the right to call the union "Marriage" has been taken away. It defaults back to "Domestic Partnership" the benefits aren't going away. It's going back to status quo antebellum.

An interesting discussion about race and prop 8: http://www.pamshouseblend.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=8013

I think the Arkansas loss is even more disheartening. It essentially prevents gay couples from adopting. That's even uglier.

As for Franken, as a moderate (who doesn't give a shit about Coleman), it makes me a smile and cringe.

1) I smile because that was an easy win for the Dems, but Minnesota got cute.

2) Cringe because he is both loud and extremely liberal and he will very likely HURT the left for follow-on elections. Now is the time for the wise democrat to play the middle and consolidate their gains. No one and no state really "turned" last night. The middle (the vast majority) voted for change. If they don't like what they see, they'll vote for change again in two years. To a voter that simply means "R" instead of "D" in 2010.

Consolidation is how to prevent a repeat of 2006 for the Republicans. Or 1994 for Dems. Or the extreme case of 1966/1968 for Dems (in 1964 they had 69 senators and 290 Congressmen - think about that). They blew it almost immediately. Lean. Don't fall over. Camp at least NEAR the middle...that is where the voters are.

Long story short...does Franken help or hurt in the long run?

I hate to break this to some of you but horse trading, centrist, quid pro quo politics are what get us Prop 8 in California.

The Democrats, under the leadership of the Clinton's and the DLC, drove the party to the center as fast and as far as they could without coming off looking like Republicans. Running to the center isn't going to do anything but maintain the status quo.