Update: The gap has been narrowing throughout the day. The latest report shows Coleman leading by 476 votes.

original post:

In Minnesota's senate race between Norm Coleman and Al Franken:

With 100 percent of the 4,130 precincts reporting, Coleman had an unofficial margin of 601 votes out of nearly 2.9 million cast. Recounts are required in races with a winning margin of less than one half of 1 percent.

The recount probably won't be completed until early December.

Remember when Joe Lieberman hated filibusters? When he helped form the Gang of 14 to stop those awful filibusters of extreme Bush judges? Now he sings a different tune:

Lieberman also hinted that next session, he would be supportive of conservative efforts to filibuster progressive legislation. Lieberman said that the filibuster is a “key” to stop such “passions of the moment” [-] LIEBERMAN: And I think the filibuster is the key. You know, it gets a bad name, but it was really put there, a 60-vote requirement, to, as somebody said to me when I first came to the Senate, stop the passions of a moment among the people of America from sweeping across the Congress, the House, through the Senate, to a like-minded President and having us do things that will change America for a long time. So the filibuster is one of the important protections we have.

If I were Harry Reid, I would put it to Lieberman this way, the moment you join a Republican filibuster is the moment you are thrown out of the caucus and stripped of all committee chairmanships. If you want to act like a GOP freshman Senator, then we will treat you like one.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

The Day After History.

Later I will be providing a detailed analysis of the now Emerged Democratic Majority and what it can mean in terms of actual policy. But for now, some gloating. . . .

Here are some late-breaking election results, as of 1:00 am MT:

• CBS calls Indiana for President-Elect Barack Obama.

• The South Dakota abortion ban failed.

• The Colorado "personhood" amendment failed.

• No final results on Prop. 8 in California which would ban gay marriage.

• Marijuana reform passed easily in Massachussetts and Michigan. Mass. voters agreed to decriminalization of small amounts for adult possession and medical marijuana was approved in Michigan.

More...

We will live blog President Elect Barack Obama's victory speech.

The live blog is below the fold so it can be bigger. You can comment below as usual or send us messages.

Update: Transcript of Obama's speech is here.

Update 11:21 pm: McCain gives concession speech.

1100 pm: CNN, NBC and ABC News: Obama wins. He's over 270.

Barack Obama, 44th President of the United States.

CBS calls Florida for Obama.

I'll be bumping this to the top periodically all night. It's a widget and will update automatically. Click on the "President" link for live vote tallies.

Update: 11:10 pm: McCain called Obama and conceded. He will speak tonight, Sarah Palin will not.

Update: 11:00 pm: Obama wins the Presidency.

Update: 10:50 pm: Obama wins Virginia. [More...]

Update: Goodbye Marilyn Musgrave. Colorado went blue big time and Musgrave, one of the most conservative members of Congress got replaced by Democrat Betsy Markey. Five of our seven representatives in Congress and both our Senators are now Democrats. McCain/Palin didn't even win big Republican counties like Jefferson, Arapahoe and Larimer. That's really something.

Bump and Update 10:45 pm ET: The Denver Post also calls Colorado for Obama and Udall. Add 9 to Obama's CNN total, all he needs now is California. The "personhood" amendment is dead.

9:42 pm ET: The Rocky Mountain News reports Barack Obama has won Colorado. Rep. Mark Udall will be our next Senator. Hooray!

Obama won conservative Jefferson and Arapahoe counties by 10 points. He beat McCain in Denver by 4 to 1. [More...]

I don't want to interrupt the Obama celebration tonight with talk about McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin, so I'm starting this post early.

I'm so glad she will be going back to Alaska and I won't have to write about her any more.

Here are my reasons why McCain/Palin lost -- in no partiuclar order: [More...]

1. Tom DeLay on MSNBC peddled fear that Nancy Pelosi will become an unstoppable force of evil in the House.

2. Chris Wallace and Karl Rove agree that Barack Obama didn't run as a liberal and therefore has no mandate to pursue liberal policies. But I'm pretty sure I've heard that Barack Obama is a socialist. Why is Rove assuming that voters didn't prefer socialism to McCainism?

3. Bill Bennett predicts newly emboldened Democrats in the House and Senate will make a mad rush to the left. Since the country has moved from right to centrist-right, he views it as Obama's obligation to govern from a centrist philosophy and to block the wild-eyed liberals.

Bennett's premise is flawed. [more ...]

CNN pundits roundtable already trying to hijack the Democratic landslide - saying that they have to move right. Carville asks why are they analyzing and telling Dems how to govern and how in blazes they can say, when Republicans have lost 14 Senate seats, 55 House seats and the Presidency, that this is a Republican country? Begala backs Carville up.

Amazing how stupid the pundits are. Unfortunately I expect the Dem leadership will be just as stupid. The blogs want a job now? Push back against this BS.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only