Via Andrew Romano:

Until last night. Gardner isn’t a moderate; he’s a pro-life Republican who ranked as the 10th most conservative House member in 2012. He has opposed Republican immigration reform efforts, voted to shut down the government unless Planned Parenthood was defunded and supported Cruz’s efforts to gut Obamacare.

Romano says Corey Gardner "repackaged" himself for yesterday's election: [More...]

Talk is already underway about the impact of the 2014 elections on 2016. Andrew Romano says Hillary Clinton is the real winner of yesterday's election.

Take a closer look at demography, geography and the road ahead for the parties, and it’s clear that the long-term winner of the 2014 midterms wasn’t the GOP at all. The long-term winner, in fact, wasn’t even on the ballot this year. Her name is Hillary Clinton.

Romano proceeds to crunch the numbers to support his theory.

Oregon and Alaska have become the third and fourth states to legalize the personal use of marijuana for recreational purposes. In the District of Columbia, residents will face no legal repercussions for growing marijuana for personal use.

On tap for 2016: Legalization initiatives are planned for California, Massachusetts, Maine, Nevada and Arizona.

On the medical marijuana side, Guam approved it while Florida did not. Overall, legal marijuana advocates had a big night.

The headlines are all over the place on why Republicans made so many gains in yesterday's elections and what it means for Democrats. I'm going to keep it simple: We get the government we elect. If Democrats don't come out and vote, they won't win.

This is a thread for all election-related topics.

Guantanamo detainee Fawzi al-Odah has been transferred home to Kuwait.

Held for 13 years without charges, al-Odah's father says he was a teacher in Afghanistan who was kidnapped by bounty hunters and sold to the U.S. The Periodic Review Board found he received training but had no leadership position.

The board, however, determined that he had only a low level of training and did not have a leadership position in either group. He will be required to participate in a militant rehabilitation program in Kuwait.

148 detainees remain at Guantanamo.

Votes from Denver and Boulder pushed Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper over the top early this morning. He has been re-elected.

This race was too close for comfort. Bob Beauprez, as of this writing, has refused to concede defeat.

Congrats to Governor Hickenlooper.

Senator Mark Udall has lost the U.S. Senate race to Cory Gardner. The media called the race for Gardner early, but Udall waited a few hours before giving his concession speech, which you can view here. The Post says he "held back tears" but he didn't look very upset to me. He smiled a lot and made some jokes. Gardner reminds me of a throwback to his lookalike predecessor, Gov. Bill Owens. I muted the TV for his speech. In Denver, Gardner only got 26% of the vote to Udall's 69%.

Both Udall and Gardner ran relentless negative ads on local TV for what seems like months. They were both like one trick ponies. Udall harped on Gardner's stand on abortion while Gardner attacked Udall as a clone of Obama. It's a shame Udall didn't focus more on his record of accomplishments, particularly since Gardner has none.

Gov. Hickenlooper and Republican challenger Bob "Wrong Way" Beauprez are still battling it out. With 89% of the vote counted, Beauprez has 5,000 more votes, but it's too close to call. [More...]

Results are coming in from today's elections. Here's a thread to discuss them, and your take on their significance.

Joran Van der Sloot's wife says he has been tortured and stabbed since his transfer to the hellhole known as Challapalca prison in Peru. Prison authorities claim she's lying. His lawyer says a prosecutor will investigate.

Joran was transferred there after a warden said Joran threatened him after taking his cell phone away. Joran said it was the warden who gave him the cell phone and was trying to set him up.

Joran's wife says the guards torture the prisoners and the other prisoners want to kill Joran because it would bring world-wide attention to the abysmal conditions of the prison, which could lead to the prison's closing.

Inmates are entitled to humane treatment. This prison has been notorious for human rights violations for years (report here.) Here's a 2013 State Department report on Peru's prisons.

The prosecution in South Africa is appealing Judge Masipa's ruling in the Oscar Pistorius case.

It claims she misapplied the doctrine of dolus eventualis and should have found him guilty of first degree murder. It also argues his sentence was too light.

The prosecution's filing is here. An article supporting her judgment is here. Another is here. Yet another is here. My view, as I've expressed many times: the appeal should fail and I disagree with the articles taking the opposite view.

Update: New thread here.

I finally got my ballot to the Denver Election office today. I hope it helps Sen. Udall and Gov. Hickenlooper. The New York Times has a special page for following today's elections results.

Here's an open thread for all matters pertaining to today's elections.

Shaylee Chuckulnaskit, age 14, died Friday of her injuries from last week's Marysville, WA shooting. She is the fourth teen to die as a result of the incident. Jaylen's cousin Andrew Fryberg remains in critical condition. His other cousin, Nate Hatch, is doing better.

A tribal service was held Thursday for Jaylen Fryberg. More than 1,000 people attended. His (former) girlfriend, Shilene, has posted her first tweet since the shooting: