The meme since Tuesday, which we heard first on NBC, has been that the youth vote didn't materialize. New reports say the opposite:

Under-30 voters came through in big numbers this year, with more than 20 million casting a ballot for president, researchers found. The turnout bested their 2000 showing by more than nine percentage points and heartened activists who worked to get young voters to the polls.

Researchers at the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning & Engagement at the University of Maryland found that 18- to 29-year-old turnout was up by 4.6 million voters from exit poll data from the 2000 election. They based their calculations on exit polls done for The Associated Press and others by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International.The figures also beat exit poll numbers from 1992, the last time the youth vote spiked amid an otherwise general decline in turnout since 18-year-olds first got the chance to vote in 1972.

The young voters preferred Kerry to Bush:

The Tank in New York City was home to Democratic bloggers, including us, during the Republican National Convention. If you're can make it to New York next weekend, the Tank is hosting a conference for online activists about the election:

The election is over. The campaign cannot end. What do we say after the mourning on the Morning After?

THE MORNING AFTER ­ A Symposium ­ November 13-14.

A day-and-a-half of conversations, panels, working groups and more.

Hosted by Cosmopolity at The Tank - 432 W 42nd St NYC.

Why? The 2004 election saw an explosion of grassroots activity, online organizing, voter registration initiatives, new forms of media and progressive unity. We fell short on November 2, but the movement, the organizations, their members and our progressive energy are as important as ever.

Senate Democrats did themselves proud today. Richard Durbin (D-IL) will be the new Senate Minority Whip when the new Congress begins in January:

DURBIN STATEMENT REGARDING SENATE LEADERSHIP

[WASHINGTON, DC] – U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) made the following statement regarding the Senate Demaocratic leadership for the 109th Congress:

“I have spent the last few days talking with, and listening to, my Democratic colleagues in the Senate. In the course of those conversations we have discussed the direction in which we would like to see the Democratic Caucus move and what we would like to accomplish in the next few years.”

"As a result of those conversations, I have asked for my colleagues’ support to serve as Democratic Whip, the second spot in leadership, and now have more than a majority of members pledged to vote for me. I am deeply honored that my Senate colleagues are willing to entrust me with this responsibility. Our caucus is a diverse one, as is my home state of Illinois. I am confident that the lessons I have learned in working to address the broad range of concerns of my state will also help me in meeting the challenges of serving as Whip of this extraordinary Caucus.”

I'm very sorry to learn that Tristero is calling it quits.

It's become much too hard to be an American.

In my case, I took a break from the middle of a pretty decent career, to add my dissenting voice during what was - and remains - a national emergency. Although my career hit some major snags as a result, I will never regret what I've done. How could I be a decent father to my daughter, let alone a responsible citizen, and not have tried to do at least something to prevent the madness of the Bush/Iraq war?

...constant exposure to the toxic nature of George W. Bush and his world has taken a serious toll. In more ways than I care to remember, my health has suffered, as has my emotional well-being. In a nutshell, America is now asking too much of its citizens in order to save it from heading over a cliff. That is why we elect representatives, so that we can do our work and not have to run a government. We're supposed to have a responsible and free press, so that normal folks need not work 24/7 exposing the lies and crimes of our leaders. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad to do my bit, but I've already done more than I reasonably could. Politics, political writing is not my field, never was, never will be. There is a limit to how much I can do, how much basic research I'm qualified to undertake. I tried to exceed that, but I am simply not capable of continuing to do more.

Here's how Hunter Thompson spent election night and took the news. He casts some blame on evangelicals and the youth who didn't come out in the numbers we needed--but has nothing but praise for John Kerry, whom he got to know while serving as his unofficial tour guide this summer in Aspen. Through the disappointment, he finds something to be postive about for the future:

"Their army is how much bigger than mine? Three percent? Well shucks, Bubba. Now is the time to establish a network and an attitude," he said. "You make friends in moments of defeat. People in defeat tend to bond because they need each other. We can't take the attitude that it's over and we give up. We're still here."

Thompson added: "I'm proud to have known John Kerry."

Too little, too late? But how often might this have happened?

An error with an electronic voting system gave President Bush 3,893 extra votes in suburban Columbus, elections officials said.

Franklin County's unofficial results had Bush receiving 4,258 votes to Democrat John Kerry's 260 votes in a precinct in Gahanna. Records show only 638 voters cast ballots in that precinct.

Bush actually received 365 votes in the precinct, Matthew Damschroder, director of the Franklin County Board of Elections, told The Columbus Dispatch.

Voting machine malfunctions were the cause. In North Carolina, 4,500 votes were lost. With all our resources, you would think we could figure out a reliable voting system. It's not like we didn't have four years to prepare for this election.

by TChris

Did officers of the Covington County Sheriff's Office in Alabama administer a death penalty without awaiting a trial? Officials say that Aaron Shaw "kicked a glass window out of a patrol car after being arrested in Florala and subsequently took an officer's tazer gun and repeatedly shocked him with it." But Shaw was shot to death after what witnesses describe as two beatings.

Several people have claimed that they saw the 47-year-old black man being badly beaten on two separate occasions before he was shot. The first incident, allegedly involving three Florala Police officers, occurred on MLK Ave., and a second alleged beating from those officers took place near 9th Ave. and the Carver Center in Florala.

Shaw was killed near an electrical substation on Hwy. 55 in Lockhart. Relatives and friends held a candlelight vigil for him yesterday.

by TChris

Having succeeded in attacking those he regarded as his enemies in Iraq, the President has now called upon the military to attack the blue states.

No, not really. But something has gone seriously wrong when an F-16 warplane strafes a New Jersey school with cannon fire.

Court TV has a live blog with frequently updated posts by its reporters in the courtroom. No comments, but you'll be the first to know if there's a verdict and about jury questions. The courtroom has wi-fi, (we live-blogged two afternoons of the trial when legal analyst Mickey Sherman was in the courtroom.)

by TChris

Our country's misplaced priorties are exemplified by the attention given to marijuana smokers.

Last year, 755,187 people were arrested for marijuana violations in America, according to an FBI report released Oct. 25. The number of annual marijuana arrests has doubled since 1993. This year’s total is the largest in history.

Nearly half of all drug arrests are for marijuana. Does this make the country safer?

The number of marijuana arrests exceeded the total number of arrests for all violent crimes combined, including murder, rape, manslaughter, robbery and aggravated assault. Of those charged with marijuana violations, 88 percent were charged with possession only.

Update: Authorship mystery solved. It was written by Michael Moore.

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A Day in the Life of Joe Republican (anonymous as of now)

Joe gets up at 6am and fills his coffeepot with water to prepare his morning coffee. The water is clean and good because some tree-hugging liberal fought for minimum water-quality standards.

With his first swallow of water, he takes his daily medication. His medications are safe to take because some stupid commie liberal fought to ensure their safety and they work as advertised. All but $10 of his medications is paid by his employer's medical plan because some liberal union workers fought their employers for paid medical insurance - now Joe gets it too.

He prepares his morning breakfast, bacon and eggs. Joe's bacon is safe to eat because some girly-man liberal fought for laws to regulate the meat packing industry.

In the morning shower, Joe reaches for his shampoo. His bottle is properly labeled with each ingredient and its amount in the total contents because some crybaby liberal fought for his right to know what he was putting on his body and how much it contained.

The intensive airstrikes have begun, ground assault imminent. The U.S. tells civilians to get out of Dodge.

U.S. troops urged civilians to flee Falluja on Friday and launched air strikes on the rebel city ahead of an assault seen as critical to attempts to pacify Iraq before January elections.

U.S. forces sealed all roads to the city and used loudspeakers and leaflets in Arabic to tell residents they would detain any man under 45 trying to enter or leave the city. "We are making last preparations. It will be soon. We are just awaiting orders from Prime Minister (Iyad) Allawi," Marine Colonel Michael Shupp told Reuters near Falluja.

...U.S. warplanes and artillery bombarded Falluja on Friday, residents said, and rebels fired mortars and rocket-propelled grenades at U.S. forces on the city outskirts. There was no immediate word on casualties. Ambulances were waiting for fighting to ease before venturing on to the streets.

Yesterday, two marines were killed and four were wounded.