We all know Prop 19 lost in California, although it did get a respectable 46% of the vote. But, how did other marijuana initiatives fare across the country? Marijuana Policy Project has this recap (no link yet, received by e-mail):

• Arizona: Proposition 203, which would bring a working medical marijuana law to the state, is too-close-to-call at the moment, as tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of additional ballots remain to be counted. MPP will continue to closely monitor the outcome of this proposition over the coming days.

• South Dakota: Measure 13, which would have protected seriously ill South Dakota residents from arrest and prosecution for using medical marijuana with their doctor’s recommendation, was ultimately rejected by voters.

[More...]

The media comes to its senses: MSNBC reports only 32% of tea party candidates won.

For all the talk of the Tea Party's strength - and there will certainly be a significant number of their candidates in Congress - just 32% of all Tea Party candidates who ran for Congress won and 61.4% lost this election. A few races remain too close to call.

It's also important to distinguish between a candidate who is a tea-partier and those merely endorsed by tea-partiers. The tea-party can be said to have played a role in the wins of the first, but not necessarily the second. [More...]

When Sen. Michael Bennet held his victory rally earlier, one thing was missing: a concession from challenger Ken Buck. Buck issued this statement this afternoon.

Buck said that while the final margin in the race is very small, Colorado voters have spoken and he wishes Senator Bennet well.

Buck said, “my Senate campaign has been the experience of a lifetime. I will be forever grateful to the thousands of Coloradans who helped make this grassroots journey possible.”

CBS calls the win "razor-thin", but I don't think it is. Last night at 12:45 am, the candidates were 5-6,000 votes apart. At times last night they were 4,000 votes apart. That was razor-thin. Today, with 97% of the vote in, Bennet leads by 15,000 votes, large enough to avoid an automatic recount. It's not a big win, but it's a clear one.

At least CBS acknowledges the Tea Party had a rough night in senate races. [More...]

The election is over, what else is going on in the world? I'm busy at work this afternoon, here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

Joey DiSlavo won the Pitkin County Sheriff's race to replace retiring Bob Braudis, garnering a whopping 79% of the vote.

DiSalvo’s campaign centered on a promise not to make any sweeping changes to the office Braudis has run since 1987, and to continue the local tradition of community policing and building public trust, begun by Sheriff Dick Kienast in the 1970s. In that time, the sheriff’s office has garnered attention for progressive policies like running a comfortable jail, training locals as officers rather than hiring experienced outsiders, and not conducting undercover investigations.

TalkLeft first endorsed DiSalvo in April, when he announced his candidacy. Follow-up posts on the race, including his stance in favor of legalization of drugs for personal use, opposition to use of undercover cops and views on drug policy are here, here and here. Favorite line of the campaign, considering it comes from a law enforcement officer:

[DiSalvo said] he had no interest in whether people in their own homes “fire up a joint or do a line on [their] table.”

Congrats to Aspen and Joe DiSalvo.

Senator Michael Bennett rally at Noon, Civic Center Park in Denver. (Update: I removed the embed since it was a live stream and the rally is over.) Here's what was said and some followup on what message to take from Coloradans' vote yesterday:

Udall opened, standing next to Bennet, saying the outcome of the race was never in doubt. Everyone laughed. Diana DeGette, Jared Polis and Ed Perlmutter were right behind them.

Bennet speaks. He has been moved by the people of Colorado and their support. (Later he repeats, adding humbled and inspired.)

He says the Pundits don't know what happened in Colorado. They are scratching their heads, looking for a message for the rest of the country. He's going to help them out. [More...]

Kevin Drum writes:

Lots of Democrats, including me, have been pointing out that structural factors alone predicted a 45-seat loss in the House this year. In other words, the bulk of the expected Democratic losses weren't due to healthcare reform or Obama's remoteness or liberal overreach or anything like that. It was baked into the cake all along. But the model I wrote about, which comes from Douglas Hibbs, only predicted a 45-seat loss, and it looks like Dems are likely to lose at least 60 seats. That means Democrats underperformed the Hibbs model by 15 seats or so, which is a record for them. [. . .] It really does look like there's a fair amount of scope to place a lot of the blame for tonight's Democratic debacle on both tactical and policy missteps.

I think that the model Drum relied upon is flawed in that our economic statistics understate the level of misery in the country. I could point to tactical and strategic political errors that exacerbated the result a bit, but I really think almost all of the result is due to the economy. That means to me, "policy missteps." Governing well is the best way to win elections. The Obama Administration and the Democratic Congress simply were not good enough on economic policy. The "bums" were thrown out. Of course the old bums were reinstalled. And catastrophe is what we can expect. But that's how elections work. You throw out the bums you have, even if it means bringing back the old bums.

Speaking for me only

The latest: the Denver Post has called the Senate Race in Colorado for Michael Bennet.

Updates to follow, I hope they are right.

In a fairly banal and not as bad as I expected Op-Ed, Evan Bayh pleases the Beltway with this line:

[Dems]were too deferential to our most zealous supporters. During election season, Congress sought to placate those on the extreme left and motivate the base — but that meant that our final efforts before the election focused on trying to allow gays in the military, change our immigration system and repeal the George W. Bush-era tax cuts. These are legitimate issues but unlikely to resonate with moderate swing voters in a season of economic discontent.

(Emphasis supplied.) There are two interesting points about this passage. First Bayh is arguing that motivating your base during election season is bad politics. Instead persuading "moderate swing voters" is the way to go. I think that's wrong, but it is an argument. Second, Bayh seems to not see a connection between governing performance and electoral results. He thinks it is all about appearances. That is just plain stupid. And of course, with regard to "placating those on the extreme left," Paul Krugman says it best:

So, we’re already getting the expected punditry: Obama needs to end his leftist policies, which consist of … well, there weren’t any, but he should stop them anyway.

Anyway, Evan Bayh is running for President in 2016. Hillary Clinton can stop him though.

Speaking for me only

A historic loss for the Democrats last night creates opportunities for progressives around the country. Now more than ever, the primary process should give progressive candidates chances to capture Democratic nominations around the country.

While the Beltway and The Third Way will argue that Democrats need to run moderate Republicans as their candidates in the next election, the reality is the Beltway and The Third Way can no longer get a single person elected in a Democratic (or Republican, for that matter) primary.The era of the smoke filled room is over.

Progressives can be the change they are looking for. But they need to start now. And they need to focus on Dem primaries for House seats.

As Rahm Emanuel said, a crisis is a terrible thing to waste. Progressives should not waste this one.

Speaking for me only

Final Update: 12:45 am: Ken Buck has moved back into the lead by about 6,000 votes. Which means there could be an automatic recount. Senator Bennet decided to release a statement rather than address his supporters in person at the end of the night (He had addressed them earlier in the evening.)

Seems to me they are crunching numbers, and if they think the only votes outstanding are from rural pockets of Colorado, that's not a good sign for Bennet. On the other hand, parts of Adams county are still out and that's got a bigger population and more Democrats than pockets of rural Colorado. Looks like this race won't be resolved before morning.

Media Goofs on Vote Counts [More...]

Rep. John Salazar has lost his House seat to Republican challenger Scott Tipton. Four years ago, Tipton ran against Salazar and lost by 60,000 votes. This time he won by 10,000 votes.

Salazar didn't start campaigning until August. He's been playing catch-up ever since. Tipton tied his ads to Nancy Pelosi, with the tag line "Say No to Nancy Pelosi," accusing Salazar of voting with her too often. From the Aspen Daily News: [More....]