Mondale Concedes to Republicans in Minnesota and the Republicans gain control of Congress.

What a disappointing day. We shudder to think at the ramifications for criminal justice reform and civil liberties' protection.

We really need to make a strong grass-roots effort to take back our government. If not for ourselves, for our children and the millions of politically disenfranchised and marginalized citizens and residents of this country.

Statistics from the Department of Justice show that 3.9 million felons are currently or permanently disenfranchised. That's a lot of potential votes--enough to affect the outcome of an election.

Here are the actual numbers on the impact of felony disenfranchisement from the recent report by the Sentencing Project:

· An estimated 3.9 million Americans, or one in fifty adults, have currently or permanently lost their voting rights as a result of a felony conviction.
· 1.4 million African American men, or 13% of black men, are disenfranchised, a rate seven times the national average.
· More than 2 million white Americans (Hispanic and non-Hispanic) are disenfranchised.
· Over half a million women have lost their right to vote.
· In seven states that deny the vote to ex-offenders, one in four black men is permanently disenfranchised.
· Given current rates of incarceration, three in ten of the next generation of black men can expect to be disenfranchised at some point in their lifetime. In states that disenfranchise ex-offenders, as many as 40% of black men may permanently lose their right to vote.
· 1.4 million disenfranchised persons are ex-offenders who have completed their sentences. The state of Florida had at least 200,000 ex-felons who were unable to vote in the 2000 presidential election.

Felony disenfranchisement laws vary from state to state. A grass-roots effort is already underway in each state. Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, New Mexico, and Texas are the latest states to make some positive changes. In the past two years, Delaware and Maryland have substantially scaled back their lifetime voting bans and New Mexico repealed its prohibition entirely.

That leaves a lot of other states that we need to work on, particularly Florida. We need to increase awareness among policymakers that the voting rights of all citizens are essential in a democracy.

Here are the basics:

A Nevada ballot initiative to decriminalize possession of up to 3 ounces of marijuana for personal use was soundly defeated. According to ABC News, as of midnight, the results were:

No 272, 418 61%
Yes 173, 720 39%
% of precincts reporting: 83

We just left the Democratic headquarters an hour ago. Strickland was not there yet. The place was packed. We were glued to the tv and distressed by the Allard/Strickland numbers. We left before the race was called. Now home in front of the tv and computer, Fox just called the senate race for Allard. We're very sorry, we really think Strickland would make a far better Senator.

The only thing left to do now is begin the countdown to 2004. The Dems need to move back to the left and away from the moderate center. We need to stand for something, and for the past few years, there has been too little distinction between the democrats and republicans. Democrats weren't meant to be so centrist and mainstream, and unless they go back to their roots, we risk becoming a one party nation.

There's a part for us all to play here. Let's not nominate moderate democrats in 2004. Let's give the voting public a true choice. Let's go back to being leftists.

Eric Alterman on Altercation says it best:

"Still, I stand by what I've been saying. The Greens are the worst thing that has happened to the American Left since Communism. It's time for the idealistic people among them to wise up. After two years of far-right wing rule plus a pre-emptive war [opposed by Al Gore] brought to us courtesy of Nader and company, what do you need to convince you? An actual apocalypse?"

We couldn't agree more.

Update: 7:35 pm, results now

Allard (REP)* 49838 58%
Strickland (DEM) 33195 39%

But, the new precinct reporting is a rural conservative one (Joel Hefley's district) and is one which was expected to go for Allard.

The first results, listed below, were not from Denver, which we assume Strickland will win, but from a western/northern suburb, so that is good for Strickland.

Here are the first results in the Strickland Allard Race:

Strickland (DEM) 15485 55%
Allard (REP)* 12062 43%

Here is the link to page on the local news website which is counting the votes in the Strickland Allard race as they come in.

Here is the ABC News page counting the Colorado votes.

Get out and vote today. Your vote can count only if you cast it. Don't let others decide your future, your children's future and our nation's future. You have an opinion, today is your chance to express it. If you don't think much of either candidate in a race, cast your vote against the one you think is the worst and help defeat that candidate.

For the best election video we've seen, check out Revolution from Blah3.com. Someone ought to hire this guy for 2004, now.

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune has endrosed Mondale for the Senate , calling him a great Minnesotan with Great Vision.

By this time tomorrow, except for possibly a few sqeakers, it will all be over. Then what? Taegan Goddard of Political Wire has a book out, entitled You Won - Now What?, that provides some relevant answers.

You Won, Now What?
How Americans Can Make Democracy Work from City Hall to the White House
by Taegan D. Goddard, Christopher Riback (Contributor)

Buy the Book Today!

From the Introduction:

"This book's premise is straightforward: to successfully take over government, public officials must first learn how to govern. Instead of reinventing government or turning to the latest management fad, new public officials must learn how to succeed in a world unlike any other. They must show voters that their election day choices really matter. They must follow through on their promises. For only through better governing will America get better government. "

Some reviews:

"Americans entrust their government to novices," Riback and Goddard remind us. "Every November they elect a bunch of people who have never done this before." You Won, Now What? offers practical tips on the task of governance, drawing upon real-life examples to illustrate how elected officials can do an effective job in their first--and in some ways most critical--days on the job. Their scope is broad--the authors consider state and local governments to be just as important as the federal government in maintaining quality of life for citizens--but the case studies keep the book from sliding into generalizations."

"In YOU WON - NOW WHAT?, Taegan D. Goddard and Christopher Riback argue convincingly that public disillusionment with government stems less from weariness with scandals and 'inside politics' than from elected officials' failure to deliver the results they promised. Many citizens, the authors correctly observe, 'have simply given up on a government which cannot solve today's urgent problems."

"Is government the problem or the solution? Both, say Goddard, who has held both federal and state appointed positions, and Riback, an investigative reporter. Novice elected and appointed officials bring valuable energy and new ideas to government agencies, but most of these folks don't know how to get things done in government, so they often can't keep campaign promises, and public cynicism rises. The authors hope to make the new-government-official transition easier by challenging cliches ("reinventing government," "run government like a business") and analyzing effective approaches."

(Available in hardcover and paperback)

Election predictions abound. We've read several. These are the ones we think might be closest to the actual results. First up is Jason Rylander on the House and Senate races.

Senate -- Democrats 51-48-1
House -- Republicans 219-215-1

Here is Jason's reasoning:

"As for the Senate, here's how I see it coming out. The Democrats will pick up Arkansas and New Hampshire, while maintaining seats in Georgia, South Dakota, Iowa, New Jersey, and Louisiana. The GOP will pick up Missouri, while maintaining South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas. That would give the Dems a one seat pick-up, but there's more: The two wild card races are Minnesota and Colorado. I really think these two are too close to call. Odds are good these races will split, but the question is how. Although this may buck the conventional wisdom, I'm going to go out on a limb and predict that Minnesota will go GOP and Colorado will go to the Democrats."

Second is Matt Yglesias: "Democrats pick up New Hampshire, Colorado, and Arkansas in the Senate but lose Missouri, going up 52-47-1. When Chafee sees that the GOP's not getting it's majority back he switches, either to the Democrats or, like Jeffords, becomes an "independent." (Posted in Daily Kos' comment section to this post.

Next is Daily Kos, who lists his predictions a little further down in the comments section of the same post:

Senate: Total: 54D-45R-1I, +4D

Arkansas: Pryor (+D)
Colorado: Strickland (+D)
Georgia: Cleland
Iowa: Harkin
Minnesota: Mondale
Missouri: Talent (+R)
New Hampshire: Shaheen (+D)
New Jersey: Lautenberg
North Carolina: Bowles (+D)
South Carolina: Graham
South Dakota: Johnson
Tennessee: Alexander
Texas: Kirk (+D)

Governor Total: 32D-18R, +11D

Alabama: Riley (+R)
Alaska: Ulmer
Arizona: Napolitano (+D)
Arkansas: Fisher (+D)
California: Davis
Florida: Bush
Hawaii: Hirono
Illinois: Blagojevich (+D)
Iowa: Vilseck
Kansas: Sebelius (+D)
Maine: Baldacci (+D)
Maryland: Townsend
Massachusetts: O'Brien (+D)
Michigan: Granholm (+D)
Minnesota: Moe (+D)
New Hampshire: Benson (+R)
New Mexico: Richardson (+D)
Oklahoma: Largent
Oregon: Kulongoski
Penn: Rendell (+D)
Rhode Island: York (+D)
South Carolina: Sanford (+R)
Tennessee: Bredesen (+D)
Texas: Perry
Vermont: Racine
Wisconsin: Doyle (+D)
Wyoming: Freudenthal (+D)

As for MyDD, who ran a contest on election results, his predictions, as well as those of the contest entrants, are here:

218-216-1 DEM 53-46-1 DEM 29-21-0 DEM

His reasons are here, here and here.

For live blogger coverage of the elections, we highly recommend Atrios/Eschaton and Daily Kos who both report they will be on duty. If MyDD or Political Wire are online, we recommend them too.

Here are the key races for crime issues according to The Justice Coalition. The urls are next to or under the names rather than embedded blog style because it came via email and we don't have the time to retype it.

Please note: the candidates with bolded names are our choice. The Justice Project did not make recommendations.

Here's the email:

"Following are the candidates in some key elections from across the country, the winners of which can make significant impacts on the death penalty at both the state and federal levels. Please take a moment to research your candidates' positions on the issues and vote! This is certainly not a comprehensive list, and only those statewide candidates with web pages have been listed. Write-in candidates have also been excluded. Among the many places to get information on all the national campaigns is Politics1.com and the Moratorium Campaign's excellent compilation on their website as well.

Governor Florida

Jeb Bush (incumbent, R) http://www.myflorida.com/b_eog/owa/b_eog_www.html.main_page

Bob Kunst (I)
http://www.kunstforgov.com/

Bill McBride (D)
http://www.mcbride2002.com/

Governor Idaho

Jeff Brady (D)
http://www.bradyforidaho.com/

Dirk Kempthorne (incumbent, R)
http://www2.state.id.us/gov/index.htm

Governor Maryland

Bob Ehrlich ®
http://www.bobehrlich.org/intro.html

Spear Lancaster (L)
http://www.spear2002.com/

Kathleen Kennedy Townsend (D)
http://www.friendsofkathleen.com/

Governor, Texas

Rahul Mahanjan (G)
http://www.rahulmahajan.com/

Rick Perry (incumbent, R)
http://www.rickperry.org/

Tony Sanchez (D)
http://www.tonysanchez.com/default.php

US Senate, New Jersey

Doug Forrester ®
http://www.forrester2002.com/

Ted Glick (G)
http://www.glickforsenate.org/

Frank Lautenberg (D)
http://www.defenddemocracy.org/templ/display.cfm?id=178&dis=3

Elizabeth Macron (L)
http://www.macron4senate.com/

Greg Pason (S)
http://www.votepason.org/

US Senate, South Carolina

Lindsey Graham ®
http://www.lindseygraham.com/

Victor Kocher (L)
http://www.votekocher.com/

Alex Sanders (D)
http://www.sanders2002.com/

US Senate, Minnesota

Norm Coleman ®
http://www.colemanforsenate.com/

Walter Mondale (DFL)
http://www.fritzmondale.org/

Miro Drago Kovatchevich (Constitution)
http://www.manidest.com/

Jim More (IP)
http://www.mooreforsenate.org/

Ray Tricomo (G)
http://www.raytricomo.org/

US Senate, Missouri

Jean Carnahan (incumbent, D)
http://www.jeancarnahan.com/

Tamara Millay (L)
http://www.tamaramillay.org/

Daniel "Digger" Romano (G)
http://www.mogreens.org/romano.htm

Jim Talent ®
http://www.talentforsenate.com/

You can register to vote and find out more about the candidates through an interactive map on the Justice Project's website.

We like the Moratorium Campaign's list of key races. It has snippets on the various candidates' positions.

Wayne Allard has an abysmal voting record on crime and civil liberties issues. You can check it out at Wayne Allard on the Issues. Allard

Here are Reuters':