A Few Down-Ballot Races

- It looks like Oliver Diaz, Jr. will lose his bid for reelection to Mississippi's Supreme Court.  That's really too bad.

-  Drug warrior Mark Souder will win in Indiana.

-  Bright spots?  Medical marijuana won in Michigan, and marijuana decriminalization won in Massachusetts.

Comments

[Kaiser]

Bright spots? Medical marijuana won in Michigan, and marijuana decriminalization won in Massachusetts.

Good to see good news come out of this election night. Always glad to see the advancement of a pro-marijuana agenda. What does that bring the total to now? 13 medical marijuana and 14 or so decriminalized?

[Tom]

Add to the dim spots

B.J. Lawson got shalacked.

[joe]

keep the income tax
decriminalize the weed
that's it for dog tracks

[Todd]

Anyone know about Prop 8 in Cali? That's a huge one.

[Asharak]

Good on Michigan and Massachusetts.

Now let's see if Hopey keeps his promise to stop the federal raids (I'm not holding my breath, though).

[mtc]

I have to admit I was slightly worried that Amendment 48 here in Colorado was some how going to slip by simply because no one was really talking about it relative to all the other ballot initiatives here. Basically 48 redefined a person, in all Colorado laws and statues, as a fertilized egg. Yeah, fortunately my nightmares about all the fundies in Springs pushing it by didn't come to pass and it was utterly crushed (~75% NO).

[tom]

The LA times website has the only numbers I could find on the California propositions. Prop 8 at 54% support with 6% reporting.

On a happier note, proposition 10, the T. Boone Picken's alt fuels boondoggle, isn't doing too well.

[The Wine Commonsewer]

Saw a huge demonstration for and agin Prop 8 a couple of hours ago. The cops had them separated. The Pro's were on the north side of the street and the cons were on the other.

I'm forecasting that Prop 8 will lose.

[Kaiser]

Anyone know about Prop 8 in Cali? That's a huge one.

Latest polls are showing 54/45 in favor but not all the precincts are in yet. Here is an interactive map on the LA times site. Just use the drop down menu and you can go through all the propositions. Including prop 10 alternative fuels which last I checked was overwhelmingly no.

[tom]

Bad news for justice: Joe Arpaio and Andrew Thomas both win re-election in Maricopa County, AZ.

How much will Arpaio have to cost the taxpayers there in wrongful death settlements before they stop re-electing him? Fuck people, this should be pretty straightforward. Find someone to put criminals in pink underwear who doesn't cost you tens of millions of dollars extra every year.

[Nigel Watt]

Is anybody else seeing Ron Paul way ahead of McCain in Montana right now on the Montana SoS website?

[tom]

Not just you Nigel. Wow.

[rhywun]

What was up with Prop 1 or Amendment 1 or whatever the hell it was called in NYS? Something about veterans and health coverage? Was that a nation-wide thing? It said something about amending the Constintution (!). I didn't get that one at all, and I passed on it.

[rhywun]

Latest polls are showing 54/45 in favor but not all the precincts are in yet.

Wow, I'm a bit surprised by that. Sucks if you thought you got married in California, I guess.

[Craig]

Presidential results so far:

Party Candidate V% Votes
D Barack Obama 51% 51,511,239
R John McCain 48% 47,671,054
I Ralph Nader 1% 506,106
LB Bob Barr 0% 401,678
I Chuck Baldwin 0% 140,688
GR Cynthia McKinney 0% 116,212
AI Alan Keyes 0% 17,614
LT Ron Paul 0% 13,148
SW Roger Calero 0% 6,738
SX Gloria La Riva 0% 6,628
SU Brian Moore 0% 5,419
ND None Of These Candidates 0% 4,283
I Richard Duncan 0% 2,949
SW James Harris 0% 2,172
BT Charles Jay 0% 2,046
N John Joseph Polachek 0% 1,314

[Derrick]

Here are the results for all Libertarian Party candidates:

http://www.lp.org/2008-general-election-results/all

[Lola]

MI also had a Libertarian-backed candidate (Robert Roddis) pull 11% in a Supreme Court race. The Democrat beat the Republican incumbent, which is going to make huge waves in the state's judicial climate. (She's pretty good on individual liberties, but fairly awful on tort and labor law, which is the opposite of what this state needs right now.)

[Lola]

And by "the opposite," I mean that second part of her record. I blame the lack of sleep.

On Prop 1: the website of some half-dozen of the state's second-tier newspapers currently features the headline about the medical marijuana victory with a picture of a big pot leaf. Next to the leaf, "U.S. Sen. Carl Levin rolls to another term."

I caught a screencap for posterity.

[Isaac Bartram]

It appears than Prop 2 (gay marriage ban) has won in Florida.

I still maintain that the truly winning combination in politics is social conservatism wedded to an expansive welfare state.

Huckabee in 2012 anyone?

[rhywun]

I still maintain that the truly winning combination in politics is social conservatism wedded to an expansive welfare state.

I.e., McCain?

[Brian24]

So, I voted for Barr. Everyone I said that to tonight said the same thing: "Who?"

I hate myself for hoping that he would be able to get some exposure for libertarianism.

[rhywun]

Hm. Gays get the shaft in Florida, Arkansas, and likely California too. Yay democracy.

[Isaac Bartram]

rhywun

We have yet to see what the Democrats will deliver.

This combination has proved a winner for New Labour in Britain and it looks like Labor in Australia is close to adopting it too.

[rhywun]

We have yet to see what the Democrats will deliver.

As long as the right to marry is put to majority vote, the Democrats (also anti-gay, at least nationally) don't have much of a say, do they.

[John]

The one aspect of this election that I can tell you the media will not cover is the surprisingly low popular vote totals. The media was throwing around 140 million, but it's now almost 2 am and we only have about 106 million. A lot of people were probably convinced of an Obama victory and didn't bother to vote.

[rhywun]

A lot of people were probably convinced of an Obama victory and didn't bother to vote.

And they kept saying a low turnout would favor McCain.

[Klaus]

Here's the word from California, I doubt it will change:

Yes on Prop 4 - no abortions for minors without parental consent.

Yes on Prop 8 - give back your wedding gifts, Ellen.

No on Prop 5 - punishment for petty drug crimes remain the same.

[greenish]

Proposition 4 is loosing right now, by 5.4%

[greenish]

lose

I'm so ashamed...

[Warren]

Bright spots? Medical marijuana won in Michigan, and marijuana decriminalization won in Massachusetts.

Well those are pretty encouraging. But that being the only bright spot of the night is damned depressing.

Hunker down America, it's about to get cold and windy.

[J sub D]

? Bright spots? Medical marijuana won in Michigan, and marijuana decriminalization won in Massachusetts.

Looks the feds are gonna be busy raiding sick people's homes for awhile.

Michigan also wiped the moronic embyonic stem cell research ban off the books despite a hysterical* fearmongering campaign against Proposal 2.

* I apologize for the use of that obviously sexist adjective.