The voting is over but results continue to trickle in and reactions to yesterday’s historic midterm elections are coming in fast and furious.

We’ll be updating this blog throughout the day Wednesday as party leaders, politicos, and analysts react to the election results.

 

1:03 PM Rep. Michele Bachmann To Run For GOP Leadership

 

BigGovernment says it has confirmed the rumors:

Big Government has now learned that Rep. Michele Bachmann, one of the first GOP office-holders to recognize the importance of the tea party uprising, will enter the race for GOP Conference Chair.

The number 4 position in House Leadership, the Conference Chair is well-positioned to inject grass-roots energy into the majority caucus. It is energy the DC GOP establishment desperately needs. Without it, last night’s historic win will be only a blip on the political landscape.

12:57 PM ET The Remaining Election Nailbiters

Senate races in three states and a handful of gubernatorial races remained extraordinarily close Wednesday and seemed destined for contested vote counts that could drag on for weeks.

The tight votes signaled how closely divided American voters are in an election that produced a split Congress, with Republicans taking control of the House and Democrats maintaining power in the Senate.

The candidates in the Washington state and Colorado Senate races were separated by a few thousand votes after campaigns that attracted tens of millions of dollars in spending. The Republican nominee in the Alaska Senate race was already gearing up for a legal fight and sending lawyers to the state.

Several gubernatorial races were in similar territory, including Minnesota, Oregon, Illinois and Connecticut.

It could take weeks before a winner is named in Alaska’s Senate race because of Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s write-in candidacy.

More details here.

- Associated Press

12:55 PM ET MoveOn’s Election Statement

One of the powerhouse Democratic advocacy releases a long, probing statement on last night’s election results. Full text below:

* * *

Last night was devastating, no question. Our members spent months working tirelessly for our progressive heroes and to help Democrats keep the House–and the results are far from what we wanted.

We are glad our progressive hero, Barbara Boxer, will be returning to Congress, but we’re deeply saddened at the losses of Russ Feingold, Tom Perriello, and Alan Grayson—all of whom have fought hard for progressive principles and the American middle class. These folks ran proudly on their records, but in the end, as Democratic incumbents, the combination of voter discontent and corporate cash was just too much for them to overcome.

We have seen significant accomplishments over the last two years —more children have health care, more Americans are protected from predatory practices on Wall Street, and more students can afford to go to college. But Republicans and corporate front groups like the Chamber of Commerce, aided by FOX News, systematically misled the American people about the nature of those gains.

And then voters, desperate for a majority that would fight for the middle class instead saw lobbyists successfully protect Wall Street bonuses, strip the public option out of the healthcare bill, protect the insurance companies’ antitrust exemption, kill “cram-down” legislation that could have helped homeowners, and mire the energy bill in gridlock. And whether they were motivated by self-interest, a genuine belief in their ability to strike a compromise, political calculation, or fear, far too many Democrats were willing to go along.

Democrats who decided to play ball with corporate interests found themselves friendless: not only did voters turn their backs on them, but so did the industries they sought to mollify. From Glenn Nye to Blanche Lincoln, play-it-safe Democrats have been sent packing. Corporate interests and oil billionaires poured unprecedented cash into political attack ads hitting not only front line Democrats, but turning previously safe seats into bitter fights for survival. This means we now have a Republican majority in the House of Representatives that owes its majority to big corporations and a small handful of wealthy donors. And, it suggests that claiming to support Democratic principles while quietly pandering to corporate interests is no longer a winning political strategy.

Our country still faces many challenges as we try to recover from the worst economic downturn since the 1930s. Last night’s election was not a mandate for the Republican vision of America, which is built around tax cuts for the super-wealthy and privatizing Social Security and Medicare. Instead, last night we saw an anxious and frustrated electorate rejecting the status quo in the only way possible: by voting out those in power. And we saw their frustration effectively exploited by corporate front groups whose sole interest is promoting their own political agenda.

The problems our nation faces are not small, and neither are the solutions we need. Democrats do not hand over the reins of power today. They still have time to accomplish big things to help move our country forward before the Republicans takes control of the House. Now is not a time to cower. Now is a time for Democrats to show that they are truly committed to fighting on behalf of the middle class. Before turning over the gavel, Democrats must end the Bush tax breaks for the super-wealthy, and pass legislation to stem the flood of cash from corporations and anonymous billionaires that is corrupting our elections. If Democrats abandon their responsibilities and leave town without accomplishing these goals, they will not have learned the real lessons of this election.

Our members worked for change in 2004, in 2006, in 2008. Our members will now work to hold this new Congress accountable, and are more determined than ever to work again for change in 2012.

12:45 PM ET ACORN Closes Its Last Door

And files for bankruptcy.

11:32 AM ET Fun Fact

AP’s Mike Baker tweets, “Oddball Alvin Greene in SC outperforms Dems in 6 other Senate races: ID, ND, KS, OK, FL, AK See map”

Indeed, Greene, who was indicted on felony charges of exposing himself to a young woman just weeks before election day, received more than 350,000 votes.

11:27 AM ET Republican Wins Governorship In Maine

AP calls the Maine race for Republican Paul LePage. The Democrat finished a distant third behind a well-liked independent candidate.

11:17 AM ET Pence Giving Up Leadership Post
The Associated Press reports:
WASHINGTON — A top House Republican who’s been considering a possible bid for the White House is stepping down from the House GOP leadership team.

Indiana Republican Mike Pence says he’s considering new opportunities to serve his state and the nation and might not be able to pledge to serve a whole term as GOP conference chair.

Continue reading

11:07 AM ET ‘The Political Price Of Economic Pain’

Assessing the exit polls of voters in yesterday’s election, the Associated Press wrote, “The economy overshadows everything.” ABC News’ headline: “The Political Price of Economic Pain.”

Indeed, voters overwhelmingly expressed dismay about the economy, “and those who did leaned decisively toward Republican House candidates.”

Over 6 in 10 named the economy as the country’s top problem, with no other issue coming close. Nearly 9 in 10 said the economy is in bad shape and expressed concern about its condition over the next year – and these people largely voted GOP. Anguish over the economy was similar in 2008, and Barack Obama rode that discontent to the presidency. On Tuesday, roughly 4 in 10 said their family’s financial condition has worsened under Obama and they tilted heavily Republican. About 6 in 10 said the country is on the wrong track.

ABC added some additional context:

Eighty-nine percent of voters said the national economy’s in bad shape — nearly as many as the record 92 percent who said so two years ago. What changed is the direction of their ire: In 2008, 54 percent of such voters favored Barack Obama. This year, 55 percent backed Republicans for the House.

Only 14 percent, moreover, said their own family’s financial situation has improved in the last two years — the fewest in exit polls back to 1984. Forty-one percent, by contrast, said they’re worse off — and favored Republicans by nearly 30 points.

Few saw much respite: Compounding the political impact of the long downturn, 87 percent remain worried about the economy’s direction in the next year — including half “very” worried. They voted more than 2-1 for Republicans this year, 70-28 percent.

The Atlantic’s Marc Ambinder highlighted another fascinating statistic:

“Who’s to blame for the economy? Bankers (34%), Bush (29%), Obama (24%). “

10:54 AM ET Cantor Running For Majority Leader

CNN reports that’s Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) will run for House Majority Leader.

10:14 AM ET Democrat Alex Sink Expected To Concede

So reports Florida political reporter Adam Smith. At this point, Sink is trailing by tens of thousands of votes in the race to be governor of the Sunshine State.

10:10 AM ET Denver Post calls Colorado Senate Race For Bennet

Details:

Appointed U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet will be elected to the U.S. Senate after pulling ahead of challenger Ken Buck this morning.

Long after most Coloradans — including the candidates and their supporters — had gone to bed, returns from Denver and Boulder moved Bennet past Buck and into the lead, 47.5 percent to 47.1 percent.

A recount would be required if the difference between the two candidates’ vote totals is less than one-half of 1 percent of the highest vote total, or about 3,900 votes based on current tallies.

Bennet leads by nearly 7,000 votes with an estimated 30,000 still to be counted in Boulder County.

This is a major win for Bennet — he had consistently been behind in the polls leading up to Election Day.

9:15 AM ET Nancy Pelosi Sitting Down With ABC’s Diane Sawyer

Interview will air this evening on World News Tonight.

8:31 AM ET Obama To Huddle With Congressional Leaders?

From Twitter — @WestWingReport: “President said to be considering a Camp David pow-wow with Congressional leaders after he gets back from Asia in two weeks”

Additionally, the New York Times reports:

President Obama will address the election results with a news conference Wednesday afternoon at the White House, where he is . [...]

Mr. Obama is scheduled to leave Washington on Friday for a nine-day trip to India, Indonesia, South Korea and Japan, and aides would like to get the election results behind him so that he is not dogged by domestic concerns while overseas.

8:20 AM ET Sen. Jim DeMint: Time To Repeal Health Care Reform

According to the DC, Sen. Jim DeMint told Good Morning America that repealing health care is the “most important thing” Congress can do next year. When asked if he would move toward scrapping the plan he said, “Oh, yeah.”

In a Wall Street Journal op-ed today, DeMint offers some advice to incoming freshmen Senators that begins with an unbridled shot at his party’s establishment:

Many of the people who will be welcoming the new class of Senate conservatives to Washington never wanted you here in the first place. The establishment is much more likely to try to buy off your votes than to buy into your limited-government philosophy. Consider what former GOP senator-turned-lobbyist Trent Lott told the Washington Post earlier this year: “As soon as they get here, we need to co-opt them.”

Don’t let them. Co-option is coercion. Washington operates on a favor-based economy and for every earmark, committee assignment or fancy title that’s given, payback is expected in return. The chits come due when the roll call votes begin. This is how big-spending bills that everyone always decries in public always manage to pass with just enough votes.

8:01 AM ET Minnesota Governor’s Race Headed For Recount

Remember the agonizing, months-long recount held after the too-close-to-call Minnesota Senate race in 2008 between Al Franken and Norm Coleman? Get ready for a repeat:

The Minnesota governor’s race is so close it has come to this: another recount appears almost certain.

With fewer than 20 precincts left to report, DFLer Mark Dayton leads Republican Tom Emmer by less than one half of 1 percent — 43.67% to 43.24%.

For any race where the margin is less than one half of 1 percent, there is an automatic recount, as happened two years ago in Minnesota’s U.S. Senate race.

7:58 AM ET ‘GOP Governors See Bleak Future for Party’

A reader forwards over the headline above, from a Washington Post story written two years ago, to remind everyone of how quickly the political tides can change.

After Election Losses, Republican Governors Try To Plan For the Future at Meeting in Florida By Robert Barnes The Washington Post

Nov 12, 2008

Republican governors were the brightest spot in an otherwise dispiriting election last week for the GOP, but the chief executives gathered here Wednesday provided a gloomy assessment of their party’s failures and a dark forecast for the future.

7:43 AM ET Election Results Could Undermine Obama Approach To China, Israel

A midterm election with big implications in Washington also had big implications around the globe. Foreign observers are speculating about what this means for foreign relations, particularly Obama’s approach to China and Israel.

7:42 AM ET Voter Intensity Gap

Via Markos Moulitsas on Twitter: “Senate raw vote: 33M GOP, 23.25M Dem. That’s one hell of an intensity gap.”

7:18 AM ET ‘Nancy Ought To Take A Victory Lap With Me’

In Playbook, Mike Allen recounts a section from last night’s victory speech by Rep. John Yarmuth (D-Ky.), a heavily targeted D who won:

“I almost wish there were another podium here tonight, because I feel like Nancy Pelosi has been in this campaign the whole time. And Nancy ought to take a victory lap with me. And maybe President Obama as well. The disservice and disrespect that has been leveled on them has been so outrageous and so unjustified that it makes me really fear for this country. When you have two people who work every day to make life better for every American and they put up with the nonsense. … [I]t’s not only unjustified, it’s un-American. I voted with Nancy Pelosi a lot of the time.”

7:13 AM ET Voters Who Blame Bankers Leaned GOP

Marc Ambinder highlighted a fascinating statistic that we missed last night.

“Who’s to blame for the economy? Bankers (34%), Bush (29%), Obama (24%). “

7:07 AM ET The Regional Divide

Via Slate’s Dave Weigel on Twitter: “McNerney closing in #CA11. Dems might only lose one seat — Baird’s — on the west coast, while they lose 23-25 in Midwest”

6:56 AM ET Heavy Election Interest Online

News organizations, aware that viewers were also checking smart phone or computer screens along with their televisions on the midterm election night, provided a blizzard of widgets, apps, dashboards, Twitter tie-ins and iPad doohickeys for the night.

Akamai Technologies Inc., which delivers about 20 percent of the world’s Internet traffic, showed rising traffic peaking around 6 p.m EDT. Web traffic for news peaked at over 5.6 million global page views a minute. That’s one of Akamai’s highest traffic rates in five years of measurement – even more than during Obama’s election night win in 2008.

– Associated Press

6:34 AM ET Tea Partiers, GOP Leaders To Hold News Conferences

The Tea Party Patriots have announced that they’re holding a press conference at 10AM ET, while House Minority Leader Boehner, Senate Minority Leader McConnell and Gov. Haley Barbour will hold a news conference at 11:30AM ET.

As announced last night, President Obama will address the election results from the White House at 1PM ET.

We’ll be covering all of these events live right here.

5:54 AM ET Blue Dog Coalition CRUSHED By GOP Wave

The Blue Dog Coalition didn’t merely have a bad day on Tuesday. Their numbers were chopped in half, reports HuffPost’s Amanda Terkel.

5:28 AM ET Dead Candidate Wins California Election

Jenny Oropeza won re-election in her race for the California State Senate on Tuesday night. Sadly, Oropeza died last month.

5:11 AM ET Another Democratic Chair Goes Down

Early in the morning, Transportation Committee Chairman James Oberstar (D-Minn.) officially became the third Democratic chairman to lose reelection — Republican Chip Cravaack will take his seat.

5:09 AM ET Election Night Take-Aways

A few lessons are offered up by Morning Score’s Alexander Burns:

… The big-picture narrative out of last night’s election is still being written, but here are a few of the fast takeaways that are already clear: (1) There’s no such thing as a permanent majority – until redistricting happens; (2) There’s a big difference between the kind of person who can win a House race and the kind of person who can win a Senate race; (3) The Tea Party Express probably cost Republicans the Senate, and Sarah Palin didn’t help; (4) John Boehner is the GOP’s top dog in Washington, but there are many, many contenders in the states for party leadership; (5) The Democratic survivors are a motley crew, including grizzled veterans (Harry Reid, Jerry Brown), tenacious moderates (Joe Donnelly, John Lynch) and other non-team players (Joe Manchin, Mike Beebe, Andrew Cuomo).

(1) How agonizingly close the Senate’s going to be – and how much power the Joe Liebermans of the world will have as a result; (2) Whether anyone in either chamber switches parties; (3) How Bill Clinton will respond; (4) Whether even one prominent Republican will go public with concerns about the tea party’s impact on the campaign; (5) Who – if anybody – will be the first Democrat to openly call for blood from the White House.

4:48 AM ET Looking To 2012

Politico’s Ben White notes, “Don’t forget that the last three presidents who had similar midterm election losses (Eisenhower, Truman and Clinton) all won reelection… The big debate to come: How does Obama become the fourth? By going hard left (very unlikely) or tracking back to the middle à la Clinton, with a modest domestic agenda and concessions on tax cuts and spending curbs (highly likely).”