DEMS TAKE CONTROL OF SENATE!!! WOOT WOOT WOOT WOOT WOOT

WASHINGTON –Democrats completed an improbable double-barreled election sweep of Congress on Wednesday, taking control of the Senate with a victory in Virginia as they padded their day-old majority in the House.

“The days of the do-nothing Congress are over,” declared Democratic Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, in line to become majority leader, adding that Americans spoke “clearly and decisively in favor of Democrats leading this country in a new direction.”

Jim Webb’s victory over Sen. George Allen in Virginia assured Democrats of 51 seats when the Senate convenes in January. That marked a gain of six in midterm elections in which the war in Iraq and President Bush were major issues.

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Baby, What You Want Me to Do
Etta James & The Blues Breakers
H/T AlexBluesSoul for all the great videos!

I wonder how long it will take Allen to concede.

WASHINGTON - Democrats wrested control of the Senate from Republicans Wednesday with an upset victory in Virginia, giving the party complete domination of Capitol Hill for the first time since 1994, as NBC News projected Democrat Jim Webb as the winner.

Webb’s apparent squeaker win over incumbent Sen. George Allen gave Democrats their 51st seat in the Senate, an astonishing turnabout at the hands of voters unhappy with Republican scandal and unabated violence in Iraq. Allen was the sixth Republican incumbent senator defeated in Tuesday’s elections.

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CNN VIDEO: Generally the concept of a Press Conference with the President
would be to glean information from the leader of our nation about the
direction of our nation. However in this clip the President asks a question
of the American people. What do you believe the answer is? Perhaps he
asked it rhetorically? Perhaps he was asking me? I have an answer for
him…do you?

H/T JoeWo for this post

Halliburton, the CIA and big tobacco companies are among the early targets identified by top Democratic staff to ABC News as likely targets for investigation once the Democrats take control of the House at the beginning of next year.

The staffers say Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), now expected to become speaker, has told top Democratic donors there is a “100-hour agenda” she wants to push through — taking on the minimum wage, drug and energy prices and corruption.

Defense contractors, including Halliburton, the intelligence rationale for the war in Iraq and CIA secret prisons are what one staffer called “uninvestigated scandals.”

Here’s a look at who’s in line to take over the most powerful committee chairmanships and the investigations they are likely to pursue:

Intent on voting, Pa. woman, 95, calls 911

Associated Press

READING, Pa. - Anna Urban has been voting since Franklin D. Roosevelt was president and wasn’t about to miss an election.

When the 95-year-old Reading resident didn’t have a ride to the polls Tuesday, she didn’t hesitate. She dialed 911.

Dispatchers forwarded the call to the Berks County Election Services office, where it was considered a compliment.

“To call 911 and ask for help to vote really says a lot,” said Deborah M. Olivieri, election services director. “It meant a lot to everyone in this office; it made us feel what we do is worthwhile.”

County Commissioner Judith L. Schwank immediately picked up Urban, and Urban walked to the voting booth at Millmont Elementary School on her arm.

“All my life I voted,” said Urban, a Democrat, who cast her first ballot in the 1930s. “You need to vote to be a good citizen.”

Israelis are worried the Democratic power swing in Washington curbing President Bush’s power will lead to less decisive action on Iran’s nuclear ambitions, which they consider an imminent threat.

Still, Israelis interviewed Wednesday said they don’t think the U.S. election results giving Democrats control of the House and erasing the Republicans’ Senate majority will diminish American support for Israel.

Bush is popular among Israelis for aggressive policies toward Islamic extremism and his steadfast support for Israel, even as much of the world criticizes the Jewish state for its policies toward the Palestinians.

Most Israelis also see Bush as a strong ally against Iran’s hard-line president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has said repeatedly that Israel should be destroyed. Israel sees itself as the primary target of a nuclear-armed Iran.

“Most Israelis understand that the Israeli interests, at this point, rest on future decisive statesmanship and decisive action in relation to the nuclear threat of Iran,” said Menahem Blondheim of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

“Without the political support at home and in his party and among the American public, a decisive military or diplomatic move (by Bush) against Iran seems less and less likely,” he said.

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As we celebrate victory here at home, Iraq is raging with violence. 21 U.S. troops killed in 8 days.
You’re damn skippy your policy isn’t working you moron. What if you had retained power in the Senate and House? Then would you have still been spewing your stay the course rhetoric? Of course you would have. Thank God the American people stood up yesterday to tell you they’d had enough of your failed policies.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush conceded on Wednesday that his Iraq policy was “not working well enough, fast enough,” after announcing that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was stepping down.

Bush, speaking at a news conference after Democrats won control of the House of Representatives from his Republican Party, said he and Rumsfeld agreed that a “fresh perspective” was needed on Iraq. Tuesday’s election outcome was widely seen as voters’ rebuke to the handling of the unpopular war.

But Bush said his party’s election defeat did not mean the United States would withdraw prematurely.

“The enemy is going to say ‘well, it must mean America is going to leave. And the answer is ‘no,”‘ Bush said.

More at the Washington Post

WOOT WOOT WOOT

HELENA, Mont. Nov 8, 2006 (AP)- Republican Sen. Conrad Burns lost his job in a squeaker of a race Wednesday, thrust from office due to his own gaffes, his ties to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff and a determined campaign by Democrat Jon Tester, a farmer.

Tester’s win gave Democrats at least half the U.S. Senate, but the party still needed a victory in a tight Virginia race to gain control.

Burns, 71, first elected in 1988 as a folksy, backslapping outsider, has been under siege because of his ties to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff and because of his own gaffes including an incident in which he cursed at firefighters.

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