The Morning After

The morning after, landslide. While it looks as Missouri and Montana may have stayed just out of Obama's reach, it looks as though he took North Carolina and Indiana in addition to Virginia, Florida, Ohio, and Colorado in a massive repudiation of the Bush legacy and a huge step forward for this country, on just about every level. (I'll update the prediction thread with our "winner" when things are settled in a few of the still-close states.)

The Senate is a bit closer, mostly because of what some are already calling "the Stevens effect": people say they won't vote for the convicted felon, but they actually will. (Josh Marshall is on a roll with this stuff: he also writes, "Now that Alaska seems on its way of reelecting its convicted felon senator and its (little doubt) soon to be indicted member of the House, I realize that perhaps I judged Sarah Palin too harshly. In the context of Alaska politics, I guess she really is a reformer.")

It's also a little bit unclear what's going on in Georgia, where early votes (still being counted) may yet force a run-off. Oregon and Minnesota are also razor-thin.

Terrible news from the West Coast as Prop 8 looks to be winning. California will be in the courts trying to figure out the status of this year's marriages for a decade, or at least until opposition to marriage equality is finally settled by law or court.

Neo-McCarthyite Michele Bachmann wins re-election in North Carolina, too. [UPDATE: Don't know why I thought she was from NC. Tough luck, Minnesotans.]

Turnout was the highest in generations, 64%, with more people voting for Obama than any other president ever.