The election is over. The election postmortems are starting to get a little stale, and the public is ready to stow away its civic concern and return to the business of not caring. The sweet season of scandal and smearing is fading, and the dull business of governance now begins. This blog hasn't been perfect, but if it's good at anything, that anything is the direct and immediate channeling of popular will. As it fades, so too do we. Like all great duos — from Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to Loggins and Messina to Faso and Vanderhoef — your old friends Early and Often must also go gently.

If you're the type who just doesn't know when to get over it and stop paying attention, if you'd like to spend every waking hour driving past Politics' house, slowing down to get a peek in its bedroom window, there are several sources of current-events information we can recommend. This publication offers frequently updated news and opinion. This one touches on the lighter side of local goings-on. Television is also good for keeping up on public affairs. That little box is lousy with stuff like that, and it pretty much runs 24/7. How they fill all those hours is beyond us, but they seem to manage.

So consider this an awkward good-bye hug.

— Jon Dolan

This innocent child will grow up to be a blogger.Photograph: iStockphoto.com

Old rivalries die hard, and the one between Establishment Democrats and Democratic National Committee chair Howard Dean is still kicking like a pistol. Party bigs are claiming his 50-state strategy may have cost the Dems four House seats. James Carville would like failed Tennessee Senate candidate Harold Ford to step in. "Suppose Harold Ford became chairman of the DNC? How much more money do you think we could raise? Just think of the difference it could make in one day. Now probably Harold Ford wants to stay in Tennessee. I just appointed myself his campaign manager."

Grassroots activists aren't too psyched about this notion. As Markos Moulitsas puts it over at the widely read Daily Kos, "Carville needs to shut the fuck up. If he wants a war, we'll give him one." Elsewhere, less potty-mouthed pontificators are debating how much credit to give the "netroots." Blogdom's candidate of choice Ned Lamont went down, but 'rootsters blame that on the strange three-way nature of the Connecticut Senate race and point to victorious contests where bloggers gave candidates early pushes the Democratic Congressional Committee later picked up on. Netroots naysayers argue that ultimately big money and traditional party mechanisms elevated candidates to victory, joining the universal chorus of praise for Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chair Rahm Emanuel, the man Paul Begala called our "our skinny, nine-fingered, Jewish, Chicago version of LBJ."

But Noam Scheiber argues that the netroots-versus-establishment theme is a false dichotomy altogether, "Rahm did a solid job recruiting competitive candidates for the most obviously competitive races — which, as head of the Democrats' campaign committee, is what he needed to focus on. The Netroots did a solid job of identifying and funding candidates in districts where Democrats were a longer shot — the kinds of high-risk prospects you wouldn't necessarily want your congressional committee worrying about."

Finally, popular Democratic blogger Atrios thinks the who-gets-credit debate is itself a waste of time. "I really don't care who gets 'credit.' I just know that it's silly to set this up as a competition, and some of the hostility you see from some in the party organizations to the 'netroots' is absurd. Whatever role people online play — and the money raised isn't the most important role — they're, you know, trying to help Democrats get elected."

We admire this healing tone. Enjoy the sunshine, kids. It may not warm your keyboards forever.

A Putsch at the DNC? [The Plank]
Carville Wants a War [Daily Kos]
Opinion Roundup: Who Gets Credit, Rahm Or Netroots? [TPM Cafe]
Netroots Candidates [Act Blue]
21st Century Democracy [Firedoglake]
A Little Unfair to Rahm [TNR's The Plan]
Credit [Eschaton]

Newt Gingrich (right) is so close to being a Democrat. Or gay.Photograph by Patrick McMullan

We suggest the Uruguayan rugby team whose plane has crashed in the Andes. They're already eating each other alive like ravenous snow-bound goalies. The old harmonious on-message lockstep has been replaced by blame-gaming and bickering. There was the barely concealed rage of Bush's jockish, jocular comment during his first press conference that he'd worked harder than Karl Rove on the campaign. And now Newt Gingrich, positioning himself for a presidential run, has harshly criticized the timing of Donald Rumsfeld's resignation. "It's inappropriate to cleverly come out the day after an election to do something we were told before the election would not be done," Gingrich told reporters yesterday. "I think the timing was exactly backwards, and I hope the president will rethink how he engages the American people and how he communicates with candor."

One of the major criticisms following the election is that Bush betrayed the principles of the Gingrich Revolution (small government, balanced budgets, etc). The wistful tone with which rancorous GOP theorists evoked their lost values recalled the way liberal Democrats complained about Bill Clinton's betrayal of the Great Society when he triangulated the Democrats toward the center and starting picking off Republican issues, namely smaller government and balanced budgets. Twelve years away from Newt's glory days, there isn't a tune in the fiscally conservative hymnal Democrats can't sing just as well as Republicans. Then again, it's hard to hear much singing through all that flesh-chomping.

Gingrich Says Bush, GOP to Blame for Defeat [Atlanta Journal-Constitution]

Elephant menorahPhotograph: Jewish-Art.org

According to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, "Mehlman, the second Jewish chairman of the GOP, focused on outreach to minorities that have traditionally favored Democrats, including Jews, blacks and Hispanics." Allen, as you may recall, was somewhat less enthusiastic about acknowledging his religious roots. The cowboy-boots-wearing, epithet-slinging son of a famous football coach, who listed his influences as "[Christian] faith, family, freedom, and football," didn't exactly handle campaign-season revelations of his Jewish ancestry with inclusive classiness. "I still had a ham sandwich for lunch. And my mother made great pork chops," he told reporters.

Children of Israel, forgiving people as they are, have taken no offense. In fact, the Forward has awarded Allen the honorary placement of 51st in its Forward 50 list of the most influential members of the American Jewish community. The macaca may be on him, but he'll always have a home to return to where he can wash his spirit clean.

Allen-Webb Deadlocked to the End [Mother Jones]
Senator George Allen (R-Va) Named as '51st' in Forward 50 List [PRNewswire]

The New York Times may have been surprised by John Hall's victory over Sue Kelly in the Nineteenth District, but Early and Often was not. We made no bones about our love for John Hall, and we whored for his election loudly and proudly. The Gray Lady may have come around at the end, but E&O, the Painted Lady, was (metaphorically) going down on the dulcet-toned, eco-aware baldy back in September. (By the way, NYT, the melodies of Hall's seventies soft-rock group Orleans do not "worm into your brain and stay all day, if you let them," as you asserted in your endorsement. Worming into the brain is very bad, and Hall's melodies, like his candidacy, can only be a force for good.)

That in mind, it is with sweet vindication that we present Hall's first public appearance since winning office.

An Endorsement for Congress [NYT]

• Allen concedes, Mehlman resigns, "Midnight George" tries to sneak through legislation no one wants. [NYT]
• World now brought to you in Schumer Vision. [Newsday]
• George Allen, from golden boy to cooked goose. [WP]
• Harry Reid, nice guy, consensus builder, playful noogie receiver. [NYT]
• Dems will intrusively go after friends of federal wiretapping, see how they like it. [NYT]
• Bush and Pelosi, just like starting over. [NYDN]
• Spitzer and Bloomberg promise to love each other, fix everything. [NYP]
• Team Spitzer, ready to take names and do good. [NYDN]
• If you ever see Eliot Spitzer eating a piece of chicken, run for the hills. [NYT]
• Sixty-seven percent of New Yorkers to Hillary: Sure, go ahead and run for president, you'll be back. [Gallop Poll]
• Add these two Western New York Dems to the list of local congressfolk with new massive power. [Buffalo News]
• Mississippi, last in everything, including Charlie Rangel's heart. [amNY]
• Brooklyn's James Madison High School, font of senators. [NYS]
• Trailing by a substantial margin, Nick Spano won't let it go. [amNY]
• Save Hevesi! [NYS]

For what seems like eons, we've been listening to Democrats kvetch and complain and ask why, oh, why, oh, why, why must we suffer so? Well, now it's the Republicans' turn to whimper reflectively as they sweep up the pieces of their shattered crowns. What do conservatives sound like when yanked by fate from their high horse? Here's how the righty blogosphere has been dealing with its loss.

Denial
While admitting the election was an electoral defeat, Republicans cite successful ballot initiatives to trumpet a victory for "conservative values," and therefore, making the election a symbolic win waiting to be turned into future real ones.

Anger
It's the media's fault. Here a positive article about progress being made in Afghanistan is cited as evidence that the media will now be picking up an "everything is awesome, Dems are in" meme.

Bargaining
Conservatives appeal to a greater god who might take away the reality of what is happening. Here the greater god is the Gingrich Revolution of 1994, which must be reenacted to save the fading GOP.

Depression
The toughest stage of all, but the most important to overcome. At least now Republicans are talking about their feelings.

Acceptance
Finally, the grieving GOP soul climbs the slow, steady incline toward acquiesence. "You guys won big last night. So you deserve to gloat. Had things turned out better for us, we would be."

It's a hard road to renewal, but the faithful walk it at their pace. Some may never finish their journey, but we hold out hope for all.

Republicans have taken to breaking pencils out of midterm frustration.Courtesy iStockPhoto.com

In New York and nationally, this election seems to have proved that voters either don't buy the idea that Democrats will raise middle-class taxes. Or if they do, it's not as galvanizing today as it was 25 years ago when Reagan convinced a large section of the electorate that Democrats wanted to redistribute wealth downward. After national security, Bush's stump appeals late in the campaign tried to frighten voters with a message of Democratic tax-raising. He failed like Faso.

Which raises the question: What is a Republican issue in 2006? In any area where economic issues blend with morality (minimum wage) or responsibility (deficits), Democrats have successfully suggested they can mix generosity and common sense. Middle-class voters overwhelmingly chose Democrats on Tuesday, and voters who make over $100,000 chose Republicans. What about "values"? The battle over abortion is increasingly muddied, with the candidacies of pro-life Democrat Bob Casey Jr. and, though he lost, Harold Ford and organizations like Democrats for Life of America suggesting a big tent approach. Philadelphia Republican radio host and columnist Michael Smerconish hopes so. "I want a party with room for pro-life and pro-choice views. Plan B should be sold over the counter if you're 18. And I don't want politicians determining my end-of-life plan."

Losing moderate Republican voters to moderate Democratic candidates leaves the GOP with the socially conservative hard-line "base." As the Democrats become less dogmatic on things like abortion, Republicans will become more entrenched. Gay marriage, which five states chose to ban, remains a GOP issue, but the success of same-sex-marriage bans didn't lead to Republican electoral gains. It's also possible that people motivated to support gay-marriage bans voted for Democratic candidates because of other issues. You can register your displeasure with Iraq and still be a bigot, after all. National security, an issue Republicans rode to dominance after 9/11, has been totally squandered thanks to Iraq. Candidates who hewed to the Bush "stay the course" strategy got beat, and Democrats significantly closed the gap on "homeland security" by talking tough while taking on Bush over wiretaps and torture.

Looking back to 2004, this switch seemed inconceivable. But today the Republicans are the party of people who are either very rich or very psyched about the End Times. The Democrats have almost everyone else.

The Tax Message [The Politicker]
GOP'er Asks: Where's My Party [Philadelphia Daily News]

That grin's not going anywhere.Photograph: Getty Images

Everybody owes the Senate's new swingman something, and when Joe cock-walks his way back into the chamber carrying a big Radio Raheem boom box with the beat from Gary Glitter's "Rock & Roll Part 2" cranked to eleven, there's gonna be more than a few sheepish "uh, hey, buddy"s coming from his formerly backstabbing Democratic colleagues. For the time being, Killa Joe is busy not returning Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's calls and polishing that fine-tuned sense of humor he wielded so well in his legendary vice-presidential debates with Dick Cheney. Asked about the possibility of switching parties, Lieberman said, "See, there's a little playfulness in me that wants me to make a joke about that, but it's too serious." What a kidder.

Lieberman — Soros Reject or Republican? [WEBCommentary]
Apologetic Dems Need Lieberman's Sway in Senate [National Post]
Still a Democrat, Joe Says, to Preserve Seniority [Hartford Courant]

Chris Shays's close win in Connecticut makes him the only Republican congressman from New England, ending a realignment accelerated by Bush's sharp moves to the right. Even more interesting, for the first time in 50 years, the party in power does not have the majority of seats in the South, as Thomas Schaller, author of Whistling Past Dixie: How Democrats Can Win Without the South, points out. For years, Democrats followed the Clinton-Gore gospel that without the South (and especially southern business), an electoral majority was impossible. That may be true in presidential contests (if you count Florida as in the South), but now, with the Republicans' lock on the Sun Belt over and an increasingly fluid landscape throughout the West in general, honing your political message to resonate with "NASCAR dads" may be an abandoned strategy.

The South and Northeast are now poles of entrenchment on a congressional map that may become more unpredictable and less and less like the calcified presidential geography we're used to. Finally, the image of the Democratic political hopeful wandering around some racetrack in Georgia waving a Confederate flag and wearing a gun rack on his back may be a thing of the past. Watching cowboy-boot-wearing Dems wrangling cattle out in Wyoming won't be any less gruesome, but at least it's a new look.

Shays Wins Congress, Lamont Loses Senate [Greenwich Post]
A Regional Realignment [Taegan Goddard's Political Wire]

• Bush to Schumer: "I wish you were on my team." [NYT]
• The AP calls it for Webb, Dems ransack Senate. [WP]
• Get Along Gates replaces rude-boy Rumsfeld. [NYT]
• A "thumping"? We heard it was a "thumpin'" [LAT]
• "Stay the course" hits a brick wall named Nancy. [Star Ledger)
• Pelosi gets mega coked up for "100 hours" agenda. [Financial Times]
• News alert: Hillary will announce surprise presidential run sometime pretty soon. You heard it here first. [NYP]
• But for now it's Mumsville on '08. [Rochester Democrat and Chronicle]
• Hillary nuh-uhs possible role as Senate majority leader. [NYT]
• Schumer and Hillary try on togas as Empire State looks more and more imperial in new political reality. [NYT]
• Vilsack 08! (Readers, please note, getting your vilsack checked regularly can help prevent certain forms of cancer) [Des Moines Register]
• A few more women, but House still pretty much haven for gross, fat, senile, old white guys. [WP]
• Walsh, Kelly, Massa won't let the dream die. [amNY]
• Lieberman owes the GOP big. [NYDN]
• Spitzer serving up the waffles for Hevesi. [Newsday]

Callaghan thwarted by quirky bow tie.Photograph: Associated Press

We got to savor a similar moment last night, when Christopher J. Callaghan's (the J stands for j'accuse) concession speech bordered on the Rotten-esque. It wasn't the dopey removal of the bow tie, a weird moment of schlub burlesque. It was his rationalization of his own defeat: "I cannot help but regard the decision of New York voters as odd," he said. "They returned to office a man who by his own admission misappropriated funds … They're fine with that, so, okay." How often does a politician turn the lens around and say to the people who just rejected him: "The problem is you. You did this to yourself. Have fun."? That kind of unmasked disdain for the people you'd once hoped to serve, that balletic verve with slash-and-burn self-destruction, is the mark of a man with nothing to lose — except, of course, your trust, which apparently isn't worth much anyway.

Despite Scandal, Hevesi Wins Comptroller's Race [Newsday]

The self-flagellation begins!Photograph by Getty Images

Bush tried to maintain a conciliatory mood, offering the head of Al Qaeda West, Nancy Pelosi, decorating advice for her new office and complimenting the purged Donald Rumsfeld on a ride well rode, even if he couldn't recall the timing of when he asked him to hang up his spurs. He could recall why he was losing his reading contest with Karl Rove: "I was working harder on the campaign he was," he said with barely concealed mock disdain. You're never too close a confidant to incur the Bush wrath.

Oh, and in case you're updating your Bush dyslexicon, "stay the course," now means "constantly adjust."

What About Iraq? [Blogs for Bush]

We'll hear from Harold Ford again.Photograph: Getty Images

The disapproval for the Bush-era GOP was so great that all the fast food they'd been tube-feeding the electorate finally got coughed back up — the South Dakota abortion ban went down, as did the Arizona gay-marriage ban. In states like Wisconsin and Colorado, where gay-marriage bans did pass, they didn't help Republicans in any substantial way and even suggested, sadly, that the issue is somewhat cross-partisan.

Race-baiting, one of the oldest gambits in the furled-up political playbook, came through. Still, it didn't come through big. Ford came within a slight margin (51 percent to 48 percent) of being the first black elected to the Senate from the South since Reconstruction. Had he won, it would have the most significant win of the night, even bigger than a female Speaker of the House. The irony is irresistible. The Democrats have their first big win in over a decade, but their greatest achievement this Election Day might still be a loss.

Challenger Maintains Lead Over Sen. Burns [WP]
Watch the Harold Ford ad.
South Dakota Scraps Abortion Ban [LAT]
Anti-Gay Marriage Measure Losing in Arizona [AP]

Bill Clinton, back and to the left.Photograph: Getty Images

But if his silence wasn't unconventional, his aloneness was. During Hillary's 2000 victory speech, Clinton was among a throng of supporters on the podium, and he did a decent job of blending into the scenery. Last night, Chelsea wasn't even on hand, leaving a gaping absence on the massive stage. But even going against those odds, Hillary made herself the show. The optimistically yellow suit didn't hurt, nor did the concise speech. Her rebuke of Cheney's "full speed ahead" fiat ("Tonight America said, 'Not. So. Fast.'") was nice, too.

People who obviously changed their voting habits to elect a Democratic majority (male voters split 50/50 last night, a third of Evangelicals voted for Democrats) were taking a chance on a party in which Hillary is now the standard bearer. She did her best to suggest a kinder, gentler Clintonism — all the economically sound, socially moderate policies you've been clamoring for without the soap-opera bullshit.

If voters could see this, pundits could not. Later that night on MSNBC, Democrat campaign strategist Bob Shrum used the image of Bill & Hill alone in the spotlight to once again dig up the notion of a "Clinton problem" — "Al Gore had one, John Kerry had one, Hillary Clinton has one," he declaimed to the chortling approval of Chris Matthews. (Shrum was the chief adviser to both Gore and Kerry's bumbling campaigns, and their Shrum problems easily outweighed their Clinton problems.) Last night, Hillary asserted that whatever Clinton problems lie ahead are ones she can own herself, and not let the world blame on her husband.

The Woman in the Bubble [NYM]

Losses by once-unbeatable incumbents John Sweeney and Sue Kelly were indicative of national disgust and inspired challengers. Jack Davis's loss to Tom Reynolds, who stuck out on a night in which Northeast Republicanism pretty much died, seems to be an example of local popularity trumping national trends (at least that's what Reynolds has been saying), but it's really just proof that Davis was a terrible candidate.

Davis, a "Goldwater Democrat," ran on one issue (trade), did little retail campaigning, listened to no national party strategists in a year when they obviously had something to say, and campaigned on blanket disgust with government in a year in which voters asked for its reform not its dismantling. Weirdly, had the Democrats run someone more traditionally Democratic they might have won that seat.

State Races: New York [CNN]

During Spitzer's lengthy self-congratulatory remarks, one older Democrat ran out of patience. Bedecked in pro-Hillary and pro-Cuomo gear, this aging voter took to calling out, "Why won't this guy stop talking? I wish this guy would shut up. I've got to find my wife."

And since the party of the working man charges $8 for a domestic beer, it is time indeed to shout inappropriately and go home.

The Spitzer live experience isn't much more fun than the albums. No one can turn reviving the liberal dream into a droning yawn quite like our new governor. How can quoting Walt Whitman sound so much like reading an amicus brief?

David Paterson may be onstage telling the crowd that "no lieutenant governor has ever looked like me," but journalists are crouching around the TV watching Alan Hevesi give his acceptance speech. Hevesi was disinvited to this party and he wasn't missed in the ballroom, but he's a bigger attention draw than the second highest-ranking official in the state.

After being elected as an independent for his fourth term in the U.S. Senate, Joe Lieberman thanked the people of Connecticut for choosing "progress over partisanship" and the "mainstream over the extreme." He stressed the importance of across-the-aisle cooperation and spoke briefly on the war in Iraq, saying that the two parties needed to work together to bring home the troops without putting Americans at risk. It was a perfectly acceptable Lieberman speech.

Even opponent Ned Lamont, who "helped bring new voters and new volunteers into the political process," got a mention. (Liberal bloggers and the elusive "grass roots" were tastefully omitted.) And he explained his feelings of gratitude in this cheesy, yet somewhat endearing manner: "You know my name was on the bottom of the ballot? You found it. So it seems only fitting that I thank you from the bottom of my heart." Someone give this man a hug.

— Lori Fradkin

A female journalist sits down in the chair next to me, reserved for New York's senior political reporter Chris Smith, and sets to work on a plate of chicken. A voice over the loud speaker announces the beginning of Andrew Cuomo's victory speech. "Well," my new colleague says, "I guess we better go listen to him."

Was she sent in from cynical journalist central casting? What a genius.

Every time a Republican concedes, the D.J. in the ballroom plays "Take Me Out" by Franz Ferdinand. The tune is now on in honor of John Spencer.

A journalist next to me remarks that at this event in 1994, "you could feel the air get sucked out." But tonight Willie Colon is onstage playing a trombone and singing the national anthem, dedicated to "everyone in harm's way." In the back of the ballroom, a guy walks with a sign reading: "One step, two years to the White House."

The D.J. switched it up to "Tainted Love." Is this a reference to John Spencer's much-discussed crush on Hillary Clinton? In his concession speech, Spencer did say they had a nice talk. His heart will go on, even if his career does not.

Pennsylvania incumbent Republican Rick Santorum began his concession speech at 10 p.m. The kids joined him on stage in Pittsburgh, the younger ones weeping openly. He barely got through the "I just got off the phone with the new Senator-elect" when a plaintive "Oh, no!" came from a female supporter in the audience. "No!"

Given Santorum's poll numbers (current results give him 38 percent of the vote), that wail will not be echoed throughout the brunt of the Keystone State. But it just might make the Santorum family move back to Pennsylvania.

— Aileen Gallagher

I'm sitting in a large conference room watching TV with about 30 other reporters. Across the hall is a room full of Democrats living a moment that would have seemed impossible only four years ago. They're hugging, laughing, gently shaking it to the Tom Tom Club.

Except for one woman, the angriest Democrat. In a room full of scrubbed party operatives, gymmed up and ginned up, she seems to have wandered into the cordoned-off press area from some other political reality. I can't guess her age, but I assume she's old enough to have voted for Truman. There can be no joy for her tonight until President George Bush has suffered deeply and viscerally. No amount of payback can satisfy her bloodlust.

"That son of a bitch Bush! He's ruining the fucking country. He can't lose bad enough." It was a little loud in there, but I think she described a meeting of her son and the president in which her son "leaned right in his ear and called him an asshole." She wouldn't tell me what her son did for a living.

There was more action at the bake-sale table than the voting booths at my polling place this afternoon, though this may say more about creeping domesticity in Cobble Hill than the races themselves. When I arrived, a cop was twirling his baton immediately in front of the door of the polling place. In plenty of places, that might look like voter intimidation. In brownstone Brooklyn, it was like the start of a parade.

But the real ground for sociological inquiry is what goes on behind those black curtains. The first guy to vote after I arrived spent what I'd put conservatively at four to five minutes in there. I don't think I could invent enough reasons to spend that much time voting if I tried. I was in and out in maybe 30 seconds, and so was the voter just before me. So what takes some people so much longer? Paralysis in the face of all the tiny levers? Extreme procrastination about deciding which candidates to support? Performance anxiety? Maybe they're just that much more deliberative than the rest of us.

— Jeremy McCarter

The deceptively undercrowded Astoria Pool.Courtesy of the City of New York/Parks and Recreation

The polling place was, as usual, staffed by foreign-born citizens, a cheerful consequence of living in Queens. Next to my name in the roll book were the letters "BLA." A subcontinental man asked me, "What does 'BLA' mean? Black?"

I am so very white. "It means 'blank,'" I told him. "I'm an independent. Not affiliated with a party."

"Ah, yes," he nodded without conviction and escorted me to a booth.

— Aileen Gallagher

This morning at my polling place on the Lower East Side, there was a kindly, paternal maintenance man chatting with a Yeshiva student in his late teens. The maintenance man was on the sidewalk with a broom, dustpan, and rolling garbage pail — his pulpit — talking to the student about the importance of voting. It was a lovely little moment.

— Susan Avery

It was interesting to chat with a few Park Slopers about whether they were voting for Alan Hevesi. I didn't vote for him and instantly regretted it. But everyone I talked to here went ahead and did vote for him. (Of all the sins, using state money to drive an ailing wife around seems relatively benign …)

— David Edelstein

Urn atop the Prison Ship Martyrs Monument in Fort Green Park.Courtesy Fort Green Park Conservancy

The strong-ish turnout, however, was a surprise. At 9 a.m., I was voter No. 60 in my election district, a higher number than I usually draw. There were lines of roughly six to ten voters at all the other booths as well. Was it because angry Brooklyn Democrats saw this as their chance to send a message to Washington? A desire to give Hillary and Eliot whopping wins? A nice, warm November morning? The ample supply of doughnuts for sale at the PTA table outside the school gym?

— Chris Smith

This is not the exit poller in question, though he does look like a Patrick.Courtesy iStockPhoto.com

But then came the most exciting thing that has ever happened to me in a polling place: I was exit polled! (Not that I care, but are they really allowed to stand inside the building, right at the doorway to the polling room?) Patrick, according to his name tag, told me he was polling for ABC News. His forms clearly bore the logos of the three broadcast networks, CNN, Fox News, and the AP, which make up the National Election Pool, and also the name of Edison/Mitofsky, the polling concern. I checked that I'm a Democrat, I'm a Jew, I went to college, I voted for Democrats, and I think Hillary Clinton would make a good president, a better one than Rudy Giuliani. And I can't figure out why they selected my voting place for exit polling: Do you think they get different answers from anyone who votes at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center on West 13th Street?

— Jesse Oxfeld

• Democrats: They're baaaaack. [NYDN]
• Hillary, human ATM. [NYT]
• As Indiana goes, so goes the nation. [Buffalo News]
• Misleading "Robo calls" freak out apathetic loners with short attention spans. [NYT]
• For the Dems, if it's not a landslide, it's a failure. [NYT]
• Voting hip! [NYP]
• Lieberman and Lamont and Menendez and Kean go bonkers campaigning. Spitzer, not so much. [NYT]
• Faso and Callaghan pity party in Albany. [Newsday]
• Clinton and Pataki hold contest to see who can visit more depressing upstate towns in one day. [Albany Times Union]
• Working Families Party harnesses the celebrity power of Pete Seeger to get out the vote. [NYS]
• Cuomo slobber rudes out Hillary. [NYP]
• Pirro, still slugging. [NYDN]

Photograph courtesy of Spectre Studios

Best Campaign: John Hall
From crunchy seventies pop-rocker to strong contender against an entrenched incumbent, he shocked the Hudson Valley.

Best Dis: KT McFarland
The failed challenger in the Republican Senate primary scored in a debate with John Spencer, who left his wife for his secretary while mayor of Yonkers. "John, you taxed and spent like Hillary, and you behaved like Bill."

Most Sympathetic Scandal: Alan Hevesi
If there had been any other competitive statewide races, this one would've stayed on the blogs, where it belonged.

Most Inspiring Ad: Andrea Stuart Cousins, "18 votes"
Not the most high-profile race, but this spot's simple message of a democracy of individuals where every vote counts is just too damn moving.

Most Depressing Ad: John Sweeney, "No Honor"
He accused his opponent of harassing his wife, Gayle, two weeks before it was revealed she once called 911 because he was "knocking her around."

Best Liar: Vito Fossella
The Republican incumbent in the Thirteenth District accused his opponent, Steve Harrison, of "putting terrorist rights above the safety of you and your family."

Biggest Liability: Al Pirro
The man got pulled over for speeding just to show Jeanine how much he loved her.

Best Underminer: Bernie Kerik
He's like old gum you just can't stop stepping in.

Best Victim: Gayle Sweeney
First Congressman John Sweeney is accused of roughing up his wife, then he conscripts her for damage control when it becomes a scandal. Maybe there's a burning bed in John's future? You go, Gayle!

Most Lovable Loser: John Faso
His conservative Republican views may be out of step with the beliefs of most New Yorkers, but he stood by his principles and never slunk into the slime his party spread in nearly every other race.

Least Lovable Loser: John Spencer
He ran ads against Hillary that showed pictures of Osama and then made fun of her looks. This guy's all class.

Candidate Who Looked Best on a Cross: Jeanine Pirro

Candidate Who Looks Best Wearing One: Hillary Clinton

Best Comeback: Tom Reynolds
Left for dead after the Foley scandal, he ascended back into contention by keeping it local.

Best Gaffe: John Faso
In the first gubernatorial debate with Eliot Spitzer, Faso said his opponent would "force gay marriage down the throats of many New Yorkers."

Biggest Family Disappointment: Andrew Cuomo
His campaign slogan could have been, "I can handle things! I'm smart! Not like everybody says … like dumb … I'm smart and I want respect!"

Best Accessorizer: Chris Callaghan
The bow tie is more memorable than the man himself.

Best Promise: Eliot Spitzer Will Makes the Knicks Win
In Spitzer's "Remember New York" ad, there's an image of the Knicks from back in the Bill Bradley–Clyde Frazier days. Does this mean our new governor will bring sports teams under state control? We hope so. Only he can succeed where Larry Brown failed.

Best Triangulation: Hillary on Gay Marriage
First she was against it, but when Spitzer took a hard stand for it, she claimed she's "evolved" but still isn't exactly for it. She's smooooove.

Best Field Promotion: Nicholas Acquafredda
Carol Hevesi's "chauffeur" thought he was just a driver.

Best Auto-Pilot: Hillary Clinton
Where Spitzer acted like he had the fate of the world on his shoulders, Hillary acted like she was just here to make the other little Democrats feel cool.

The Most Bestest Day We'll Ever Have in New York: Eliot Spitzer's day one.

Joe Lieberman makes Zell Miller faces in the mirror every day.Photograph by Andrea Renault/Globe Photos

Just as the recently retired conservative Georgia Democrat made it tough for his party to get the most from a close Senate margin in 2001, the vindicated Lieberman will return to exact some payback when the Dems take five seats and get within striking distance of actually having a voice in the chamber. Lieberman, once en route to the political dustbin, will trounce antiwar billionaire Ned Lamont and return to D.C. to prove that "ending the partisan tone in Washington" really means wringing a little sweat from the old friends who left you cold.

The Pirros are no more.

Jeanine and Bernie Kerik get hitched in Aruba, and her heartbroken ex-husband gets NY1's first-ever reality show, Al's Money, in which hopeful female contestants vie to be the lady who wins his hand in marriage.

No one wants to be comptroller when they grow up.

It's been a tough year for a man with the job no one knew existed, but Alan Hevesi will win by double digits only to be replaced in January by a comptroller who pursues a Hevesian approach without the ethical slips-ups (or at least not the terrible timing).

Hillary will begin her presidential run tomorrow night wearing …

The light-blue suit. No cross but, in a daring flourish, a tiny pentagram earring that goes undetected by the assembled press.

If John Sweeney wins …

He will pledge to "knock Nancy Pelosi around Congress."

If Tom Reynolds wins …

All the children in Eerie County will surround him and sing a disarmingly beautiful chorus of "We Are the World."

Chris Callaghan will be the happiest man in New York tomorrow.

He was the Republican Party's second choice to lose the comptroller's race (No. 1, Scott Vanderhoef, ended up being John Faso's running mate), he lacks the experience or skill to do the job, and when he returns to his old gig as Saratoga County treasurer, they will have a little party with punch and a cake. They will sing "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow." He will smile and nod and make a little toast. When he goes back to his desk, he will pick up the phone and call his wife and say, "Honey, I'm home."

Alan Hevesi will be the saddest man in New York.

He will rent the largest stretch limo available in New York (chauffer included), with a hot tub and a D.J. in the back. He will have it driven through the front door of the Sheraton Hotel and into the ballroom, right into the middle of a party of victorious Democrats that uninvited him. He will emerge through the sunroof in his swimming trunks and pronounce through a bullhorn, "Endorse this, ya bitches!"

Chris Shays, facing the fight of his nineteen-year congressional career for reelection in Connecticut's Fourth District, got riled at a candidates' forum on Sunday morning when a woman at the back of the hall said, "Nobody could accuse you of not being a decent human being … but … every piece of literature that came through my mailbox is disgusting." Shays challenged her to show him one example that came from his office. "I resent that you'd say that," he said. A moment later, he acknowledged that some of the mailings have come from the Republican National Committee. Shays said he is barred by law from asking the RNC to stop the practice.

The forum, at Bridgeport's Congregation Rodeph Sholom, was a chance for Shays, the nine-term incumbent, and his principal challenger, Diane Farrell, former two-term first selectwoman of Westport, to sway undecided voters only two days before the election.

"Are you happy with the status quo, or is it time for a change?" asked Farrell, adding, "I stand in opposition to Chris Shays, to George Bush, to the Republican majority." Farrell said she wants Donald Rumsfeld to go, but to end Iraq chaos, she favors setting benchmarks for pulling troops out, not deadline dates.

When a woman questioned Farrell's lack of experience with Iraq and military affairs releative to Shays, the candidate answered, "Fourteen trips to Iraq do not an expert in military affairs make. I'm not a military expert, but I'm smart enough to know who to ask."

When someone questioned Shays about squaring his conscientious objector status during the Vietnam War with sending young men and women to fight and die in Iraq, he said he had held 22 hearings on terrorism before the World Trade Center attacks and that the threats of the post-9/11 world had changed his thinking.

Saddam Hussein was never credibly linked with Al Qaeda, of course. "One of the reasons I've gone to Iraq fourteen times is I feel responsible" for that decision, he said.

— Robert Davey

Alan Hevesi is still up a dozen points over emboldened Republican challenger Chris Callaghan, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll released today. A Newsday/NY1 poll puts Hevesi ahead by ten, but both polls are an improvement over last week's Siena New York survey that found the race "too close to call."

This weekend Hevesi ran an ad demanding that voters look at his record and ignore the tabloid headlines dancing at his downfall and the Democratic politicians fleeing his headquarters. Maybe it worked. Perhaps all the sympathy people just couldn't work up for Jeanine Pirro goes to our besieged and embattled state numbers guy.

Hevesi Has 12-Point Lead In Comptroller's Race [Quinnipiac University]
Hevesi's Lead Over Callaghan Is Down To Ten Points [NY1]
Hevesi/Callaghan Race Too Close to Call [Siena Research Institute]

It doesn't take a fake fortune-teller to tell you that this Election Day will be interesting.Courtesy of iStockPhoto.com

13th District: Steve Harrison didn't have anything near the money or anything resembling the name recognition of entrenched incumbent Vito Fossella, a popular Republican in a conservative Catholic area of Brooklyn and Staten Island. But he had the issue: Iraq and Fossella's adamant support of President Bush. Fossella compared Harrison to Osama and accused him of taking money from terrorists, but Harrison hung tough. Still, it looks like Fossella will squeak by.

19th District: John Hall started out in this race as a long-shot musician-activist-politician. But tomorrow the seventies hit maker and environmentally conscious resident of the Hudson region will pull the unthinkable and knock off popular Republican Sue Kelly. Hall ran a smart campaign and successfully tied the "moderate" Kelly to George Bush, Iraq, and the Mark Foley scandal (Kelly oversaw the congressional page program during a portion of the Foley rampage). Kelly refused to debate Hall on local TV, and Hall was even cool and composed enough to make an appearance on The Colbert Report work in his favor.

20th District: It's been ugly, real ugly. In a district where Republicans outnumber Democrats by a wide margin, Representative John Sweeney has spectacularly self-destructed. From attending a frat party at taxpayer expense to skiing with lobbyists, he was a poster boy for the cliché of the corrupt do-nothing Republican congressman. Opponent Kirsten Gillibrand's experience has been questioned, and she ran some tongue-in-cheek ads mocking Sweeney that didn't entirely hit home. But she's surging now, and with reports in the papers last week that Sweeney abused his wife, the climate for an upset is ideal. Gillibrand in a true nail-biter.

24th District: In the region surrounding glorious Utica, Democratic prosecutor Mike Arcuri and Republican State Senator Ray Meier battle for the open seat. National parties have stepped in to spend nearly $3 million on the race, which has gotten nasty. The National Republican Congressional Committee accused Arcuri of calling a phone-sex line in 1994 and charging it to Oneida County residents. A mailer sent out by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee said Meier was "spending like a drunken sailor" as a state lawmaker. It's very close, but the anti-Republican tide and the state Democratic ticket carries Arcuri over the top.

26th District: Out in Western New York, RNCC head Tom Reynolds easily beat billionaire "Goldwater Democrat" Jack Davis in 2004, 56-44. This year his role in covering up the Foley scandal, which he handled abysmally, put him into a fifteen-point hole. But a helping hand from the White House, his role as point man in the relief effort following a freak blizzard, and Davis's lackluster campaign have conflated to keep Reynolds in the hunt. He'll pull it out.

29th District: Up Rochester way in a highly agricultural, traditionally Republican district, Navy vet Eric Massa has been giving one-term GOP incumbent Randy Kuhl a run for his money. His issues are Iraq and the lagging upstate economy. Kuhl is a moderate on most issues (immigration is an exception), and Massa is a centrist as well. What should've been a walk will be a run, but Kuhl will hold on.

Courtesy New York Republican State Committee

The Democratic Party is coming to town.

That'll soon be Governor Eliot Spitzer to you.Photograph by Patrick McMullan

The last day before an election is a long, sad process of letting go for the chattering classes, but this chatterer will not go quietly. And to do as much as possible to remove any spontaneity from tomorrow's sullied doings, Early and Often offers the following forecasts and predictions. All will come to pass, so tattoo them on whatever appendage you feel is appropriate.

Day one of the Eliot Spitzer regime will be a lot messier than he expects.

Upon being elected governor, Eliot Spitzer promises to give the corroded culture of Albany an ethical colonic. But administering this much-needed cleansing won't be so easy. Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno, already frustrated that Spitzer campaigned for his Democratic opponent, may be hungry for a little payback. Appeasing Assembly Leader Shelley Silver, a Democrat, won't be much simpler. Silver is the main practitioner of the "three guys in a room" Albany decision-making process Spitzer claims he's there to break up. Spitzer and Mike Bloomberg may have issues over mayoral control of the New York school system. And, of course, there are the high-powered contributors who filled the Spitzer coffers, and those frothing fat cats don't tend to throw money around just cuz they like your winning smile and springy step.

New York will make a difference.

After a run of presidential elections in which Democrats took the state by massive margins and some snooze-fest off-year contests, the Empire State is sure to make a difference in determining the balance of Congress. Democrats need fifteen seats to take the House, and there are five local dogfights whose outcomes could alter this once-in-a-decade election. Only one of them, the battle between Vito Fossella and Steve Harrison in the Thirteenth District (Brooklyn and Staten Island) is downstate, but the upstate contests may (sorry, will) still be raging Wednesday morning as our post-election hangover kicks in.

Check back for more predictions throughout the day!

Hillary wonders if being president could possibly be as fun as this armed-services committee meeting in 2005.Photograph by Stephen Crowley/The New York Times/Redux

Kurt Andersen wants to go back to George W. Bush's original plan for the humble superpower.

In the Missouri Senate race, the red and the blue are not so different.

After Bernie Kerik was sucked into the Jeanine Pirro mess, Iraq was the next logical place to be.

With a Democratic victory pretty much assured in New York, it's about time for donors of all political persuasions to pay up.

• Hevesi, hard to smoosh. [NYDN]
• State GOP plays the blame game. [NYT]
• Republicans, in need of something to feel good about, pile on the Hevesi hate. [NYDN]
• The Saratoga Republican machine — worse than Tammany? [Newsday]
• The Clintons rally all weekend. [amNY]
• Republicans for Spitzer. [NYT]
• Eric Massa for Republicans. [amNY]
• Faso and Spitzer, get to know them. [NYDN]
• Lieberman's pomp stomps Lamont's scrap. [NYT]
• Spitzer denies a "cover-up" of aide's drunk-driving bust. [NYS]
• Bush and Lamont, same dude. [NYT]
• Giving Spitzer his marching orders. [NYP]
• New Yorkers, for once, your votes matter. [Albany Times Union]
• Reynolds and Davis, tied. [Buffalo News]
• Gillibrand and Sweeney, tied. [Albany Times Union]
• Iraq first in voters minds, Foley second, both sad and ugly. [NY1]
• In happier news, Jeanine Pirro and Bernie Kerik are madly in love. [Journal News]