So while Sen. Feingold may be out for Democrats, there doesn’t appear to be any shortage of Republican candidates hoping to be our next President. The latest is Rudy Giuliani, who announced he’s forming the obligatory “exploratory committee ” today, the first step in a full blown run for President.

While Rudy Giuliani is best known for his role as New York mayor in the days following the 9/11 attacks, he’s been making the rounds the past few years trying to improve his GOP credentials. If he has any hopes at all of getting the Republican nomination in 2007, he’s going to need a lot more work on those credentials.

For example, did you know that Rudy Giuliani supports gun control, same-sex civil unions, embryonic stem-cell research and abortion rights?

Hardly sounds like the kind of guy who will fire up the right wing base, eh?

Expect to see a lot of this in the next two years:

The Bush administration said on Sunday that it would strenuously oppose one of the Democrats’ top priorities for the new Congress: legislation authorizing the government to negotiate with drug companies to secure lower drug prices for Medicare beneficiaries. – NY Times

The only reason that the administration would oppose such a plan is because they’re so beholden to the pharmaceutical industry and it’s lobbyists. It’s not the administration saying they don’t want lower prescription drug prices, it’s the pharmaceutical industry saying they don’t want lower prescription drug prices through the administration.

For those keeping score, this is a concrete example of how Democrats are different than Republicans. In this case, Democrats are fighting for the people and Republicans are fighting for big business.

It’s official, Sen. Russ Feingold is not going to run for President in 2008.

While there are sure to be a lot of disappointed progressives around the country and here in Wisconsin, I think this was the most logical move for Sen. Feingold. A Presidental bid would have been a longshot for him for a lot of reasons, personal and political, and there probably is more he can do for Wisconsin as a Senator in the next two years than as a Senator with the full time job of campaigning for President.

One thing that I’m sure has been kicked around with his team is the potential to find a spot in the administration of the next Democratic President. Maybe trade the Senator title for one of Secretary?

After big losses for Democrats in 2002 and 2004, I was pretty disappointed to say the least. But reality set in and you realize that your guy or gal didn’t win and you’ve got to accept the results to get back to work.

It’s interesting watching some of our local conservative bloggers having trouble doing that this time around.

For example, according to conservative Wisconsin bloggers, it seems everyone except the Green campaign or Mark Green himself was to blame for his loss in the race for governor. The real culprits behind the Green lose read like the “who’s who” of conservative boogy men:

– The MSM (That’s “mainstream media” for the uninitiated.) You know, outlets like WISN radio, WTMJ radio, the Journal Sentinal, Fox News, etc.. The real liberal basitions of power.
– Michael J. Fox and other “hollywood liberals”.
– Women. If women would have just stayed home where they belong, they couldn’t have voted for Jim Doyle.
– Milwaukee voters (read: African Americans). If it wasn’t for Wisconsin’s largest city, liberals wouldn’t stand a chance, and that’s unfair! Either their votes should only count as 1/2 a vote, or voters in Milwaukee county should be forced to present a valid passport, an original birth certificate, proof of parental citizenship, and $85.34 in exact change.
– Angry liberal bloggers!
– The mainstream media! Again!

If that’s not enough, conservative poster girl Jessica McBride even threw out this doozy: “Going positive for too long. Green missed a chance to define Doyle before he could define himself.”

Wow, I must have missed those ads where Mark Green did anything except trash Doyle. I wouldn’t be surprised if the mainstream media probably refused to air them though!

And of course:

“No one flipped. The Georgia Thompson scandal stopped with.. Georgia. And she was a couple steps removed from Doyle. The MSM let Doyle get away with refusing to comment on whether he’s hired a lawyer”

Which makes about as much sense as saying Mark Foley was only a few steps removed from Rep. Denny Hastert, and yet Hastert didn’t get indicted. They just can’t accept the fact that maybe Doyle didn’t have anything to do with what an appointee of former Republican Gov. McCallum did.

And one more for good measure:

“The MSM. It’s pretty tough when the forces of the dominant media are working against you and defining your extremist opponent as a moderate and you as an extremist”

Again, the nasty MSM. Someone should just drop a house on them already! I must have been getting the bizarro-land Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that didn’t have a daily trashing of Gov. Doyle on it’s front page.

Now while it’s all fun and games to shoot fish in a barrel, let’s get back to reality for a moment, and this goes beyond Wisconsin.

Maybe, just maybe, Republicans actually lost in the numbers they did Tuesday because they were just to far to the right for most people. That goes for Wisconsin and it goes for the country. For the past 6 years, the Republicans in this country have had almost complete control of government, and what have they done with it? Exactly.

And when conservatives like McBride can’t stop for a moment to even consider that, or if you only continue to gravitate towards the fringe of an ideology after it’s been rejected, that says a lot.

Like I said, you win some and you lose some and life moves on. Conservatives across the country need to accept that. They can start by paying attention to their “W won, get over it” bumper sticker.

While watching TV tonight the news of Democrat Jim Webb winning Virginia – and therefore Democrats winning the US Senate and House – made me realize something.

For the majority of my adult life, and certainly for the majority of my political one, I’ve been a supporter of the minority political party. I don’t know what it’s like to have Congressional Committees controlled by members of my own party, or to set the agenda of Congress, or to be able to issues supeanas, or decide which bills will be brought up for debate.

I’ve always been reactive to what I’ve perceived as the mistakes of those in control. It’s going to be an interesting change to be on the other side of that.

It’s something that didn’t cross my mind yesterday because in my most optimistic moment I didn’t expect Republicans to lose control of the Senate. Not that I’m complaining, but it’s going to take some adjustment!

It wasn’t just on a national level that Democrats did well last night. Democrats are now back in control of the Wisconsin state Senate which means Sen. Lena Taylor will finally get her longstanding wish to be Committee Chairperson.

This graphic lays it out:

All too predictable. Now that the President is facing a House, and possibly a Senate, no longer controlled by rubber stamp Republicans, he suddenly wants to “reach out”. White House Press Sec. Tony Snow this morning had this to say:

“Bush wants to go back to the Texas model. He’s always reached out. He’s been trying over the last couple of years with limited success”

He’s been trying what over the past couple years?! I sure don’t remember the President reaching out. It’s statements like the one above from this administration that have drained any level of credibility from what they say.

What I do remember is him calling Democrats cowards, weak on national security, and a party that didn’t want to fight terrorism. I remember him saying that if you wanted the terrorists to win, vote Democratic. I’m sure Democrats in the House and Senate remember that and a number of other times Pres. Bush has “reached out” in the past 6 years.

So I say good luck President Bush, you’re about to reap what you’ve sown.

…and now the real work begins.

We won the House by a large margin, and the Senate is still up for grabs, but regardless Democrats have made the case for accountability and change.

Exciting stuff!

More later about the local races and Wisconsin races.

They had footage of this on CNN a few minutes ago, and needless to say, Gov. Sanford did not. look. happy.

South Carolina has a restrictive voter ID law that even stopped it’s top elected official from vasting a vote. That muffled scream you hear is from conservative photo ID supporters across the country.

A poll manager says that Governor Mark Sanford was turned away from his home precinct Tuesday morning because he did NOT have his voter registration card.

Bob Crawford poll manager at Sullivan’s Island Elementary School
says the governor was not allowed to vote. AP

I have to admit I had trouble sleeping last night.

In part because of the frightening possibility that things don’t go the Democrats way today and tomorrow we wake up with a Republican Governor in Wisconsin and a Republican controlled Congress, and partly because the potential today holds for Democrats across the country.

For the record, I’m not into making predictions on my weblog like some or giving my ‘endorsement’. I think it’s pretty clear where I stand, and polls and predictions are meaningless on election day. It’s the vote that counts.

So get out and vote! If you notice any problems at the polling place today, please call the 1-888-DEM-VOTE (1-888-336-8683) number and they will answer your question or direct you someone who can.

Who would have guessed. Republicans are using dirty tricks to send Democrats to the wrong polling stations in New Mexico:

The Democrats claim they have learned of several instances in which voters have received phone messages providing incorrect polling information from people who identify themselves as workers at GOP headquarters. – AP

Here in Wisconsin, I’ve also heard of people complaining about vote reminder calls from someone who identified themselves with the Democratic Party of Wisconsin coming at 2 and 3am in the morning.

It’s ridiculous and dirty, but for Republicans it’s justifiable. They just can’t stand the thought of being out of power, so they’ll go to any means to try to keep themselves in power.