Washington's Referendum 71 is, so far, passing. That is very good news. With 100% of the vote in, however, it's only passing by 2% despite having been thought a sure thing (so I'd heard). Apparently, much of the uncounted vote is expected to push this measure further up since a huge chunk is from Seattle. Right now, while it's uncalled, the CW is that it's a done deal. So...yay on that.

A sad loss for marriage equality in Maine. It was close all night and ended with just over a 5-point spread against our side. So I can't get gay-married in Maine. Yet. But as upsetting as it is that marriage rights should ever have to be put to a vote in the year 2009, looking back at the recent history of homophobia, it has to be considered encouraging that we are on the verge of winning the majority of state-wide opinion in favor of marriage equality. Unfortunately, the votes are happening probably just two or three years too soon.

I read a lot about how turn-out was good for our side in Maine, but then read a crush of people hit the polls late in the day. I wonder if turn-out was never a good thing for our side or if all the upbeat reporting spurred people against us to vote?

Discrimination, she wrote.

And since four black people live in Maine, will Dan Savage now proclaim, "No more Mr. Nice Guy!" about...Jessica Fletcher?

It may or may not make a difference, but 24 hours after leaving the race to represent NY-23, moderate Republican DeDe Scozzafava has explicitly endorsed conservative Democrat Bill Owens over right-wing nutjob (and ungracious winner) Douglas Hoffman in a letter to her supporters. Hoffman's polling was pretty high and the district is so conservative it hasn't sent a Democrat to the House in over 150 years, but this was yet another development in the continuing schism that is happening with the Republican Party. Will Republicans cheer a Hoffman win and push themselves further right (and further away from having real sway in the country)? Good luck with that, wingnuts. You can have NY-23 (maybe!), but NY-23 is not Middle America is not America.

Looks to me from the on-line ad above that Mike Bloomberg's campaign is trying to make it seem like his rival, Bill Thompson, is endorsing his in this Tuesday's election! Not that he needs it, but he's wicked enough to have done this purposefully just for shits 'n' giggles. Some random guy becomes the face of Bloomberg's ad and he resembles Thompson rather a lot:

In more pungent NY (state) election news, moderate Republican Dede Scozzafava has surprised everyone and suspended her campaign three days before the election in the face of a mountain of backlash from truly nutty, far-right Republicans who have come out of the woodwork to support someone who might be even crazier than they are, Conservative Party candidate Douglas Hoffman. Hoffman knows NOTHING about the district he's running to represent and backed out of a debate after an embarrassing interview with the editorial board of the local paper, and yet stupidity and incompetence do not matter to the new breed of wingnuts (spear-headed by Sarah Palin, whose endorsement helped swing the race to Hoffman's favor) as long as a candidate is a complete caveman when it comes to social issues and willingness to spout Obama conspiracy theories.

Douglas Hoffman (left...but very right!) and Democrat Bill Owens (right...and fairly right for a lefty). 

It's a shame if Hoffman wins for those reasons, but also because the mainstream media will no doubt gobble this up as proof that the teabaggers are somehow gaining traction. In reality, this is a district that has only elected Republicans for the past 150 YEARS. So the fact that a Democrat was poised to eke out a win until three days out (and might still win), causing a Republican to drop out so that a third-party candidate might take the lead...that is the real story. 

This was a special election anyway. Let the lunatic win and be in office for just over a year and guess what happens to him in 2010? Destroyed by a conservative Democrat or a conservative Republican.

P.S. Speaking of the mainstream media, the AP reports that Scozzafava is encouraging her supporters to vote Hoffman. Not so. Her statement said NO SUCH THING.