Mike’s Election Live Blog

By Michael Bryan

To keep this live blog thread updated, click the title, bookmark the page and reload periodically. I'll be updating this post all evening.

5:44pm Checking in: Polls aren't closing for over an hour here locally and I'll be heading to Gentle Ben's for the Drinking Liberally poll watch, and popping in at the Democratic party at the Marriott to try to interview newly elected officials.

News around the country is still pretty sketchy but we know that Rand Paul and Marco Rubio both walked their races. Better news for Dems is that we flipped an R seat D in the Delaware House race, meaning the GOP now has to flip 40 seats to take the House. Also, as expected, O'Donnell has crashed and burned in the Delaware Senate race.

7:37 Gentle Ben's was a bust. Their WiFi was broken. God, do they realize how important functioning internet access is???!!! Over at the Marriott now. The networks are all projecting a major GOP victory in the House (240-195??? my ass). Still awaiting early results on AZSOS site.

7:40 In mourning for Senator Feingold. A great public servant and a true progressive voice gone down in defeat.

8:05 GOP turnout bait ballot initiatives on hunting rights and secret union ballots are passing across the country. Looks like 109 and 113 are likely to pass in AZ, too. Early returns from some counties coming in around Arizona. Nothing reliable yet. Maricopa not posted yet.

8:01 Wyden and Bennett put Dems at 49 in the Senate with 9 more undecided seats. Dems are definitely keeping the Senate tonight.

8:14 Early trends on props show 301 and 302 going down. Looks like the lege will need to find another 400 million in cuts.

8:15 CNN now calling the House 242 GOP, 193 Dem. Still not buying it.

8:16 OK, even I'm not that optimistic. McCain is re-elected. By a landslide. more the 60%.

8:27 Early returns look solid for CD 7 and 8 remaining Dem.

8:38 Pima County returns are favorable and indicate some significant wins in Pima, but Manny Alvarez could be in trouble. 

8:43 Even MSNBC is now projecting 245 GOP in the House. Nightmare.

8:45 Based solely on early ballots, it looks like 400 and 401 (city sales tax and charter changes) will be defeated.

8:47 Everyone started screaming. I thought perhaps a terrorist attack. Just Gabby walking into the hotel ballroom.

8:48 She's not making any announcement yet, but she sounds pretty confident. Introduces a hip-hop act. Not too worried, I'd say. Saw her crew kicking back at Gentle Ben's looking very confident.

8:54 Based on early ballots and 10% of precincts reported, I'm calling 8 for Gabby. By 7 – 10 points.

8:55 CD 7 is looking much closer than I would have credited. Still pretty confident that Grijalva prevails, but boy the boycott put a serious ding in him. McClung is doing VERY well in Yuma county and losing almost everything else. The early ballots were very close (usually have a GOP advantage) and Grijalva will win or lose it in Pima. Ef his margin is wide enough here, he'll hang on. Wow.

9:02 Things are not looking good for our State-wide slate. So far, Rotellini is the only one making a race of it. She's holding Maricopa pretty much even. 

9:03 Harry Reid's early returns are looking good. Almost 10 points up on Angle, though that is sure to narrow. Maybe we'll avoid at least that embarrassment tonight.

9:06 Looks like Stoltz might act as something of a spoiler for Kelly tonight. He wouldn't win with Stoltz's votes, but it would be much more of a nailbiter if Stoltz wasn't on the ballot.

9:10 Looks like Rebecca Rios in LD 23 is going down. Dems will have lose seats in the AZ Senate. And the House. Looks like 39-21 in the State House and 21-9 in the State Senate.

9:26 Prop 106 looks to be passing. Useless.

9:29 Well, at this point I will call CD1 for Gosar and CD 5 for Schweikert. I was wrong that Kirkpatrick and Mitchell would weather the storm. Idiot child Ben Quayle is going to Congress and the Arizona House delegation is back to 5 GOP 3 Dem.

9:35 Gabby going up to claim victory now, presumably. One of the few bright spots in the State… or the nation at this point. No official word from Gabby. But it's in the bag.

9:42 Reid pulls it out in NV and Brown takes the Gov in CA.

9:48 Prop 109 surprisingly went down in AZ. Nationally these GOP bait hunters/2nd amendment props are doing very well, but not here. Odd.

9:53 Clean sweep for the GOP in statewide races. Well, they can't blame us for shit anymore. 

10:01 Disgusted and done. Rodney Glassman just showed up for a concession speech. Video will be up sometime soon.