Republican sources tell Brian Beutler they expect a relatively orderly and ordinary transition for the new leadership if Republicans win back the House.
--Ben Frumin
Beware the zombie voters! Rachel Slajda looks at one Virginia tea partier's plan to prevent Democrats from stealing the election by voting under the names of the dead.
--Ben Frumin
Kendrick Meek is announcing at a hastily arranged press conference that he's still in the Florida Senate race and is not dropping out: "The press report that's out there is inaccurate at best."
--David Kurtz
Bill Clinton did press Kendrick Meek to drop of the Florida Senate race, a Clinton spokesperson confirms to the Miami Herald. However, no mention in the Herald report of whether Meek twice agreed to drop out then changed his mind both times, as Politico reported.
It's the second point that seems key. Clinton pressing Meek to endorse Crist is interesting but not terribly surprising given the poll numbers. But if it's confirmed that Meek went so far as to agree to the deal before changing his mind, it's hard to see how Meek can be back out on the hustings tomorrow asking for votes.
Why does this all matter? The polls clearly show Marco Rubio set to win Tuesday, with Crist finishing second and Meek a distant third. Meek's withdrawal could throw enough votes to Crist for him to overtake Rubio and deny the Republicans a Senate seat.
--David Kurtz
RNC Chairman Michael Steele weighs in on the goings-on down in Florida:
"If we have learned anything this election cycle, it's that voters demand the right to choose candidates for themselves, not by a political establishment seeking to make those decisions from on high. President Clinton's actions to have Kendrick Meek withdraw from the campaign sends a chilling signal to all voters, but especially African Americans. One can only imagine the response if Republican leadership tried to force out of the race - in the 11th hour - a qualified black candidate like Kendrick Meek.
--David Kurtz
Ben Smith is reporting that on two separate occasions in recent days Bill Clinton had almost convinced Democrat Kendrick Meek to drop out of the Florida Senate race and endorse independent Charlie Crist. The Crist camp says that's true. The Meek camp is vehemently denying the report that on both occasions Meek initially agreed to the Clinton-brokered deal then backed out.
Late Update: The Kendrick Meek campaign just announced that Meek will hold a press conference at 9:30 p.m. ET outside his Miami Gardens office. Stay tuned ...
--David Kurtz
WWE to hand out free WWE merchandise at polling places across Connecticut on Election Day. Guess it was only a matter of time before the candidate's own company started giving away freebies to voters when they vote.
--David Kurtz
I guess we'll be making a bunch of additions to our Shadow Congress map pretty soon as Democrats cast out of office look for lobbying gigs.
--David Kurtz
Trailing by 20 points, Dem Senate candidate Fisher turns over his remaining campaign cash to state Dems' GOTV effort.
--Josh Marshall
Gingrich: Obama's secularist revolution is similar to Poland under communism.
--Josh Marshall
The right-wing stacked "US Commission on Civil Rights" has written off the illegal politicized hirings at the Bush DOJ as "ideological conflict," and blamed the press for not paying attention to purported politicization under the Obama administration.
In the old days we called it breaking the law; now it's "ideological conflict."
--Josh Marshall
We're under a week to go and we've just updated our numbers. So take a look at our snapshot of where the key races stand one week out. We've put together a slide show of the trend graphs, as of today, of all the key races. Take a look.
If you want to dig into the numbers yourself rather than take the guided tour, use the interactive map at TPMPolltracker to find any race in the country you want.
--Josh Marshall
You've heard all the doom and gloom for Democrats. For good reason. But as things stand now, the expected Democratic losses fall within the historic norms for a midterm election in a President's first term -- with the economy in the crapper. Brian Beutler gets the historical perspective.
--David Kurtz
Fox News sets up special email address: voterfraud@foxnews.com.
--David Kurtz
That whole "read the bill" nonsense from opponents of health care reform has backfired for GOP House candidate Jon Runyan.
The New Jersey Republican favors repeal of heath care reform but was forced to admit in a debate the other night with Rep. John Adler (D-NJ) that he himself hadn't read the bill.
Then he offered what you might call his "man on the street" test for supporting any bill: "If you're gonna pass a piece of legislation, you should be able to walk out on the street and hand it to the first person you see. They should be able to read and understand that."
--David Kurtz
I don't want to go too far on this seeming trend of Tea Partiers getting arrested for assaulting Dem protesters. What stands out to me though is how each one of these seems to be a nutshell symbolism of the boiled down essence -- the precipitate -- of blue and red state America, almost to a degree we wouldn't buy from a writer if we found it in a novel.
We've had two high-profile cases in the last couple weeks. And each time it's middle-aged or retired right wing white guy in violent encounter with early-twenty-something Dem woman with either cropped hair or more or less crunchy appearance.
Aqua Buddhist assaults young Dem woman activist. Cops need to step in to rein in the Aqua Buddhist.
No wonder the Tea Partiers have such a beef with state power.
--Josh Marshall
We're dialing in on the Senate races in Nevada, Colorado, West Virginia and Illinois. Those are the tightest ones. Here's what the polling in each of those races looks like, 5 days out:
--David Kurtz
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