Excellent work from CB8421 over at DKos, who has been painstakingly tracking the Presidential vote totals since Election Day, as many states continue to count and count and count. Here’s the latest summary:

Total votes: 130,222,663
Obama: 68,724,397
McCain: 59,599,875
Margin: 9,124,522
Percent margin: 7.00% (52.77% to 45.77%)

So what most people remember from election night is all those reports that the result was 52-47 or 52-48. The real margin is a full 7 points now, which adds up to more than 9.1 million votes in Obama’s favor.

As CD8421 notes, that’s a mandate.

posted at 10:18 AM by Sid the Fish
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Awesome:

posted at 9:15 AM by Sid the Fish
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Music to my ears:

Transition advisers to President-elect Barack Obama have compiled a list of about 200 Bush administration actions and executive orders that could be swiftly undone to reverse White House policies on climate change, stem cell research, reproductive rights and other issues, according to congressional Democrats, campaign aides and experts working with the transition team.

A team of four dozen advisers, working for months in virtual solitude, set out to identify regulatory and policy changes Obama could implement soon after his inauguration. The team is now consulting with liberal advocacy groups, Capitol Hill staffers and potential agency chiefs to prioritize those they regard as the most onerous or ideologically offensive, said a top transition official who was not permitted to speak on the record about the inner workings of the transition.

In some instances, Obama would be quickly delivering on promises he made during his two-year campaign, while in others he would be embracing Clinton-era policies upended by President Bush during his eight years in office.

"The kind of regulations they are looking at" are those imposed by Bush for "overtly political" reasons, in pursuit of what Democrats say was a partisan Republican agenda, said Dan Mendelson, a former associate administrator for health in the Clinton administration's Office of Management and Budget. The list of executive orders targeted by Obama's team could well get longer in the coming days, as Bush's appointees rush to enact a number of last-minute policies in an effort to extend his legacy.

Oh, and please impound all the hard drives as evidence on Day 1. Kthxbai.

posted at 9:40 PM by Sid the Fish
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posted at 12:09 PM by Sid the Fish
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Statement out from Sen. Reid ...

Today Senator Lieberman and I had the first of what I expect to be several conversations. No decisions have been made. While I understand that Senator Lieberman has voted with Democrats a majority of the time, his comments and actions have raised serious concerns among many in our caucus. I expect there to be additional discussions in the days to come, and Senator Lieberman and I will speak to our caucus in two weeks to discuss further steps…

Hang a big red R around his neck and shove him out the door, Harry.

Damn, what a tool:

A commenter at FDL advises Reid, “It’s time to ‘settle all the family business.’”

(via TPM)

posted at 1:43 PM by Sid the Fish
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Can we foreclose on the White House? The current occupant hasn’t been living up to the terms of his agreement.

posted at 10:04 AM by Sid the Fish
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Awesome:

posted at 3:21 PM by Sid the Fish
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Being President of the United States is kind of like being a community organizer, only with real responsibilities and 300 million people in your “community.”

Suck on that, Sarah and Rudy.

posted at 12:15 PM by Sid the Fish
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posted at 10:15 AM by Sid the Fish
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Wow. The day before the election, and John McCain is drawing crowds that can practically be counted by hand. From the St. Petersburg Times Florida Politics Blog a few minutes ago:

Tampa McCain rally: Where is everybody?

About 30 minutes before John McCain is scheduled to lead a rally outside Raymond James Stadium, looks like there's maybe 1,000 people here. What's up with that? On the day before the election? Bush drew at least 15,000 people to a rally just across the street on the Sunday before the 2004 election.

"We are the quiet majority that goes out and gets things done. ... I smell victory,'' said state Rep. Kevin Ambler. Good thing he smells it, because it's hard to see it with this crowd.

And a half-hour later:

"If you can't round up 1,500 people the day before the election, you've got a serious problem. From an organizational standpoint, they've done a terrible job. ... It could be a long, ugly night tomorrow." --- Republican consultant Chris Ingram of Tampa.

Let’s hope it’s a short night, actually. I’m thinking a concession speech maybe around 8:04PM Arizona time?

(via)

posted at 10:01 AM by Sid the Fish
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In a 1954 letter to his brother, Edgar Newton Eisenhower, President Dwight D. Eisenhower wrote:

Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things. Among them are H. L. Hunt (you possibly know his background), a few other Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or business man from other areas.

Their number is negligible and they are stupid.

That last line kinda rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it?

(via Open Left)

posted at 6:40 PM by Sid the Fish
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History lesson:

A little patience, and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their spells dissolve, and the people, recovering their true sight, restore their government to its true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are suffering deeply in spirit, and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public debt......If the game runs sometimes against us at home we must have patience till luck turns, and then we shall have an opportunity of winning back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are at stake.

-- Thomas Jefferson, from a letter he sent in 1798 after the passage of the Sedition Act

A little patience indeed…

(originally posted here November 9, 2004, in the wake of that squeaker of an election, and oh man does that seem like an eternity ago)

posted at 1:34 PM by Sid the Fish
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