The day of the election, TX-22 went to “toss-up” on the NYT’s web site. Hardly helpful. No fears, though: Lampson decimated Sekula-Gibbs. Honestly, I’m shocked Dems took the Senate, though I’m hardly going to complain. I don’t know how much the Foley thing helped that out, but I didn’t think it possible two months ago. While this is certainly a good thing in terms of a fresh perspective, the fact that Bush is being a dipstick already is not helpful. In a press conference, he stated that he had shaken up the leadership in the Pentagon, and since they were now the majority party, it was the responsibility of the Democrats to implement an effective Iraq policy. Wtflip! Nice way to try and squirm out of that one, George. It surprises me that he adamantly states that he thought the GOP would hold Congress. Yes, he’s a relentlessly optimistic, but Jesus Christ, you can’t say that you didn’t see your party losing 28 seats. That’s not even close, like 2 seats. Twenty-eight seats (which, for the record, is not equivalent to 30). The Senate he’s allowed to feel stunned about because, hell, even I can’t quite believe it–and Allen’s conceded and everything at this point. God only knows what the next two years will bring, but it’ll at least be new mistakes and not the same ones over and over.

I was just thinking this morning how absolutely NOTHING has been happening in Texas, save the Democrats still being favored to win TX-22. But, no worries, leave it to Tom Delay, folks:

Tom DeLay’s Candidate Quicksteps Out of ‘Dancing’

Tom DeLay’s efforts to seize control of the voting on ABC’s hit reality series “Dancing With the Stars” came crashing down this week when his candidate, country crooner Sara Evans, abruptly quit the show and filed for divorce….

Shortly before the show debuted, DeLay sent out a blast e-mail, asking his supporters to vote for Evans on the dancing competition series because she had been a strong supporter of the Republican Party and “represents good American values in the media” while “ultra liberal talk show host Jerry Springer” does not.

(Source: Washington Post, 10/14/06)

Are you KIDDING me! Have you nothing better to do than to campaign for a stupid TV show!?! I guess that makes some degree of sense, since he sure as hell can’t help campaign for Sekula-Gibbs…

Of course, I meant to post about this over the weekend, but, what can I say, I’m a college kid. Retention span of a goldfish. In any event, it seems our two favorite parties have started flinging crap back and forth again in court. It seems like they’ve realized that direct attacks on the other’s choice of car upholstery color isn’t quite as effective as drawing in the federal court system:

Texas Democrats File Suit Against Voting Fraud Law

HOUSTON, Sept. 22 — In the latest of the nation’s skirmishes over voting rights, Texas Democrats have sued two top Republican state officials over an antifraud law that the suit says is being used to intimidate minority voters casting ballots by mail.

(Source: NY Times, 9/22/06)

Hmmmm. To me, making mail balloting seem so imposing almost seems like it hurts the Republicans more than you’d think. In my district (22), the only way to cast a vote in the Republican candidate’s favor is via write-in: i.e. mailing it in. The article goes on to say that the GOP are purportedly going after people more apt to vote Democrat (surprise?), but all the same–is it really wise to get this crap into the limelight about six weeks before the election? There are really two ways to view this, in the end:

1. Extremely Stupid: Republicans have shot themselves in the foot by calling the public’s attention to the fallacies of write-in balloting. If they expect to win District 22 at all–remember that the Republicans have no one on the formal election day ballot due to DeLay’s crap, meaning that they MUST wage a write-in campaign to keep the seat from turning Democrat–pointing out the possibility of someone’s vote getting lost in the mail due to partisan crap, my guess would be that not many will do so. The write-in process is complicated enough for the “average American,” so pointing out that all that effort to get the ballot and complete it correctly all for naught is slightly moronic.
2. Roveian Genius: By filing this suit, Democrats are taking a gamble. They have now brought the whole mailing-the-ballot thing out of the closet, which is a huge break for the Republicans. Even though this case is about falsifying the ballots, any press is good press for the Republicans. Believe me when I say that they’ve been stumping the whole “write in” thing in their cute, GOP way. As far as I know, they’ve yet to hand out stuffed elephants with a suitable slogan emblazoned on a 100-percent-cotton-made-in-America mini-elephant t-shirt, but it wouldn’t surprise me. The front page of Sekula-Gibbs’s webpage is all about how to write-in, and all her election paraphernalia has “write in” all over it. The people in the district, therefore, have been made *somewhat* aware. Frickin getting an article published in the Times is akin to shooting up a frickin HUGE red distress flare when you’re trying to ambush someone—the genie’s out of the bottle (note the metaphor, for those who are metaphorically challenged) in a big way. Not only is that entire constituency now aware of the write-in ballot, but so is the rest of Texas…and the rest of the country as well. The added publicity might just be what the Republicans need to mount a serious campaign to keep the seat. Congrats to the Democrats for aiding and abetting the enemy competition.

I’d like to end with this amusing paragraph from the article (for the record, I do not condone window surfing):

One plaintiff, Gloria Meeks, a 69-year-old Fort Worth woman who said she was being investigated for helping elderly and disabled voters cast ballots, provided a sworn statement saying two state investigators “peeped into my bathroom window not once but twice while I was in my bathroom drying off from my bath.”

What, were they expecting a smoke-filled bathroom with ballots piled sky high?