When you examine the data, there is only one word that accurately describes the midterm results.  The word is MANDATE.  When you look at the turnovers at the federal and state level, it wasn't even close.  Republicans got ZERO. Zip. Nada. Zilch. Nuthin. Not.A.Single.One.

55% of Americans voted against Republicans running for Congress.
59% of Americans voted against Republicans in Senate contests.
62% of Americans voted against Republicans running for governor.

Adding insult to injury, Independents broke 3 to 2 for Democratic candidates.

This thumping will leave a mark.   Bush might have avoided Icarus' fate if he had spent more time in the reality-based world.  The Decider Icarus can make all the noise he wants about bi-partisan intentions.    No one is listening.   Here's the beauty of this victory: Armed with a popular mandate that spans the nation, our job is simple.  We have to keep the Corrupt Bastards grounded in  reality.   Below the fold are a few suggestions that should help put cement shoes on the neo-cons, their apologists, shills, and cronies.

Online wagering powerhouse, Tradesports.com, is predicting that Democrats take the Senate -- sort of. Read on for an explanation.

Below are the battleground Senate races with the % chance (as determined by the trading activity at Tradesports.com) of the listed party winning that race. (Note, these are not scientific polls and are provided purely for entertainment purposes.)

As of 2:15 PM EST, Tradesports is predicting Dem pickups in PA, OH, VA, MO, MT, and RI with NO GOP Pickups. That would give Democrats control of the Senate. Ironically, the same site is giving a GOP controlled senate a nearly 70% likelihood. The difference likely reflects the idea that, though even if the percent chance given to each individual race is accurate, the probability of ALL of those taking place as predicted is far lower. Thus, the prediction for the Senate at large going to the Democrats is less than the individual race predictions would suggest.

That said, I still think the two sets of data are not entirely in synch, but whatever, this is just for fun anyway.

Just as Republicans were preparing their talking points to tout a tightening of the so-called 'generic ballot' (a poll that aims to determine the electorates' general preference for party control), along comes a spider.

Over the weekend, the GOP was smiling about polls from Pew and ABC that showed a Democratic lead over the Republicans of only 4% and 6% respectively - But that picture has changed dramatically.

From Politicalwire:

• The latest Fox News poll gives Democrats an edge on the generic congressional ballot, where they lead Republicans, 49 percent to 36 percent. The survey also showed Democrats were more excited about the elections, and more motivated to vote, than their Republican counterparts. "More Democrats (37% ) than Republicans (26%) say they are extremely interested in tomorrow's elections, and more Democrats (89%) than Republicans (81%) say they plan to vote for their party's candidate in their district."

• CNN's final national poll before the elections shows President Bush's approval rating dipping to 35 percent and Democrats leading Republicans on the generic congressional ballot, 58 percent to 38 percent.

The average of these two polls gives Democrats a massive 16.5 point advantage over Republicans with just hours until the voting booths open.

VOTE!!!

In the final throes of Republican power, the President has simply given up. He could have been campaigning for Allen in VA, Corker in TN, Burns in MT, Chaffee in RI or even Kyl in AZ, but instead, President Bush decided to spend the bulk of the final day before the critical midterms stumping for... wait for it...

...Katharine Harris!

That's right. Harris -- his savior in 2000 has turned into one of the GOP's many Achilles heels in 2006, but Bush is there for her even though she has not one chance in Hell of defeating her opponent, incumbent Democrat Bill Nelson (who she trails by 25-30 points depending on which polls you follow).

Ironically, the appearance is one that suggests President Bush is a man who has simply given up on the people that have supported him over the past six years - something that cannot feel too warm and fuzzy to those considering a vote for their local Republican candidate.

Democrat Jim Webb has taken an eight point lead over Republican George Allen in the final poll of the 2006 campaign for U.S. Senate in Virginia.

The poll, conducted by SurveyUSA, shows Webb with 52% of the likely voters, with 44% going to Allen. The five prior SurveyUSA tracking polls showed the race in a virtual dead heat -- with Allen slightly ahead.

With consensus wisdom already handing the House to the Democrats, polls are still indicating that a Senate pickup for the Democrats is a totally reasonable outcome of tomorrow's elections.

At a glance, the polls below (coupled with the historical tendency of 1) undecideds tend to break for the challenger, and 2) an incumbent held under 50% in the polls is in serious trouble) suggest:

Democrats Safe: Connecticut, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania

Democrat Lean: Missouri

Toss-Up: Maryland, Rhode Island, Virginia

Republican Safe: Tennessee

In an anti-Bush, anti-Iraq, anti-Republican, anti-incumbent election cycle -- like this one is, the Toss-ups are truly the challengers to lose.

Look for a Democratic Senate come January 2007.

As you peruse the polls below, you might notice that many of the races are statistically too close to call. That means two factors will take over in the final hours:

1) GOTV efforts which have been highly touted on both sides of the aisle.

2) Voter enthusiasm. Who will be more likely to turn their opinions into actual voting. Democrats or Republicans?

Connecticut: Lieberman will take this one, holding large leads over challenger Ned Lamont. Independent Lieberman will caucus with the Democrats.

On election eve 2006, The USA Today is highlighting the parallels between Democrats in 2006 with the Republicans in 1994 - a year when Republicans seized control of the house with a massive pickup in seats.

They site a new Gallup poll that finds:

• Then, likely voters by 51%-44% favored GOP congressional candidates. Now, 51%-44% favor Democratic ones.

• Then, disapproval of Congress was at 66%. Now, disapproval of Congress is at 70%."

• Then, 52% said they were paying "quite a lot" of attention to the elections, the highest since the Gallup Poll began asking the question in 1958. Now, 50% say they are paying "quite a lot" of attention.

• Six of 10 Americans say they are dissatisfied with the way things are going in the country.

• By 2-1 they say national issues, not local and state ones, are determining their vote.

• And on the dominant national issue, 56% call the decision to invade Iraq a mistake.

• 36% of likely voters say that are casting a ballot for a candidate to send a message that they oppose Bush; 20% to send a message that they support him.

• By 40%-33%, likely voters in the USA TODAY Poll say the country would be better off if Democrats, not Republicans, controlled Congress.

This election is about Bush and Iraq. Either you're for Bush's handling of Iraq, or you're against it.

We knew this time would come. And though there will inevitably be those of you who cringe at the thought of a Democrat actually EXPECTING to win an election AND doing it in a BIG way AND being outspoken about it BEFORE the election takes place, I stand my ground.

And to those people, I say take a deep look inside. You know I'm right. Sure, your fear of loss will disallow you from admitting it -- perhaps even to yourself, but you know deep down inside that the GOP has seen its final days.

You know.

It's time to let the anachronistic pile of dung that is neoconservatism die a rapid but excruciatingly painful death.

It's time to abolish the anti-American, slime-sucking, low-balling, shrill-shrieking troglodytes from making critical life and death decisions for our families.

Yes, it's time to say riddance (and not even 'good' riddance) to the Republican Party.

You know the only thing that matters now is turnout, and if you think that's going to favor the Republicans, think again.

In a cycle like this, Rove's 72 hour plan  will be a TOTAL WASHOUT..

The fact is that Democrats are FIRED UP!!!

While conservatives are totally demoralized.

Let's take a look...

In an era of White House government secrecy not seen since the paranoia of Richard Nixon swept across our great nation, it is particularly disturbing to see one of our local officials denying his constituency insight on his positions -- from stem cell research to rocketing property taxes.

NY State Senator Stephen Saland is the official at issue -- a seeming opaque and obsessively defensive legislator from the 41st district.

In an extensive search for information regarding Senator Saland's positions, I accidentally found more information about Dick Cheney's secret energy task force than I did about Senator Saland's positions on just about any issue.

Ironically, one thing I was able to find was an explanation of why I couldn't find any meaningful information about the Senator.

Tired of hearing about so much corruption in the contracts handed out for Iraq reconstruction, the Republicans once again used a tried and true technique - kill the messenger. What's this got to do with Diblert?

First the news: Investigations led by a Republican lawyer named Stuart Bowen Jr. in Iraq have sent American occupation officials to jail on bribery and conspiracy charges, exposed disastrously poor construction work by well-connected companies like Halliburton and Parsons, and discovered that the military did not properly track hundreds of thousands of weapons it shipped to Iraqi security forces.

The American Association for Retired Persons (AARP), America's largest Seniors advocacy group, was dismissed by NY State Senator Stephen Saland by refusing to share with them, his positions on relevant issues.

Some suggest that incumbent Saland's 'seniors snub' was a defensive move to conceal his anti-seniors actions in the Senate. As a part of the Senate Republican majority, Saland blocked legislation for NY State drug bulk buying and other bills that would have lowered drug and healthcare costs.

Saland's challenger for NY's 41st District, Democrat Brian Keeler, found this an opportunity to highlight the differences between his support for America's seniors and Saland's pandering to corporate interests at the expense of his constituency.

Thus, Since Saland snubbed the AARP's request for information, we can provide only the respective policies and ideals of Democrat Brian Keeler below.

As polls continue to roll in just 5 days to the most important election of the last 50 years, one thing is clear: Democrats are positioned to destroy Republican majorities in both the House of Representatives AND the Senate.

Connecticut

Quinnipiac University - 926 likely voters 10/24-30

Joe Lieberman (Would vote with Dems for Senate Leadership) ~ 49%
Ned Lamont (D) ~ 37%
Alan Schlesinger (R) at 8%.

Rasmussen - 500 likely voters

Lieberman ~48%
Lamont ~ 40%

---

Maryland

Zogby Interactive online

Rep. Ben Cardin (D) ~ 52.8%
Lt. Gov. Michael Steele (R) ~ 43.5%

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Michigan

Zogby Interactive online

Debbie Stabenow ~ 49.3%
Mike Bouchard ~ 41.9%

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Minnesota

St. Cloud State University - 494 likely voters - 10/15-27

Amy Klobuchar (D) ~ 56%
Rep. Mark Kennedy (R) ~ 31%.

---

Missouri

SurveyUSA - 10/31

Claire McCaskill (D) - 49%
Sen. Jim Talent (R) - 43%.

---

Pennsylvania

Quinnipiac University - 933 likely voters 10/23-29

Bob Casey Jr. (D) ~ 52%
Sen. Rick Santorum (R) 42%

Keystone Poll  - 626 registered voters - 10/25-29

Casey (D) ~ 53%
Santorum (R) ~ 38%

Zogby Interactive online poll

Casey (D) ~ 52.7%
Santorum (R) ~ 43.8%

Given that the 'undecideds' tend to break for the challenger, CW suggests that non-incumbent strength like that seen in these polls and others so close to the election means that the GOP is in for a rout.

Everyone's talking about the newest Republican scandal unfolding in Nevada, but in case you haven't had the time to think much about it, I'd like to highlight the following...

First, this NEW scandal will refocus the national spotlight back to the seemingly infinite stream of Republican improprieties giving one final push to the image of the corrupt Republican party - just in case it was slipping anyone's mind.

Second, this will clearly shift momentum from Gibbons to his Democratic challenger for Nevada Governor, Dina Titus.

Already, Titus is fighting the good fight but trailing Gibbons by about 6 points.

The average of the last 5 non-partisan polls looks like this:

Jim Gibbons (R) 47
Dina Titus (D) 41

Expect this latest episode of Republican greed, self-entitlement, and hypocrisy to induce a HUGE swing in favor of Titus -- yet another Governorship in the Democrat's column.

Also to be considered is the battle between Jill Derby (D) and Dean Heller (R) for Nevada's 2nd congressional district -- the one being vacated by Gibbons.

The only two non-partisan polls conducted show a close race.

Mason-Dixon - 9/19-21/06

Jill Derby (D) ~ 42
Dean Heller (R) ~ 45

Research 2000 - 9/5-7/06

Jill Derby (D) ~ 37
Dean Heller (R) ~ 45

With the high-profile Republican incumbent crashing and burning in scandal, there is a high likelihood that there will be some negative energy weighing on his would-be Republican successor. It may only be for a few points but in a race this tight, a few points are all you need.

Also note that it's too late to take Gibbons name off the ballot, so if this continues in the direction that I think it will, that will mean Jim Gibbons' name will be sitting at the top of the ballot reminding the good voters of Nevada of the scandal, corruption, dishonesty, criminality, perversion, and hypocrisy that the GOP has wrought upon this land.

It will be a fine reminder that it's time for a change.

Jim Gibbons is the Republican Representative from Nevada's 2nd District as well as the GOP's candidate for the state's governorship.

His wife, Dawn Gibbons, was running for the congressional seat he's leaving vacant -- that is, until she was soundly defeated in the Republican primary.

Both have long been known as being 'tough on illegal immigration', but now the Gibbons are being taken down by their own former employee -- an illegal immigrant from Peru.

Patricia Pastor Sandoval worked for Jim and his wife Dawn for several years, starting in 1987. During that time, Sandoval claims the Gibbons knew of her illegal status and took pains to cover it up, occasionally requiring her to hide in the basement to conceal her illegal status. To boot, the Gibbons family dismissed US laws by:

• paying Sandoval only $4 per hour, less than the $5.15 per hour federal minimum wage

• knowingly employing an undocumented alien

• paying her 'under the table'

• and failing to pay employer taxes.

So what one thing would get you out of Bush's military?  Why, the Republican-protected Pay Day Loan Industry.

Thousands of U.S. troops are being barred from overseas duty because they are so deep in debt they are considered security risks, according to an Associated Press review of military records.

On the most ridiculous grounds imaginable, Republicans have decided that being in debt is such a threat that you can't serve.  Do they really believe that Iraqis are going to be sneaking up to American soldiers, offering them bundles of dinars for information?  The idea is ludicrous.

But there's one thing for sure: Republicans wouldn't want someone who owed their buddies in the payday loan business over in Iraq where they might get hurt.  Much better to keep them home where they can pay off that triple digit interest.