More numbers in at 11:00pm PDT (now 66%), with just a slight uptick for Busby:

FRANCINE BUSBY       45963       43.28%

BRIAN P. BILBRAY       16268       15.32%

ERIC ROACH       15197       14.31%

Update [2006-4-12 1:38:33 by sdf]:

At 10:30 PDT, with 22% tallied, they are relatively steady at:

FRANCINE BUSBY       33399       42.88%

BRIAN P. BILBRAY       11826       15.18%

ERIC ROACH       10848       13.93%

(Original post follows)

Results are beginning to stream in from the special election in California's 50th District to replace disgraced Republican criminal congressman Duke Cunningham.  (We should have a special script key for the phrase "disgraced Republican criminal congressman.")

Democrat Fran Busby has led in polls in this heavily Republican district, but in this heavily contested special election (with 18 candidates in the contest) a majority is needed to avoid a runoff scheduled for June 6th.  (See Chris Bowers's earlier thorough rundown for more details.)

As of 10:05 PDT, with 7% tallied, the results are

FRANCINE BUSBY (D)       29037       42.19%
BRIAN P. BILBRAY (R)       10043       14.59%
ERIC ROACH (R)       9652       14.02%

With everyone else below 10%

More updates will hopefully follow.

-- Stu

I feel that the Democratic Party must become a party of principle if we are to win again and build a permanent majority so that Bush and his minions can never take power again. This means that we should vote for the candidate who is the best person on the issues, who plays by the rules, who campaigns actively, and who will listen to people.

Whatever our approach to dealing with the Hamas government, we have to start from this beginning: they were democratically elected.

So it has been extremely encouraging to this observer how well the Democrats seem to be doing in sticking with the "Culture of Corruption" theme in this election year.   (John Kerry's remarks on This Week are the latest example.)  The Democratic Party even has an entire (well-designed) page on their website about it.   Unlike most of the GOP's truthy lies, it is based on fundamental truths, and if repeated enough, it might be that rarest of beasts, both true and truthy.

As the San Francisco Chronicle notes:

But even the ever-optimistic Schwarzenegger will be unable to sugarcoat the disappointing election results, which show he had lost the overwhelming voter support he had just last year.

"This must be the worst defeat the governor has ever had,'' said Kevin Spillane, a GOP consultant. "It's not like having a movie that underperforms. This is going to be page one in every paper in California.

"Now, we have to see how he deals with defeat.''

Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected governor of California as a gimmick, to replace an uncharismatic, uncommunicative centrist Democratic governor who had been unable to deflect the blame for a myriad of state problems.  The recall campaign provided an opportunity for a grinning faux populist like Arnold to bamboozle enough Democratic voters in the context of an extremely condensed, extremely high profile campaign.

But now the good voters of California have awakened from their night out, and they have seen just who they decided to bring home.  And they want out.

Start practicing the phrase, "You lost. Get over it," with which to taunt Republican trolls and bloggers.

Democrats swept both governors' races Tuesday, with Sen. Jon Corzine easily winning New Jersey and Lt. Gov. Tim Kaine taking Virginia despite a last-minute campaign push for his opponent from President Bush.

In Texas, voters overwhelmingly approved a constitutional ban on gay marriage, while Republican Mayor Mike Bloomberg surged ahead in his bid for a second term in heavily Democratic New York. Voters also picked mayors in Detroit, Houston, San Diego and Boston.

Kaine had 860,719 votes, or 51 percent, to Kilgore's 789,273 votes, or 46.8 percent, with 88 percent of precincts reporting.

In New Jersey, Democratic Sen. Jon Corzine trounced Doug Forrester, pulling in 54 percent of the vote to the Republican's 42.8 percent, with 55 percent of precincts counted. Corzine had 605,915 votes, and Forrester had 480,477.

Polls are just about to close here in CA, where hopefully we have defeated most if not all of Little Arnie's boondoggle referenda.

Tell us about your local elections here as well.

Many people become aghast at the mere mention of voting along party lines. "How could you?" "Why don't you think for yourself!" blah, blah, blah. I encourage these people to first take a deep breath and second to think deeply about how American government works. For clarity, ask yourself this one question, "Does your view on most issues tend to (more often than not) a) follow the Democratic line b) follow the Republican line c) be evenly mixed between the Democratic and Republican line, or d) lie completely outside the Democratic or Republican lines?"

If your answer is either a) or b), then your best strategy for the long-term promotion of your positions is to always vote along party lines. This is why:

The Democratic Party has links to help out in today's gubernatorial elections in New Jersey and Virginia. Here's a brief guide to what the stakes (and expectations) are.