US Senate races **live commentary thread**

[politicallefty]

I am sorry about Berkley. I didn't predict her to win, but I would have gladly taken a loss to get an extra Senate seat. That said, that appears like it might have happened with North Dakota. Despite my official prediction, I think Heitkamp has won. It's at a 3000-vote margin with 100% of the vote in. I'm not sure why it hasn't been called yet. That's really impressive in my eyes, especially when you look at the lopsided margin in the presidential race. A quick look at the map makes it seem like Tester may hold on as well. Missoula isn't in yet and I'm fairly certain that is where Tester should do quite well. I think we may be looking at a 55-45 Senate right now, which is the upper max I thought may happen (although not particularly likely).

I also want to say that I'm incredibly impressed with Senator McCaskill, who has won by a 55-39 landslide. Most of the pollsters completely botched this race, other than SUSA which has appeared to have nailed it with a 15% margin. (That's somewhat odd since most pollsters at least had Missouri within the margin-of-error in the final result in the presidential race.)

This really is a big night for Senate Democrats. And, as Democrats, we should be proud of our new in-coming Senators. If Heitkamp wins, there will be a record 20 women in the Senate. Personally, I most look forward to Baldwin and Warren. I think they'll make fantastic Senators and I think Warren is a rare person worthy of filling the shoes of the late Senator Kennedy. I believe he would be proud. Though I don't want to demean her victory in any way, I think Baldwin's victory is vengeance for Russ Feingold's defeat in 2010. I really am very happy if the Senate turns out this way. It's more than I had imagined.

[Mister Twister]

SOOO close to taking out Bachmann. F***!

[Tender Branson]

Scott Brown got voted out with a 60% favorable rating ...

[Mister Twister]

Democrats did very good in the senate. Republicans really blew it this cycle in the Senate

Democrats had a disappointing night in the House though. Though, to be fair, they were at a structural disadvantage here

[politicallefty]

SOOO close to taking out Bachmann. F***!

That is disappointing, but it looks we took down West! That's freakin' awesome.

That's also not to mention how successful the Illinois Democratic gerrymander was, including the defeat of the odious Joe Walsh. Democrats can be proud of Congresswoman-elect Tammy Duckworth.

[Antonio the Sixth]

The election night in the Senate has been wonderful on so many levels.

Tammy erased Thompson! I didn't expect such a wide margin. Balwin really made history yesterday and will be a fantastic Senator.

Warren erased Brown! A pretty solid win, and Ted Kennedy's seat is back in progressive hands.

Akin got annihilated, didn't even break 40%! I really feared this race could be close, and I must say Missourians impressed me yesterday. Of course, in a fair world, McCaskill would have won by 90+ points, but, this being Missouri, we can definitely rejoice. Utter stupidity and reactionary ideas sometimes hurt you big.

Richard "gift of God" Mourdock and George "Macaca" Allen also went down. Hopefully this will teach something to Republicans.

And Nate has even been proven wrong in MT and ND! Suck it, "State fundamentals". Tester's win is pretty impressive and I'm glad to see the conventional idea that he was an underdog finally debunked. Heitkamp's win is even more amazing: I had almost given up on her chances. She deserves the title of the most relentless campaigner of this cycle, and proved that democrats can still win in deep red States.

I'm a bit disappointed at Nevada. Part of me was convinced that the Dem machine was going to show up in full force and produce its usual miracle. It almost did, considering Berkeley was 4-5 points behind in polls and eventually came within 1 point - but it wasn't quite the 8-point upset that 2010 was. Still, let's measure this, people: A honest, well-liked Republican incumbent almost got kicked out by an unpopular, dull and allegedly corrupt Democratic challenger. This in in itself is pretty impressive, and announces new victories to come. This might be the last time a Republican wins a federal contest there. Still a shame we weren't able to field a better candidate there. But if I had to choose between Heitkamp and Berkeley, I'm pretty glad things went this way and not the opposite.

So, that's it: Dem+2! Just imagine, who could have predicted that a year ago? Most dems were desperate about keeping the Senate, and in the end we held our ground everywhere except in Nebraska! Massachusetts went back home and kicked out the guy who was considered as the symbol of Obama's fall from grace in 2009. And the Tea Party madness cost Republicans two more seats: directly in Indiana (I'm sure Lugar is laughing), and indirectly in Maine. So yeah, a combination of good picks for us and Republicans shooting themselves in the foot produced this wonder.

And this means we could hold on even in 2014! Depending on what the national circumstances are, limiting the losses to 5 seats should be feasible, with some luck and some skill. That class is far from being as overwhelmingly Democrat as this one was. Let's cross fingers!