David Carrier, who mounted a vigorous campaign against incumbent Sen. Don Benton, R-Vancouver, has conceded the race this evening as today’s totals show Benton with a lead of roughly 51%-49%. In a news release Carrier urged citizens to be vigilant.

We can’t afford to sit back while Senator Benton blocks legislative solutions that will improve our lives and the lives of our children. We can’t allow him to miss legislative sessions, committee meetings, and important votes. We can’t allow him to blow off meetings with constituents. We can’t let him get away with false allegations and deceptive campaign tactics. The people of the 17th Legislative District deserve better, and must hold him accountable.

Doesn’t sound like Carrier’s going to fade away quietly to me.

Carrier’s run was an impressive showing by a novice candidate running against one of the best funded Republican incumbents in the state. Here’s hoping Carrier decides to run for office again at some point, be it in the 17th LD or for some other position.

From Editor and Publisher yesterday:

The American Press Institute (API) will host an invitation-only, closed-door “summit conference” Nov. 13 in which 50 CEO-level executives will ponder ways to revive the newspaper business.

The one-day conference at API’s Reston, Va., headquarters will be “a facilitated discussion of concrete steps the industry can take to reverse its declines in revenue, profit and shareholder value.”

And here’s Robert MacMillan of Reuters writing about the closed door policy at the crisis summit in a post today:

Many sources whom we deal with in the media world — particularly reporters, editors and other members of the editorial staff — find it funny that the industry they’re in (finding and reporting information, truthsquadding the government, holding the powerful accountable, etc. etc.) relies on publishers and other executives who are among the most press-averse people in the business world. Some executives talk. But many others hide, and only come out once a quarter to share some more bad news.

Maybe reporters should try publishing false accounts of their owners’ educational backgrounds, that might shake things up a bit. We’ll call it the Heffter-Pickler Reporting Method.

In order to overreach, you have to be reaching in the first place.

As the GOP faces day two of 40 years in the desert, the stories about what they should do are coming fast and furious, both nationally and locally.

The Columbian quotes Clark County Republican chair Ryan Hart thusly:

“I think that this is still a center-right country,” Hart said. “We have a message that reflects the majority of the electorate. … We just need to find candidates that can clearly articulate that message.”

To be clear, I’m not trying to mess with Hart, who has conducted himself as the Republican chair here with aplomb and decency. And what he’s saying is pretty common.

[Read more…]

In Clark County’s 17th District, state Senator Don Benton, R-Vancouver, has pulled narrowly ahead of challenger David Carrier in today’s count. Benton leads 50.22% to Carrier’s 49.67%. It’s a margin of 269 votes. Carrier had led by about 150 votes on election night.

Unfortunately for Carrier, for whatever reason, as the counting goes on Republican totals always seem to improve. It’s not over until it’s over, and a mandatory recount certainly seems possible, but obviously today’s count would seem to bode well for Benton’s chances.

(See the last sentence of this post.)

Rummaging through the CNN exit poll results for the gubernatorial race, which starts here, some folks might be interested how many of those vaunted Obama-Rossi voters there really were. (It’s on page three.) In this poll, the answer is 14% of Obama voters supported Rossi. Six percent of McCain voters supported Gregoire.

So now you know.

Late word as I’m writing this post–AP is reporting Rossi will concede at 11:30 AM.

UPDATE (-GOLDY):
No word yet on whether Rossi plans to concede the 2004 election or 2008.

As Republicans survey the smoldering wreckage of the party of Lincoln and the inevitable reassessment occurs, here’s some free advice for them: stop lying about everything.

I don’t mean spinning and fudging and trying to put a good face on your policy positions. I mean stop lying as a first, middle and last resort about every last damn thing under the sun.

If you think a specific tax proposal is a bad idea, just explain why, don’t paint anyone and everything who might think it is a good idea as a communist. Don’t call birth control abortion. Don’t paint opponents as lovers of sex offenders. If your opposition is pointing out that the Constitution needs to be upheld, don’t call them terrorist sympathizers. If Americans are concerned about the economy, don’t try to blame people who were in office 30 years ago.

Stop lying. If you can. If you can’t, you will never come back as a meaningful political party.

Hmm, it seems Darcy Burner is ahead of incumbent Republican Dave Reichert 53.13% to 46.87% as of 10:31 pm.

Burner leads in the “fake America” King County portion of the district, while Reichert holds a lead in the smaller but much more “real America” Pierce County portion.

So at 10:20 pm, the official Secretary of State election web site has Gov. Chris Gregoire ahead of challenger Dino Rossi by 51.75% to 48.25%. You can track things at the vote.wa.gov website yourself if you wish.

I’ve just returned from the Democratic Party ballroom at the Vancouver Hilton, a festive and at times weepy scene. The crowd roared when Obama was declared the winner, and watched his speech with rapt attention. People I didn’t know were hugging me.

One kind of strange thing was that the Republicans were in a nearby ballroom, and I noticed several police officers standing in the corridor in between. Fortunately I saw no signs of Republican depravity that would necessitate police involvement.

A couple of 17th LD Legislative races in Clark County bear mentioning. In the race to succeed disgraced Republican Jim Dunn, R-Vancouver, who was stripped of his committee assignments by Republican leadership after making a denigrating remark to a staffer, Democrat Tim Probst is cruising to an easy victory with nearly 57% of the vote. So add one for Frank Chopp’s uber-majority.

In a nail-biter, Democratic challenger David Carrier is ahead of incumbent Republican state senator Don Benton by a scant 50.11% to 49.78%. That’s a tough lead to hold on to if the daily totals break for Republicans, as they tend to do, but Carrier is still in contention and is to be commended as a newcomer for his fine effort. It’s not over and I sure hope Carrier hangs on somehow.

Brian Baird BFF Chris Shays loses to new and better Democrat Jim Himes.

No more “bi-partisan” trips to Iraq.

Sad.

Bill Bennett says Howard Dean was correct about the 50 state strategy.

Hey.

Looks like turnout is heavy in Clark County. Which was already known because of mail in voting, but it sounds like people are coming out in large numbers to do things like get ballots because they have moved. From The Columbian:

“There were people showing up before 7,” said Elinor Perlich, an election worker manning a drop-box at Image Elementary School in northeast Vancouver.

Many of the 33 drop-box locations reported having to empty ballot boxes into plastic totes, filled with hundreds of ballots coming in on Election Day. Many voters who have moved since the last election headed to the Elections Office at 1408 Franklin St. to pick up fresh ballots.

“Our line’s getting longer and longer here,” county elections Supervisor Tim Likness said shortly before noon.

Not quite the same as standing in line to vote, but clearly the enthusiasm is there. The weather down here has been chilly but while doing errands for part of the day I never got rained on.

Graphic says Jimmy Smits wins Hartsfield’s Landing by a 15-6 margin. First Democratic win since the Hump in ’68.

Toby still working hard. Donna and Josh stuck at maple syrup farm.

UPDATE–Apparently Jimmy Smits is an actor and there is no Hartsfield’s Landing. But TPM was watching CNN as well.

This is a weird story in the P-I. If everything turns out pretty much like 2004, and not as many people vote in the Puget Sound region as elsewhere, Rossi will indeed win. Or whatever the point was.

I’m not saying the story should not have been written, it’s just kind of odd to speculate and then use the word “analysis” about what might happen based on how many ballots have already come back in vote by mail counties. It would have been more straightforward to just discuss the likely turnout in different counties while noting briefly who won those counties in 2004.

If you go to say, Pollster.com and gaze at polls in the Washington gubernatorial race long enough, you might conclude that the race is a statistical dead heat.

Another factor to speculate about would be the effect of cell phones on polling data. I honestly don’t know how to gauge that, and I especially don’t know how to gauge that in the governor’s race. That could break either way.

Both campaigns seem to have large turnout operations, according to the traditional media. My crystal ball is down at the music shop having “God Bless the USA” installed to replace “The Internationale,” but the race for governor really does seem to close to call.

Since I’m down here in Clark County, I’ll leave the speculating about the Puget Sound region to those who know that area better. Since Clark County is often mentioned as a key part of any Rossi victory scenario, I’d just point out that Rossi only received 52.75% of the vote here in 2004, hardly a huge margin and very similar to the amount George W. Bush received.

It’s hard for me to imagine how Rossi could do much better this year with an incredibly unpopular national Republican ticket. A narrow Gregoire victory in Clark County, as normal people realize she is a steady and qualified governor in tough times, wouldn’t surprise me either. Remember, we don’t live in your Puget Sound media universe. People here call the elections office asking why Gordon Smith isn’t on their ballot. I kid you not.

Sure, the Rossi forces attacked Gregoire relentlessly for a thought crime about an income tax, but that factually flimsy if politically effective charge should be offset by Democratic enthusiasm. But I’m just speculating.

And if you believe what you read here, we’re not going to know the outcome tomorrow night anyhow.

Gregoire wins statewide 53-46-1! Or not!