Polls Closing Across the Country; Results Thread

Polls are closing across the country, I’ll use this as a national results thread. So far, it’s not looking great in Indiana and Kentucky, where polls closed at 6 pm. Also, the exit polls aren’t particularly encouraging. But we’ll see…this could be a long night, in more ways than one.

By the way, I’m following the results on Twitter, the Washington Post, Politico and 538, among other places.

UPDATE 7:05 pm: The AP has called Indiana for Dan Coats and Kentucky for Rand Paul. Aqua Buddha!!!

UPDATE 7:09 pm: Possibly encouraging news? “Ben Chandler, a Democrat, leads by about 10 points so far with 4 percent of the vote counted in Kentucky’s 6th Congressional district.”

UPDATE 7:43 pm: Republicans winning or leading Senate races in Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Dakota and New Hampshire. But hey, Vermont’s looking good for the Democrats! (gallows humor) Also, Nate Silver says, ” our model has revised its projection to a G.O.P. gain of 55-56 seats rather than 54-55. Not a huge deal, obviously, but it likes what it’s seeing from Republicans so far in Indiana, even as most of the other House races so far are playing about to expectations.”

UPDATE 7:47 pm: Marc Ambinder tweets, “CBS News projects that Chris Coons will handily defeat Christine O’D in DE SEN.” But at least she’s not a witch! LOL  Also, “Marcy Kaptur (D) beats Rich Iott in OH 08. he wore the nazi uniform; she gets to keep the job.” Iott lost even after BONE-r appeared with him this weekend? Is there no justice in the world?!? Heh.

UPDATE 7:57 pm: According to Nate Silver, “here’s a sign that tonight might not be an apocalypse for Democrats: the Kentucky Third District, where John Yarmuth, a Democrat, had been favored but the polling had been erratic, has been called for him. The other vulnerable Democrat in Kentucky, Ben Chandler, is also leading so far in Kentucky’s Sixth District.”

UPDATE 8:01 pm: Marco Rubio has won in Florida. ABC News projects Kelly Ayotte the winner in New Hampshire.

UPDATE 8:07 pm: As expected, Richard Blumenthal is projected to defeat Linda McMahon for Senate.

UPDATE 8:14 pm: Good news in Delaware, where John Carney picks up the formerly Republican seat vacated by Mike Castle. Also, Ben Chandler in Kentucky is leading with 73% of votes counted.

UPDATE 8:37 pm: In West Virginia, Joe Manchin holds the Senate seat for Democrats.  Also, in Arkansas, “Plantation Blanche” Lincoln – possibly the worst “Democrat” in the Senate – is gone. Honestly, I’ve gotta say, “good riddance.” She was horrible.

UPDATE 8:44 pm: Liberal-but-lunatic Alan Grayson has lost, do I see a talk show in his future?

UPDATE 8:53 pm: Rep. Baron Hill loses in IN-09.

UPDATE 9:00 pm: MSNBC projects “that GOP will win control of the House…. It will be 236-199, plus/minus 13 seats.”

UPDATE 9:03 pm: Democrats sweep New York – governor and both Senate seats. CNN has called PA-Gov for Corbett.

UPDATE 9:18 pm: Congratulations to Martin O’Malley, reelected as governor of Maryland.  Sadly, Rep. Carol Shea-Porter lost in NH to a total right wingnut, Frank Guinta. Ugh.

UPDATE 9:22 pm: According to Nate Silver, “Our model has revised upward its expectation for Republican House gains to 57 seats — but so far, they aren’t winning too many of the types of races they would need in order to post something extraordinary like a 75-seat gain.”

UPDATE 9:49 pm: It appears that Betty Sutton has held on in Ohio-13. Blue Dog Alan Boyd loses in FL-O2. In PA, Joe Sestak is leading 53%-47% with nearly half of precincts reporting.

UPDATE 10:10 pm: Deval Patrick holds on as governor of Massachusetts.  With 31% reporting, Sen. Michael Bennet is leading Ken Buck. In IL, with 55% of votes counted, Alexi Giannoulias is leading 49%-46%. In PA, with 61% reporting, Joe Sestak is leading 52%-48%.  Also, it looks like Hickenlooper is winning the governor’s race in Colorado easily over two wingnuts – Tom Tancredo and Dan Maes.

UPDATE 10:32 pm: Bad news in Ohio, with incumbents Charlie Wilson, John Boccieri and Zack Space trailing. Pennsylvania doesn’t look good either for the House of Representatives, with several Democratic incumbents apparently losing.

UPDATE 10:41 pm: It looks like Russ Feingold has lost in Wisconsin to Ron Johnson. Blech.

UPDATE 10:56 pm: The situation is deteriorating in the PA, CO and IL Senate races.  Maybe I should just go to bed at this point, before things get any worse.

UPDATE 11:56 pm: Pat Toomey has been declared the winner in PA’s Senate race. Barbara Boxer won in CA. Patty Murray is leading in WA. Mark Kirk is apparently winning the IL Senate race. Michael Bennet has a slim lead in CO with 32% reporting. Harry Reid has a 51.6%-44.1% lead in NV with 12.9% reporting. It looks like Dem’s will hold the Senate, lose the House. It could have been worse, but still, a very bad night for our country.