The polls have now closed in California. Here is an L.A. Times summary of the various propositions. Propositions 74-77 are the “Schwarzenegger Propositions,” the ones that the governator himself personally pushed for.

Results, when available, will be posted here.

UPDATE, 11:10: With 2.8 percent of the precincts reporting, propositions 73-77 are all either passing or are close. Props. 78-80 are failing handily.

I’m most interested in Prop. 77, the redistricting proposition, which Mickey Kaus voted for, and I think I would have too, if I lived in California. Almost anything would be better than the current redistricting system (and that goes for the whole country, not just California).

Kansas has (for the third time in six years) rewritten state education standards to include intelligent design as part of the science curriculum. My (Republican-leaning biology teacher) wife rolled her eyes when she saw this; a shame, it is. Said board member Janet Waugh:

“This is a sad day. We’re becoming a laughingstock of not only the nation, but of the world, and I hate that.”

Indeed, and I’d go so far as to say that this reflects poorly on our country as whole, not merely the squarish states in the middle.

P.S.: Keeping with tonight’s election motif, it’s interesting to note that

All six of those who voted for the standards were Republicans. Two Republicans and two Democrats voted against them.

Elections for the State Board of Education are in 2006, so maybe they’ll flip again.

Posted by Brian (Briandot)

With 50 percent of the precincts reporting, BrendanLoy.com is now “calling” the Newington mayoral race for Independent Rodney Mortensen, a stunning upset!

Also, CNN is “calling” the Virginia governor’s race for Democrat Tim Kaine. (Hat tip: Pete T.) Latest results here.

UPDATE, 9:43: NJ.com is now “calling” the New Jersey governor’s race for Democrat Jon Corzine.

UPDATE, 10:08: In the NYC mayoral race, the Associated Press is “calling” the New York mayoral race for Republican incumbent Mike Bloomberg. According to the New York Times, Bloomberg leads Ferrer, 56% to 41% with 18 percent of the precincts reporting — a somewhat closer-than-expected margin, if it’s reflective of the true result. (Bloomberg was expected to get between 60% and 70% of the vote.)

Elsewhere:

Texas voters Tuesday overwhelmingly approved a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, making their state the 19th to take that step. In Maine, however, a proposal to repeal a new gay-rights law was trailing in early returns.

And “Issue 4″ in Ohio, which would create a bipartisan commission to draw up redistricting lines, is losing by a wide margin, 70% to 30%. I’m not sure what percentage of the precincts are reporting, but it’s obviously substantial, as more than 1.4 million votes have been counted. (Hat tip: Chicken Little.)

UPDATE, 10:39: Bloomberg’s lead remains 56% to 41%, now with 65 precent of the precincts reporting, according to the Times. A more-respectable-than-expected showing for Ferrer, but close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. Congrats to Bloomberg, who rode to power on Giuliani’s post-9/11 coattails and looked utterly doomed a year or two ago, but has now clearly won re-election in his own right.

Virginia: Kaine (D) 50.68%, Kilgore (R) 47.07% with 78% of the precincts reporting

New Jersey Corzine (D) 52.48%, Forrester (R) 44.53% with 30% of the precints reporting

Forget Virginia and New Jersey — is an upset brewing in my hometown of Newington, Connecticut? It looks like it.

Former mayor Rodney Mortensen, a one-time Republican now running as an independent, is leading Democrat John Kelly, the heir apparent to Mayor Tom McBride, 161 votes to 115, based on absentee ballots only. (The Republican, Mark Pappa, has a pathetic 33 votes.)

Mortensen ran his campaign almost entirely door-to-door — no mailings, virtually no lawn signs, according to my dad. He also eschewed an official Republican endorsement and eventually ticked off the party enough that they nominated the doomed Pappa. My dad assumed the GOP vote would be split, and Kelly would win easily. “I sit amazed, here. Looks bad for Kelly. I am astounded,” he writes via IM.

The Hartford Courant promises to post the results here when the polling places report in.

P.S. My dad cautions that absentee ballots are a small percentage of the total, and are usually more Republican than in-person votes — and Mortensen is the de facto Republican candidate in this race. Still, it certainly seems this vote will be more competitive than expected.

UPDATE: Two precincts are now reporting their non-absentee results, and it looks like a Mortensen landslide: 1,625 votes to Kelly’s 908, with Pappa managing 174.

Latest updates appear on top of the post. Results here.

UPDATE, 9:00: In New Jersey, the New York Times is reporting that it’s Corzine 51%, Forrester 46% with 4 percent of the precincts reporting.

Meanwhile in Virginia, Kaine’s margin is shrinking just slightly. It’s now 50.80% to 46.95% with 72.34% reporting.

*****

UPDATE, 8:47: Kaine still leads, 51.15% to 46.58%, with 63 precent of the precincts reporting. Independent Potts drawing 2.19% of the vote.

*****

UPDATE, 8:21: With nearly half of the precincts reporting (48.19%), Democrat Kaine leads Republican Kilgore, 51.55% to 46.29% in the Virginia governor’s race.

*****

UPDATE, 8:17: Now 49.99% to 49.83% in the lieutenant governor’s race!

This is great. Since when do I give a sh*t about who is the lietenant governor of Virginia? I don’t… but it’s an election, and I love elections, and right now, as i just said to my dad via IM, “It’s the only game in town.” (My dad replied, “On TV an FBI guy said that John Gotti was such an inveterate gambler that if 2 cockroaches were going up the wall he’d bet on which one would get to the ceiling first. Only game in town.” Heh.)

*****

UPDATE, 8:08: Polls are now closed in New Jersey and Newington. (But not NYC — not till 9pm.) Meanwhile in Virginia, the Democrat Kaine is still ahead, now 53% to 45% with 37 percent reporting. But the lieutenant governor’s race is a real nail-biter: Republican Bolling leads Democrat Byrne 50.17% to 49.65%.

*****

UPDATE, 7:57: 55% to 44% now, with nearly 25 percent reporting. Seems like a solid lead for Kilgore, but it depends on which precincts have reported and which haven’t, of course.

Oh, wait! Update! Kaine has taken the lead! 52% to 45%! Huh? That was quick! What’s going on? I’m confused! 31 percent of the precincts reporting.

*****

UPDATE, 7:46: Now Kaine is closing the gap. It’s 56% to 43% with 16 percent of precincts reporting. Keep checking here for the latest.

*****

At 7:36 PM, CNN reported that Democrat Kaine was leading Republican Kilgore in the Virginia governor’s race, 52% to 46%, with 4 percent of the precincts reporting. However, with 9 percent reporting, the numbers have shifted hugely in favor of Kilgore: 64% to 35%. Latest results here, from the Virginia State Board of Elections.

The Washington Post has a list of election-results links for all of tonight’s major races.

One of the passengers on the cruise ship attacked by pirates managed to snap several decent pictures of the scurvy scum:

Now if only we could get some photos from the front lines of the cheerleader incident. :)

LOL:

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger showed up to his Brentwood neighborhood polling station today to cast his ballot in the special election — and was told he had already voted.

Heh.

In a related story, it has now been confirmed that, although I registered to vote in Indiana more than a year ago, and properly filled out the “previous address” portion of the form (which should set into the motion the process of removing my name from the voter rolls in Connecticut), I am still on the list of eligible voters in Newington, just as I was in 2004. I could have voted today, after all!

Indeed, some local partisans are actively (albeit unwittingly) urging me to commit fraud:

at 6 pm Newington Dem HQ telephoned here to ask Brendan to please go Vote :) WAW hawhawhaw

Heh. Thanks, but no thanks. I’m a Hoosier now, fellas. :)

“I’m beginning to think that you no longer exist in human form… that you uploaded yourself to your blog and now only exist in binary code.” –Dmytro, via AIM

Supreme Court nominee Sam Alito met with various senators today, including Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, who told reporters, “He basically said … that Roe was precedent on which people, a lot of people, relied, and had been precedent now for decades and therefore deserved great respect.”

But wait, there’s more:

Republican Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas, a leading foe of abortion, hailed Alito as an “outstanding jurist” after his own meeting with the nominee. But Brownback also said he was concerned how he would rule on abortion on the Supreme Court.

Brownback said although Alito has voiced respect for Supreme Court precedent, like Roe v. Wade, “It looks like to me that he is open to review cases as he should be as a judge.”

Sen. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican and a backer of abortion rights, asked Alito about abortion during her meeting and seemed pleased by his answers.

“He assured me that he had tremendous respect for precedent and his approach is to not overturn cases due to a disagreement with how they were originally decided,” Collins said.

Collins, Brownback and Lieberman, like many senators, said they have not decided whether they will back Alito.

BoiFromTroy is wondering something that I, too, looked up and began wondering about a few days ago: what happens if (heaven forbid) USC loses to UCLA, and the Trojans, Bruins and Oregon Ducks finish in a three-way tie for the Pac-10 championship? The rules are actually quite unclear on the subject.

The Southern Connecticut State University football team is one of 24 teams to qualify for the Division II playoffs, and will play Saturday at East Stroudsburg University in Pennsylvania. This is Southern’s first NCAA appearance.

Jim Hofher, who has gone 7-48 in five years as head coach of the University at Buffalo football team, has been fired.

The Carolina Panthers cheerleaders who were arrested yesterday in an incident that stemmed from their allegedly having sex with each other in a public restroom at a bar have been fired.

As I said yesterday, I suspect there will be no shortage of lucrative offers being thrown at these young ladies. It’s just a question of how drastic a change of profession they are willing to tolerate. :)

P.S. Heh: “When we first read the story of the two red hot Carolina Panther cheerleaders arrested at a bar called ‘Banana Joes’ for engaging in steamy girl-on-girl sex in a public restroom, we evaluated whether or not the story was Independent Sources material. No amount of sensual, physical, grinding action would make it appropriate for Independent Sources unless there was a connection to California politics, greedy plaintiff attorneys, or bad economic policy. Despite long, deep embraces, passionate open-mouth kisses, and the wildest, most mind-blowing, heart stopping female-on-female action, we just didn’t see how it fit into this site. We’re not even going to use obvious puns like ‘fantasy’ football or ‘backfields in motion.’ Nope, we are taking the high road all of the way and hope you our readers appreciate it.”

Needless to say, a lengthy roundup of CheerleadersLesbianSexGate links follows. Profiles here.

An 18 month investigation led to the arrest of 17 people in Australia, including outspoken Islamic cleric, Abu Bakr, who publicly supported Osama bin Laden. According to the article, authorities also found suspicious items “including unidentified substances, firearms, travel documents, computers and backpacks”. (Side note: other than the firearms, How many people carry the rest? But moving on…)

This is seen as a major victory, especially given the attacks against Australians overseas, particularly in tourist spots such as Indonesia and Bali.

Posted by Brian (Briandot)