District 2: Simmons (R) 85,834, Courtney (D) 84,594, 72% of precincts reporting
District 4: Shays (R) 49,489, Farrell (D) 48,639, 53% of precincts reporting

It’s getting closer in Virginia, with 97% of the precincts reporting:

Allen (R) 1,111,028
Webb (D) 1,098,690
Parker (G) 24,621

That’s a 12,338-vote lead for Allen — almost exactly half of the Green candidate’s total. Just saying.

Polls closed in Tennessee at 8:00 p.m. Eastern (7:00 Central), but of course, if someone was in line at that time, then they’ll get to vote, regardless of how long it takes.

The local news stories here are that there are still voters waiting to cast ballots in Nashville and in Memphis. In what is possibly trending closer than expected, this could be very important (and a final result not known for some time). Waiting to vote more than three hours after the polls “closed” is just strange to me. Something smells funny.

More to come…

As a side note, there is apparently some significant malfunction with the tabulation of the vote in Knox County (Knoxville), where approximately 5000 votes can’t be tallied until the morning. A tech guy from the company making the eSlate voting machine is going to fly into Knoxville in the morning to fix it.

So says CNN.

Kentucky’s District 4 was the 15th pickup, putting the Dems over the top.

Fox hasn’t called the House majority yet. They still say the Dems are one pickup away.

UPDATE: Brian Foster is right:

Ha! CNN is counting the VT pickup in their magic 15 — so technically the Dems still need one more seat. I’m quite sure they’ll get it, but CNN is jumping the gun just a little bit here.

UPDATE, 11:32 PM: Now the House is really in Dem hands, based on legitimate math and not just CNN’s fuzzy math, because as Texasyank points out:

Fox news announces that Nick Lampson (D) wins Tom DeLay’s old seat, thus, in Fox’s count handing the House to the Dems.

I decided to dig a little bit past the number that are out now (69% in), showing Bob Corker with a lead of 51-47% (708K to 652K). On the surface, it would seem that Corker has a decent lead with a pretty solid percentage of the vote in.

However, I dug a little deeper, showing the current count from Shelby County (Memphis) on this one. Of course, Ford is leading huge already in Memphis (2-1, about 120K-60K), but ONLY 35% of precincts are in. Depending on which areas of town are in (Memphis is a deeply racially mixed population, but those races seem to be completely isolated in their own little enclaves in the city/county), Ford could get a huge late push with the Shelby County votes.

As a side note, it looks like only a quarter of the Davidson County (Nashville) votes are in, with Jr. with a big lead there, too. If Corker is running close in the rural areas of the state, he might have trouble finishing this thing off if he has to rely on the city dwellers…

While some of the national pundits are writing Jr. off, I’m not so sure that it’s that clear just yet.

More to come…

CNN says the Democrats have picked up 10 Republican seats, and counting.

Here’s their list of key House races.

UPDATE: Fox is saying they already have 13 pickups.

UPDATE 2: CNN has added a bunch of Dem pickups, now up to 14.

One of the pickups is FL-22, which is the first Dem pickup in a “Leans GOP” seat according to Real Clear Politics. That could be the first sign of a more significant Democratic tsunami.

Joe Negron, the guy who was going to get Mark Foley had “won” — Foley’s name was still on the ballot, but voters knew they were actually choosing Negron — has conceded to Tim Mahoney, even though CNN hasn’t called the race yet.

Chocola has conceded, and Donnelly has claimed victory.

Joel sent me this picture from Donnelly headquarters, of the victorious Dem speaking to the media:

…gridlock in the morning….it smells like…victory.”

All apologies to Robert Duvall for this take on his famous line from Apocalypse Now, but I really think our federal government functions best (that is, with the least abominable legislation) when there’s a division of power between the branches.

Looks like that’s the way it’s heading. Don’t know if the GOP can hold the Senate (which I think I would prefer solely from a judicial confirmation standpoint), but I don’t care too much that the House goes to the Democrats.

Granted, if all the Republicans there believed in passing laws that were appropriate (tax cuts, supporting national defense, etc.), I’d say I’d probably rather have them there, but with the old system of Checks and Balances, maybe there will be enough bickering and fighting that nothing much will get accomplished.

Seems to me that the public fares better when the feds can’t agree on much.

“I’m Joe Lieberman, and I approve of this election.”

Says the campaign has been a struggle, “but we never wavered in our beliefs or our purpose, did we? And we never gave up, did we? And tonight, thanks to the voters of Connecticut, our journey has ended in hope and victory.”

Thanks the voters of Connecticut, who “chose progress over partisanship, problem-solving over polarization, and the mainstream over the extreme.”

“I will return to the Senate with the foremost goal of breaking through the partisan gridlock in Washington.”

“Elected today by voters of all political persuasion, I promise you I will go to Washington beholden to no political group, but only to the people of Connecticut and to my conscience.”

“I will be an independent senator. … We are sending a message to the leaders of both political parties. Yes, [the people] want change. But they don’t just want change in who runs Congress, they want change in how we run the country. I would like to see this election as a declaration of independence from the partisanship of politics.” (or words to that effect)

Says we can bring about a “bold transformation” in our politics.

“I want to thank Ned Lamont, who graciously called a while ago to congratulate me and wish me well. Hadassah and I wish him and his family well. He was a worthy and very tough opponent. He helped bring new voters and new volunteers into the political process, and that’s good for our democracy. I hope they’ll stay, and I hope they’ll be open to finding common ground…to build a better country.”

P.S. Kos, gracious in defeat: “The White House celebrates Joe Lieberman’s victory. So do war mongers.”

John Kerry just called Ted Kennedy “the greatest senator in the history of the United States Senate.”

It’s 50% to 50% in Connecticut’s 2nd District with 41% of the precincts reporting.

In the 4th, Shays has a 56% to 43% lead, but only 8% are reporting.

Thank you, Brendan. I enjoyed being a guest blogger today. I appreciate you allowing me to show the other side here in PA.

Okay, so admittedly, that’s technically a bit premature. But it certainly seems that way. They’ve already taken 4 of the 14 toss-up seats from my handy spreadsheet (KY-3, IN-2, IN-9 and CT-5). Those four, plus the 13 “leans Dem” seats, would be enough for a 17-seat gain. And given how well things are going nationwide, I think it’s safe to say they’ll have a bit more than that. The pundit CW seems to be that the only question at this point is whether the House gain will be in the 20s or 30s.

Almost half the vote in an Corker’s margin is increasing. Now up 52-47%

UPDATE: In a landslide, the Marriage Amendment is prevailing 80-20.