Campaign 2006: The Ticker
CBSNews.com staffers are closely monitoring the elections. The following is a compilation of the latest developments.
You can see all the election results as they come in here.
1:58 a.m.
GOP Moderate Dodges A Bullet
Connecticut Rep. Chris Shays claimed victory in his race against Democrat Diane Farrell. Shays will return to Washington for an 11th term in the House.
1:44 a.m.
Missouri Senate Race Goes To The Democrat
Democrat Claire McCaskill won the Missouri Senate race, defeating incumbent Republican Jim Talent.
1:14a.m.
Disappointment From A GOP Honcho
House Majority Leader John Boehner said this in a statement:
"I'd like to congratulate House Democrats on a hard-fought campaign. We are deeply disappointed in the outcome, but as Republicans we must recommit ourselves to the principles that brought us to the majority ... Our challenge as Republicans is to regain our confidence, our courage, and our energy to address the big issues that matter."
1:07a.m.
Will There Be A Recount In The Commonwealth?
CBS News' Tom Foty reports from Vienna, VA: In the crucial Virginia Senate race, only two thousand votes, or one-eighth of a percentage point, separates incumbent Republican Sen. George Allen and his challenger, Jim Webb. If this tiny difference stays this way, it will be enough to generate an automatic recount of votes. Webb has already claimed that he won.
12:25a.m.
GOP Leader Keeps House Seat
GOP Rep. Tom Reynolds won re-election in his upstate N.Y. district, beating Democrat millionaire Jack Davis. Reynolds, who is chairman of the National Republican Campaign Committee, became entangled in the Mark Foley congressional page scandal in September.
12:20a.m.
Call It For Corker
Republican Bob Corker beat Democrat Harold Ford Jr. in the closely watched Tennessee Senate race. Corker, former mayor of Chattanooga, turned back Ford's effort to become the first black senator from the South since Reconstruction.
Corker succeeds Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist.
12:07a.m.
Nevada Republican Beats Jimmy Carter's Son
Sen. John Ensign was re-elected, defeating former President Jimmy Carter's son, Jack.
12:04a.m.
Veteran GOP House Members Lose
CBS News' Bob Fuss reports: Florida Republican Rep. Clay Shaw, who has been in Congress for more than 25 years and was a key author of welfare reform and the Medicare drug bill, was defeated. So was longtime Republican Rep. Nancy Johnson of Connecticut. New Hampshire's only two members of Congress were both defeated by Democrats.
It is still worth noting Republicans have not won a single seat held by Democrats.
11:32p.m.
Mark Foley's Seat Goes To A Democrat
Democrat Tim Mahoney beat Republican state Rep. Joe Negron in the race to replace disgraced former Rep. Mark Foley. Negron conceded to Mahoney, whose victory bolstered Democrats' hopes of taking control of the House by taking a seat that had been seen as securely in GOP hands before it was learned Foley had sent sexually suggestive e-mail messages to congressional pages.
11:27p.m.
Wins In The West
According to CBS News estimates:
Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, has been re-elected governor of California. Democrat Dianne Feinstein is re-elected to the Senate from California.
Daniel Akaka is re-elected to the Senate from Hawaii. He's a Democrat. Democrat Maria Cantwell is re-elected to the Senate from Washington.
Republican Linda Lingle, a Republican, is re-elected governor of Hawaii.
11:00p.m.
CBS: Democrats Take The House
10:44p.m.
You Can't Make This Stuff Up
The following is an assortment of some of the quirky mishaps at various polling sites.
station, some of which said, "Vote Democrat: It's Easier Than Working" and "Feeling Gay? Vote Democrat." The judge said what he did was legal, but a Democratic official said such postings were unethical.
vote, similar to provisional ballots used in other states.
sites. One was Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill Ritter, who
waited an hour and 40 minutes.
machine with a paperweight, possibly compromising 130 earlier
votes.
10:26p.m.
Glass Half Full Or Half Empty?
CBS News consultant Mike McCurry, former press secretary to President Clinton, said that people "don't like the direction the president is taking them."
"This is a referendum on George Bush. Not even Bill Clinton was as much a factor in his midterm elections as Georrge Bush is tonight," McCurry added.
But CBS News consultant Nicolle Wallace, a former Bush communications director, says that Republican are "cautiously optimistic about their chances in some very tight races.
Stay tuned...
10:03p.m.
Granholm Prevails In Michigan
Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, a Democrat, won re-election. Granholm defeated GOP challenger Dick DeVos, the former head of Amway, had spent millions of dollars of his own money in his campaign to unseat Granholm.
9:52p.m.
Dem Wins GOP Senate Seat In R.I.
Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse is the projected winner in Rhode Island, winning a closely contested race with Republican incumbent Lincoln Chafee.
9:39p.m.
Dems Grab 2 GOP House Seats
Democrat Joe Donnelly has defeated GOP Rep. Chris Chocola in Indiana's Second Congressional District.
Republican Rep. Anne Northup has been defeated by Democrat John Yarmuth in Kentucky's Third District. Northup, a staunch supporter of President Bush, said she conceded to Yarmuth shortly after 9 p.m. EST. CBS News correspondent Sharyl Attkisson says this was a significant race, with Republicans counting on Northrup to pull through.
9:26p.m.
What Are Voters Thinking?
According to CBS News consultant Harrison Hickman, Iraq and the economy are the main factors in this election. In Ohio, the economy has a bigger impact than Iraq. Hickman adds that "one measure of the impact of the war is that even in President Bush's and Vice President Cheney's homestates -- Texas and Wyoming -- a majority don't support the war. And that's where you would expect support to be the greatest."
9:10 p.m.
Various Victors
Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez won the New Jersey Senate race while Sen. Joe Lieberman was re-elected in Connecticut, this time as an independent.
Also, Rep. Ben Cardin, a Democrat, won the Maryland Senate race, defeating GOPer Michael Steele.
8:29p.m.
Casey Projected Winner
CBS News projects that Democratic Bob Casey has unseated incumbent Republican Rick Santorum in Pennsylvania's competitive U.S. Senate race. CBS News correspondent Gloria Borger reports that Santorum lost across the board with voters. And 65% of voters made up their minds a month ago, polls show.
8:11p.m.
Power To Patrick
Democrat Deval Patrick will become Massachusetts' first black governor. He will be the second elected black governor ever nationwide, and he is the first black to win the state's highest office in its 218-year history.
Patrick defeated Republican Kerry Healey.
7:59p.m.
Dirty Tricks In Play?
While new voting machines confounded some poll workers, reports of dirty tricks and voter intimidation surfaced across the nation Tuesday, prompting federal investigations in at least two states.
Check out Couric&Co. for more from investigative producer Laura Strickler.
7:57p.m.
Raising The Bare Minimum
Voters in Ohio give their blessing to a statewide minimum wage hike, another sign of voter anger at Congress, which has continually refused to raise the wage nationally, reports Bagnato.
The issue asked voters to increase the minimum wage by $1.70 to $6.85 an hour.
Bagnato also confirms that Virgina has approved the amendment outlawing same-sex marriage. This bodes well for bans being considered in seven other states.
7:35p.m.
Is Ohio Ground Zero For Republicans?
Democrat Sherrod Brown's victory in Ohio was total, complete and broad, CBS News correspondent Gloria Borger reports. He won with both women and men, with voters who see Iraq as the main issue, and with voters worried about the economy. CBS News exit polls showed that nearly two thirds of voters in Ohio gave the economy a negative rating. Nearly three quarters of those voters went to Brown.
7:25p.m.
Green Light For Key Referendum In Key State?
CBS News estimates that the same sex marriage referendum has passed in Virginia. It defines marriage as that which is between a man and a woman.
Virginia law already bans same sex marriage, so supporters of the ban say nothing will change, reports CBS News Radio's Barry Bagnato. But many legal scholars who opposed it say the wording also could make it harder for unmarried heterosexual couples to pass property from one person to another, or to make health care decisions.
7:04p.m.
Getting A Sense Of Voter Turnout
Voter turnout figures and assessments are starting to come in. CBS Evening News' Lee Cowan reports that heavy turnout was expected, and delivered, in Virginia and Tennessee. Early voting was up substantially in both of those states, too. Cowan says in California, though, turnout was projected to be at record lows. In the Northwest, rain didn't put a damper on anything as many voters there had already mailed in their ballots.
These are some voter turnout predictions in the following states, as reported by AP:
6:43p.m.
Is All Politics Local?
Maybe not this Election Day. CBS News' Bob Schieffer reports that early exit polls suggest that by a margin of 2 to 1, voters have said that they thought national issues were more important than local issues. Schieffer says this is bad news for Republicans.
60 percent said of voters said they don't approve of the war and they don't like anything about it. 58 percent said they don't believe the war in Iraq is helping national security. This is extraordinary in an off-year election, Shieffer says. You can read more about the results here.
6:25p.m.
Few Voter Complaints
CBS News' Stephanie Lambidakis reports that calls and e-mails to the Justice Department's voter hotline are "surprisingly low," according to a Justice official. Slightly more than 200 complaints have been logged, compared to 1,200 in the 2004 presidential election.
In their reports to the Justice Department, CBS News reports that the U.S. Attorneys' offices are also reporting the same low call volume.
Many of the complaints involve voters experiencing language problems with ballots, Lambidakis reports. The complaints "have not been out of the ordinary."
6:10p.m.
Denver Judge Turns Down Dems
CBS4Denver reports that a judge turned down Democrats' request to keep polls in Denver open for two extra hours Tuesday after balky computers, the longest statewide ballot in decades and unfamiliar new voting machines delayed voting for up to three hours. Rick Sallinger reports that Democratic Party attorney David Fine said he did not know whether the decision would be appealed.
State GOP spokesman Bryant Adams had called the request "outrageous" and unnecessary. Adams said anyone in line by the scheduled 7 p.m. closing time would be allowed to vote, and he accused Democrats of trying to win the election in the courts rather than at the ballot box.