One for the record

Whatever the result in the early hours (UK time) one last statement from the Republican Party deserves to be memorialised. The Republican National Committee's last-breathings to its support listed five Fast Facts on Exit Polling. This appears under a general screaming title:

BEWARE OF EXIT POLLS
Biased And Inaccurate Predictions Have Led To Poor
GOP Exit Poll Showings In Past Three National Elections.

The last of these profound utterances is a gem, an absolute gem:

In 2000, Exit Polling Malfunctioned And Incorrectly Projecting Vice President Al Gore As The Winner Of The Crucial Battleground State Of Florida.

Which amounts to another Looney Tune emanating from 310 First St, SE, DC.

Meanwhile, the pundit with the most rosy prediction (for anyone of Democratic leanings) seems to be Larry J. Sabato of the University of Virginia Center for Politics. His crystal ball web-page is suggesting that the Dems take six , and oust sitting Republicans in Missouri, Montana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Virginia. The two that would give Malcolm (and other great minds) most satisfaction are the potential disappearance from the top table of Santorum of Pennsylvania (an unreconstructed cheerleader of Bushery, and sooo-easy to dislike intensely) and Allen of Virginia (who has provided an object lesson in how not to win a close campaign). The great disappointment would be Corker getting a nose in front of Harold Ford in Tennessee (where the GOP have played racism and homophobia as issues).

And for the House? Sabato goes for no less than 29 Democrat gains, which would neatly reverse the present majority to one of 232-203 to the Dems. The two that Malcolm will savour, should this all come to pass, are the Florida 16th (the Republican Negron is masquerading as the disgraced Foley in a safe Republican district) and the Illinois 6th (where Tammy Duckworth, the legless Iraq-vet helicopter-pilot, came from nowhere to make a race of it in a Republican suburb). And if Tom DeLay's Texas 22nd (DeLay, the former Republican leader in the House, disgraced in the Abramoff scandal) goes for the Democrat Nick Lampson that puts a nice cherry on the top.

Malcolm expects a late bedtime this night. Sphere: Related Content