A lot of work and a lot of money and a lot of strategy and a lot of analysis goes into political campaigns. But in the end, especially when it comes to midterm elections, the whole shebang often comes down to one or two issues and a ton of momentum. And so it was this year when elections from small districts to huge cities all sort of came down to one issue: George W Bush.

Disgust over Iraq, concern over corruption and abuses of power and a general “wrong direction” vibe got the political ball rolling and it flattened a whole lot of Republicans on the way to D.C.

The battle for the House was over early yesterday. The battle for the Senate rages on with Virginia still up for grabs. It’s amazing when you consider the series of tight races with national implications that we’ve seen over the past decade or so. Remember when elections used to be decided during the same week as they were held?

What does all this mean? In the short term, that’s unclear. It’s bad news for Bush, of course. Not a great night for Rummy. The pressure to change course in Iraq will be overwhelming. The Dems have to now evolve from anti-Bush to pro-something as the race for 2008 starts to warm up. Did the country shift politically (beyond their disgust with the Bush administration)? That remains to be seen. Key lesson for the Dems to keep in mind. Hubris kills political momentum like nothing else.

Question of the moment: Does Bush get to keep the nickname W?

Conundrum of the Day: Do Dems remember how to cope with a good election night?

Let’s look at the headlines from around the country:

The Dems took the House easily and they may extend their control before all the counting is done. The Senate hangs in the balance. Dem candidates in Montana and Virginia have slight leads and the party needs wins in both races to take the Senate.

UPDATE: The Dems take Montana.

Rummy Out, Gates In. Even for an old political warrior like Donald Rumsfeld, the pressure was too much (it probably should’ve been too much about 2 years ago). Wouldn’t you love to see him take the 30 minute slot between John Stewart and Colbert?

How long could it take to count the votes in Virginia? Think weeks, not hours. Political junkies rejoice. We’ve got overtime, baby.

Dems
get majority of governorships for the first time since the 90s.

Dems enjoyed a similar series of victories in state legislatures.

Exit polls: It was all about Iraq, corruption and Bush.

Biggest winner of the night, the new (and first)
Madame Speaker. We now have a woman Speaker, a woman Secretary of State, and a woman as frontrunner for the Dem nomination for president. Pretty cool. What would you give to be a fly on the wall at this lunch?

Some of the same old GOP strategies to get folks to the polls with hate and fear actually worked. Same sex marriage bans were passed in 7 states (AZ still unclear). Those who turned up at the polls for these issues did not back Republicans in large enough numbers to make a difference.

Missouri
backs stem cell research (thanks Rush).

South Dakota’s push to ban nearly all abortions falls short (the rest of America’s plan to move forward with 49 states put on hold).

Arnold cruises to an easy victory, and just about the time Californians we’re thinking they might be OK with that, he popped off with the line, “You know I love doing sequels.” How long would it take to get Jesse Ventura his California residency?

One of the biggest ballot battles nationwide was a California alternative energy related oil company tax bill. Clinton was all over it. Gore was all over it. More than $156 million was spent. In the end, the bill was defeated.

Who did they lose? Compared to recent elections, the GOP did poorly among young people, voters with college degrees, and secular voters. Wait, are those people even Americans?

There are still 13 House seats too close to call.

Santorum ousted by significant margin.

Robert Byrd wins his record
ninth straight term in the Senate (I’m not sure if he ran on the “It’s time for a change” platform…)

Bloggers found a new way to quickly support their newsbreaking posts: YouTube.

The biggest demographic story of the day? Young voters showed up in big numbers (key issues were Iraq, abuse of power, and beer bongs).

Dead woman wins election in South Dakota.

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CNN Dominates the Election Day Coverage, Hands Down

The battle for the best election day coverage was over early yesterday when the folks at CNN had the courage to give the divorce between Britney and dancer/rapper/sire K-Fed the BREAKING NEWS treatment (take a look).

and…

Startups, some new, some not so new, took to the
Web 2.0 Conference Launchpad including our good buds over at Stikkit: Little Yellow Notes that Think ... James Dobson doesn’t have time to counsel Ted Haggard (He’s more into shrooms than meth anyway) ... What Borat
gets right and wrong about Kazakhstan (one of things he might be getting wrong is antisemitism. Is that OK?) ... My “Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan” ... Michael Jackson’s thriller comeback ... People from the real OC are upset with the portrayal of their community on MTV’s Laguna Beach. But, at this point, is there still a real OC?

Considering the state of things for Dems over the past few election cycles, one would assume that any uptick would be good news. But over the past few weeks, the bar has been set high by pundits and prognosticators. The Dems are ready to feel good, but how much of a win will be good enough? A few seats? The House but not the Senate? Ultimately there will be a disconnect between aspiration and actual joy. This election is all about a dude who is not on the ballot. And he will be there manana no matter how today plays out.

Headline of the day: Angry Campaigns End on an Angrier Note.

Here are some of the key initiatives and referendums from around the country (in the Bay Area, our voting information booklet is about as thick as the yellow pages, and not nearly as readable).

The first charge of voter intimidation comes in Virginia.

You didn’t think things we’re going to go smoothly in Ohio, did you? ...

How are people betting on the political races? Follow the money.

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Rage against the (voting) machine ... Many districts are quickly turning back to paper ballots.

Lapless in Seattle

The hottest race of the day could be a proposed Seattle law that would take the lap out of lapdancing.

The proposed law would include the following regulations:

I’ve been to book club meetings with less uptight rules.

Voting for Knowledge?

If you’re a thinking person in America, you can feel pretty lonely when listening to talk radio or reviewing the latest poll numbers, but you’re not alone on every issue. More than eighty percent of voters think sex education should be comprehensive (and that includes Conservatives).

and…

Neckless

We’ve all been in traffic jams caused by rubberneckers who just can’t resist taking a long look at a heinous crash. But can a scene be so grizzly and so upsetting that no one even dares to glance? It turns out the answer to that question is yes. The crash? A K-Fed live concert.

The Haggard Tapes

Richard Dawkins and Ted Haggard

Ted in Jesus Camp

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Mahir insists that
Borat ripped him off ... Sitcom writers have a lot less shelf space now that NBC is dedicating the 8pm slot to reality programming (unfortunately, the waning trend may be picking up momentum again) ... Tiger set to design courses (something tells me these courses might play a bit long) ... Xbox gets into movie and tv downloads ... Of electric fish and migraines ... Kirstie Alley
back in a bathing suit (another Oprah scoop) ... Will the higher cost of buying low end items result in the rise of the two dollar bill? ... Which Girl Scout cookies are the best sellers?

Don’t believe the boxes. It turns out that many of the foods that market themselves as healthy and good for you are probably neither. Hannaford Brothers, a chain of New England supermarkets, has come up with a star system to rate the nutritional value of the foods they sell. Many of the foods that are self-labeled as healthy are really not all that good for you. Colbert might call this a lack of truthiness in healthiness. Seventy-seven percent of the food on the shelves at these markets got zero out of three health stars.

Maybe food manufacturers need to up the level of their deception and go negative by taking a page out of the political marketing handbook. Did you hear that Lean Cuisine spent three years hanging out with a gay male prostitute (but never inhaled), or that Good Seasons dressing mix has been used to toss salad during lunch breaks at gatherings where climate change and evolution is being discussed? And don’t get me started on Granola bars (you might as well just sit down for a snack in one of bin Laden’s caves).

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A Cornell professor thinks the key to nutrition has more to do with the mind than the mouth (and suggests that we make about 200 subconscious food related decisions a day). It’s pretty cool to live in a society where you can have any other food related thoughts aside from a pressing need to stop your hunger.

More than 60 million people in China are obese. But don’t worry, even with their massive population advantage, we’re still out in front on this one.

Is eating out the new eating in?

The Planet’s Most Depressing Shortcut?

It’s getting easier for properly equipped ships to travel from Pacific to Atlantic via the Northwest Passage. That’s great news if you’re a shipping company looking for a shortcut. It’s not all that great news if you consider that the passageway is getting travelable thanks to climate change and that darn melting ice.

Well, if global warming creates new routes, at least we can avoid that giant vortex (think the size of Texas) of garbage in the middle of the Pacific Ocean …

Haggard’s Sentence Structure

Ted Haggard apologized to his congregation with the following:

“The fact is I am guilty of sexual immorality. And I take responsibility for the entire problem. I am a deceiver and a liar. There’s a part of my life that is so repulsive and dark that I have been warring against it for all of my adult life.”

He’s got a few of his adjectives out of place there. It is the “warring against” that was repulsive and dark.

and…

Saddam Trial: Wait, wait, wait … OK Now

Finding it a little hard to believe that the timing of the Saddam verdict
had nothing to do with the timing of our elections? Seems unlikely, but fair is fair. This administration should get full credit for tightening the noose around Saddam’s neck. Voters need to decide how big a factor that is in the grand scheme of things. Before any Dems get too excited, it’s worth taking note that at least a few of the post Saddam verdict polls show things tightening up a bit. That’s the downside of running a campaign that is entirely based on not being the other guy. It doesn’t work as well when the other guy has a decent day (there have been few of those recently).

The political campaigns are coming up with more ways to ruin your dinner with automated phone calls (am I the only one who decides to vote against whoever calls me?).

Coming Out Ain’t What it Used to Be

Neil Patrick Harris has announced that he is gay and proud of it (but he doesn’t run a church and no one really thought anything to the contrary, so unfortunately it doesn’t count).

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Headline of the day: Silent plane would cut airport noise ... Of politics and Google Bombing ... Did the O.C die with Marissa? ... What does it cost to get a homeless person off the street (a lot less than it costs to leave her there)? ... Google is about to expand their ad network to newspapers. As the network grows, so does their dominance …

The big headlines of the day include:

These headlines are about as shocking as the news that Ted Haggard, the president of the National Association of Evangelicals, has stepped down due to a gay sex and meth buying scandal. Haggard is one of more powerful religious-political figures in the country who participates in a weekly conference call with White House staffers. Whether this story is true or not (there’s already been an admission that some of what a male prostitute has accused Haggard of is accurate – he says he bought meth but never actually used it), it should hardly come as a shock. Is there anything more predictable than wanton hypocrisy from politically motivated moralists? (Yes, of course speaking against gay marriage was one of his favorite diatribes.)

And don’t get caught up in the hype. The “sin” in question here has nothing to do with Haggard’s sex life (which is none of our business) and everything to do with hypocrisy and manipulation in the name of political power. Haggard’s power is the scandal, not his personal preferences. The intersection of religion and political power could use a really big stoplight.

They Think You’re Stupid

Tom Friedman echoes some of my takes here earlier in the week as he examines the Kerry non-issue. A few outtakes:

“Every time you hear Mr. Bush or Mr. Cheney lash out against Mr. Kerry, I hope you will say to yourself, “They must think I’m stupid.” Because they surely do. They think that they can get you to overlook all of the Bush team’s real and deadly insults to the U.S. military over the past six years by hyping and exaggerating Mr. Kerry’s mangled gibe at the president. What could possibly be more injurious and insulting to the U.S. military than to send it into combat in Iraq without enough men … What could possibly be more injurious and insulting to our men and women in uniform than sending them off to war without the proper equipment … What could possibly be more injurious and insulting to our men and women in uniform than to send them off to war in Iraq without any coherent postwar plan for political reconstruction there?” Read on …

Steak and All You Can’t Eat Shrimp

Anyone see a trend developing when you read stories about the environment and our abuse of it? If not, see if this jars something. According to a recent study, overfishing and pollution are leading to a collapse of the populations of just about all seafood (some call it fish). According to one of the study’s authors: “At this point 29 percent of fish and seafood species have collapsed – that is, their catch has declined by 90 percent. It is a very clear trend, and it is accelerating. If the long-term trend continues, all fish and seafood species are projected to collapse within my lifetime – by 2048.”

and…

Hips Hips Hooray

The NYT coverage of the Latin Grammy Awards begins with the following: “Shakira, the Colombian singer and songwriter who is both an ambitious artist and a hip-swiveling sex symbol…” That’s got to be as close to total self-actualization as anyone has ever come, no?

The British are Bumming, The British are Bumming

According to a recent poll taken by several international newspapers, a significant majority of folks in England feel U.S. policy has made the world less safe since 2001. Oh, Canadians and Mexicans feel the same.

Borat scores with critics (also challenged to a duel) ... And a slightly different take on Borat and Anti-Semitism.

Since it’s Friday, let’s take a few moments to sit back and enjoy a blast from the past: The Rocket Lincoln Jump (link via kottke.org).

Sleeping with the Enemy

Now that Google is the owner of You Tube, they are of course trying to take the Tube legit by striking deals with all the major television content providers. These content providers smell an opportunity to score some big licensing dough. But do they really want to empower the company that is not so gradually eating away at their ad dollars? Do they have a choice?

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Michael J. Fox is already an early winner in this campaign season because everyone is talking about stem cells. See his latest interview with Anderson Cooper (warning, Fox is up to his old shenanigans again with all the shaking at whatnot) ... One of the dudes implicated in the Abu Ghraib scandal is being redeployed to Iraq (since Time broke the story, the Pentagon is reconsidering that idea) ... L Ron Studio? Tom Cruise takes over United Artists … Will Wright’s next big game (his last one was The Sims) ... Al Qaeda vs Brangelina? ... Unemployment drops to a five year low ... The end of cafeterias ... Outsourcing healthcare ... And the hitman and the internet ...

This letter home from a Marine in Iraq was originally intended for friends and family. Since being sent last month, it has circulated through military inboxes and beyond. Forget politics on either side and television analysis. This is, at least from one guy’s perspective, the truth. A few excerpts:

“Biggest Hassle – High-ranking visitors. More disruptive to work than a rocket attack … Their trips allow them to say that they’ve been to Fallujah, which gives them an unfortunate degree of credibility in perpetuating their fantasies about the insurgency here.

Most Profound Man in Iraq – an unidentified farmer in a fairly remote area who, after being asked by Reconnaissance Marines if he had seen any foreign fighters in the area replied “Yes, you.”

Bravest Guy in al-Anbar Province – Any Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technician … Every day. Sanitation workers in New York City get paid more than these guys. Talk about courage and commitment.

Biggest Outrage – Practically anything said by talking heads on TV about the war in Iraq, not that I get to watch much TV. Their thoughts are consistently both grossly simplistic and politically slanted. Biggest Offender: Bill O’Reilly.

Most Surreal Moment – Watching Marines arrive at my detention facility and unload a truck load of flex-cuffed midgets. 26 to be exact.

I hope you all are doing well. If you want to do something for me, kiss a cop, flush a toilet, and drink a beer. I’ll try to write again before too long – I promise.” Read on …

William’s Choices

Author William Styron has died at the age of 81. Styron gave us many great novels, my favorite of which was Sophie’s Choice, and is one of the most respected novelists of a generation. Beyond fiction, Styron did a great service to readers by sharing the intimate details of his deep depression that nearly ended in suicide in the book Darkness Visible. Few people know that Styron also became someone that other depression sufferers leaned on for support during their darkest moments and probably talked a few of them off of the emotional ledge.

Kerrymandering

Think about it for a second. When John Kerry was running for president, everyone in his party (except, inexplicably, those actually running the campaign) were begging for him to get tough and fire back at his critics. Cut to this week when everyone in his party is irritated because he didn’t apologize quickly enough. This is just one more reason that when it comes to what parents hope for in terms of their child’s career path, politician has dropped one notch below cast member on Real World Denver.

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A big majority of people think the Dems will come up with a good way out of Iraq while W argues that the Dems have no plan when it comes to the war. (Maybe that’s the trick. Create a problem so intractable that the other side can’t come up with a solution and then nail them on that…).

and…

You Betty, You Betty, You Bet

According to ABC’s site, the series Ugly Betty asks the following: “In the superficial world of high fashion, image is everything. Styles come and go, and the only constants are the superthin beauties who wear them. How can an ordinary girl – a slightly plump plain-Jane from Queens – possibly fit in?”

Tonight executive producer Salma Hayek will help answer that question (and ring in November sweeps) by parading across the screen in her bra

Did you know that Criminal Minds is close to beating the show Lost during Wednesday night primetime?

Flavanetics

Is Flava Flav’s never ending reality show a racist nightmare or just a campy comedy? Well, there are likely plenty of opinions because this season, the show’s season finale drew a cool 7.5 million viewers. Meanwhile, Flava has just welcomed his seventh child into the world. One more and we can drop the current show and get ready to enjoy The Flava Bunch.

The O.C. is back tonight which resurfaces one of art’s great mysteries. Why did they kill Marissa and let Seth live?

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For scientists, next Tuesday is like Superbowl Sunday ... Books sales are down, but it’s not for a lack of channels ... Willie Nelson stands up for horses in an op-ed piece (did you know that 100,000 horses a year are killed in foreign-owned slaughterhouses in America?) ... Can people keep up the pace when it comes to maintaining an online social life? ... Ken Lay’s will ... “What Ingram remembers is waking up in Denver on Sept. 10 and feeling alone and terrified. He had no idea who or where he was ... Cingular opens lines to subscription music services … Relaxing in Tokyo with oxygen, sleep and cats ... Want a piece of a small unsigned band that you love? Introducing Sellaband.com ... It’s like regular Dance Dance Revolution, but if you screw up a dance step, you get broiled with 3,595 degrees of flaming propane (that’s basically how I felt about going to Cotillion) ...

Thanks for the kind shout out from Zem over at Ecofabulous, a must read blog for everything green. And thanks too to Chris at Spot-On, where a bunch of smart folks cover politics and issues (with a nice focus on the latter).

The botched joke heard around the country is topping the news at many outlets today. It could be the single political moment of the season that best illustrates why so many people hate politics, the media and have an incredible urge to take a nap for the next week or so.

Let’s review. During a rally for California’s Phil Angelides (who, alas, is running a campaign even more boring than Kerry’s), John Kerry let slip the following statement:

“You know, education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.”

According to team Kerry, he meant to say:

“It’s great to be here with college students. I can’t overstress the importance of a great education. Do you know where you end up if you don’t study, if you aren’t smart, if you’re intellectually lazy? You end up getting us stuck in a war in Iraq. Just ask President Bush.”

Now, let the ultimate fighting cage match begin!

Needless to say, the GOP (longing for something to sink their teeth into) were all over the unpatriotic, military hating, liberal-elitist Kerry. Does it matter that folks with a serious case of personal combat intolerance are pointing this finger at a vet? It didn’t matter two years ago, why would it matter now?

If you’re a thinking American, you’re left with two possible reactions (and having both simultaneously is entirely possible – and when mixed with vodka and Percocet makes a delightful cocktail). One reaction would be to knock yourself on the head in disbelief that Kerry again (in his words) botched a line and then followed that botched remark up with an unsatisfying retreat (ah the memories). The other reaction is to be disgusted with a Bush administration that would try to capitalize on this gaffe even though the real story on the ground is a whole lot more offensive to members of the military than any combination of words could ever be.

But let’s not forget that the list of villians here includes the 24 hour news networks. Not only did they give this ultimately meaningless verbal slip wall to wall coverage, CNN even gave it Breaking News banner treatment. Quick, Madonna, adopt someone.

So where does this leave us? Probably at about the same place (sans Kerry) we were before the Kerry speech – with the addition of a sour stomach and few less clumps of hair on our heads. As mentioned, most military families have a lot more important things to worry about than political fingerpointing (and things are trending worse, not better. And the Bush team attacks bring the broader issue of Iraq to the front of voters’ minds and the focus on Kerry might backfire in the absence of any positive selling of the Bush record.

Ultimately, the electoral flashback featuring two dudes not on any ballot this year makes it even more clear that Bush is the central issue in this campaign. But that might be as close as we get to the word issue for the next week.

and…

To Life, To Life Lechaim

While yesterday’s science related news gave us a real bummer (less calories equals better health and a longer life), today’s health headlines keep hope alive. It turns out that red wine contains a natural substance called resveratrol that can reverse the effects of a high calorie diet and extend longevity. As if we needed more good news, coffee may cut the risk of diabetes. Looks like I’m having another liquid lunch.

Don’t Pour Me Any Bubbly

The NYT features a story on Valley venture firm that launched a new program to provide big loans to internet start-ups to help them get off the ground quickly. The inside-baseball details aside (I am an early stage investor in internet start-ups), the general idea that we need to make it even easier for start-ups to get dough and that an old school VC would be so heavily marketing itself to young companies is giving me a real 1999 feeling. Remember, the key element of Web 2.0 is that companies can more cheaply build and prove concepts. Let’s keep the big money out of it until big money is needed. Last time that trend took hold, it ended real ugly (and I’ve got the sock puppets to prove it).

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Maybe public opinion is to blame for bad policy … Why are major chain stores trading windows for walls? ... Bechtel is pulling out of Iraq (54 of their contractors have been killed) and a security team called Kroll is also leaving after losing 4 employees … A detailed examination of America’s slowing growth ... Is really, really needing the money (in this case for gambling) an excuse for embezzlement? ... Barry Diller’s $20 billion web empire ... The are now 100 million sites on the web (I like to think mine is solidly in the top 99.9 million or so) ... Duct tape as babysitter? ... Donald Trump has violated zoning laws by, um, erecting an 80 foot flag pole in Palm Beach (insert compensation package joke here) ...

Back at you manana …