Deval Patrick victory party

We were at the victory party tonight. Deval Patrick and Tim Murray were quite a contrast.

Murray picked one platitude for his speech and stuck to it ("we are one commonwealth!")

Patrick called for the grassroots organizing to continue building bridges between the people of Massachusetts, including to those who supported other candidates. He thanked Mitt Romney -- cutting short some incipient boos and insisting that anyone who steps up to serve the state deserves our appreciation. He framed his coming administration as one that would part with the norm of soundbites and photo-ops and instead get down to hard work and hard decisions, which (he warned us) would call for our patience, our open minds, and our willingness to take in the issues that are important to our neighbors in addition to our own. I was very impressed, again.

Funniest Metro Headline Ever!

Dems Hold Breath, Nation Turns Blue

(no subject)

On the subject of funny lines, I've been wanting to share the best thing I've ever overheard here in the IT department. (I messaged the guy that he should make it his .sigline -- and he did.)


"That will require an act of God and a Change Request."

Facts-on-the-ground discussion in Montana and Virginia

From this blog

[full text below]

Montana Vote Situation: Jon Tester leads Conrad Burns by approximately 1,700 votes (as of 11am EDT) and counting. In Silver Bow County (Butte), a Democratic stronghold, votes are still being counted but Tester is winning there with 66% of the vote. We expect to gain the majority of these uncounted votes and to add to Tester's margin.

Montana Process: When the counting phase is completed, a canvass will verify the vote tallies. That process could take as long as 48 hours, and must begin within three days and end within seven. Unless the canvass shows the margin to be within ¼ of 1%, there is no recount. As the loser, Burns would have to request the recount. When the votes are all counted, we expect to be outside that recount margin.

Virginia Vote Situation: Jim Webb is up by approximately 8,000 votes and once the provisional ballots are counted, we expect Webb's margin to increase. (Please note that VA absentees were included in the tallies from last night.)

Virginia Process: A canvass is underway to verify the results and we expect that process to finish within a day or so. To be in recount, the margin needs to be less than 1% and Allen (as the loser) would have to request it. Because of Virginia voting laws, the margin would have to be much tighter than it currently is to see any change in the outcome. Given the current margins, that is highly, highly unlikely.

[Matt's note: at this writing the Virginia race is being won by the Democrat by a .3% margin, with 99.84% of precincts reporting.]