McCaskill WINS

[KalicoKitty]

Woohoo

[rodeodance]

1. linky? or where did this come from?

[riverwalker]

2. wake up DU!!

McCaskill won! :bounce: :bounce:

[RadiDem]

3. YES ! She's on MSNBC now!

[dflprincess]

4. This is great!

And let us take a moment to remember Mel Carnahan - this would have been his seat.

[Scurrilous]

5. Yes!!

:thumbsup:

[ShortnFiery]

6. Yes, this is so sweet!

:applause:

[True_Blue]

7. WooHoo!!!!

:woohoo:

[countmyvote4real]

8. I think that we are going to get the Senate, too!!

Nevermind Tennessee. We want Montana.

[codjh9]

9. I want to believe it - but CNN only has 85% of the vote counted so far

[still_one]

10. talent has not conceeded

[CakeGrrl]

11. I hope she's right...

Tweety was over on MSNBC whining about the 'decay of politics' in that neither she nor Webb in VA had waited until their opponent had conceded to declare victory. I hope she's pretty sure about the rest of those precincts!

[ikojo]

12. According to the St Louis Post Dispatch

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/politics/story/84C171F4A8A327548625722000194763?OpenDocument

At 1 a.m. Wednesday, with 85 percent of the Missouri’s reporting, McCaskill had a 25,000 vote lead over Republican incumbent Jim Talent.

Talent spent the evening at his competing election-watch party at the Frontenac Hilton. He had not yet conceded. An hour earlier, adviser John Hancock told the crowd Talent was still banking on victory.

The latest vote totals had McCaskill leading, 842,251 votes to 867,683 – or 49.1 percent for McCaskill against the incumbent's 47.7 percent. The late-night addition of votes from urban areas, particularly St. Louis city and Kansas City, had narrowed Talent's margin.

[codjh9]

13. TALLENT JUST CONCEDED!!!

[Vidar]

14. Great news & welcome to DU.

[bobbie]

15. Like...fer sure?

Fer real?

[barb162]

16. Great!!!!!!

[Lurking Dem]

17. This is the best news!

Sounds like a stem cell mandate to me!

[BlueManDude]

18. I didn't think she could win this one

MO is always so damn close.

[MadHound]

20. Three things really helped her campaign

First, the stem cell initiative backfired on the 'Pugs in this state. It was seen long ago that this issue would pass, and would bring out a lot of voters. It crossed party lines, Dems and 'Pugs both have friends and relatives with diseases and medical conditions that could be alleiviated by the promise of stem cells. Claire tied here campaign solidly to this issue, and thus won over a number of independents and 'Pugs.

Second, she tied Talent completely to Bush. The war, and other Bushco debacles are a real sore point in this state, as in others. By showing how completely Talent kissed Bushco ass, she was able to make the race a referendum on Bush and the war.

Third, she released a brilliant closing ad over this past weekend. It was a soft focus ad, no speaking, nice music, no negativity, just showing via words and pictures the values of Missourians and of Claire herself. Contrast this to Talent's smear to the finish campaign, and I think that this ad really persuaded a number of those who were still on the fence.

Here's to Claire, for running a great campaign, and helping to deliver us from our long national nightmare:toast:

[sistersofmercy]

21. Really great summary

I know quite a few Republicans who crossed the line to vote for Amendment 2 and Claire. What also helped was Danforth doing campaign ads for Amendment 2, many republicans who admire Danforth viewed it as an indirect endorsement of Claire.
And yes Claire ran a savvy campaign.

[gratuitous]

19. Let's just declare victory

The media will fall in line, right? I mean, the Florida 2000 rule is still in effect, isn't it?

And as for Tweety, he can just go home and cry in his corn flakes. I saw him last night on MSNBC bitching about the victory parties, fer crissakes! Oh my goodness! Democratic politicians were thanking their constituents and volunteers, smiling and clapping! It was just so unseemly for the delicate Mr. Matthews. Tough toenails, Tweety.

[Marie26]

22. Great!

I really, really like McCaskill. She was very good at maintaining a moderate stance, while strongly criticizing the Bush administration. And as a state auditor, she'll be in a perfect position to investigate all the war profiteering, & it sounds like she fully intends to do so. Go McCaskill!