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Last week, we told you about three Senate races to watch, as Democrats continued to fight in different parts of the country in too-close-to-call election bids.

At least one of them is going to have a happy ending.

While we wait for the runoff in Georgia and the recount in Minnesota, the tallies are nearly complete in Alaska and it appears that Sen. Ted Stevens, the long-standing Alaskan Republican known in his state as "Uncle Ted", will lose his seat to Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich.

Sen. Ted Stevens, the longest serving Republican in Senate history, narrowly lost his re-election bid Tuesday, marking the downfall of a pillar of the U.S. Senate and Alaska icon who apparently couldn't survive his conviction on federal corruption charges. His defeat to Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich moves Senate Democrats closer to a filibuster-proof 60-vote majority.

Stevens' ouster on his 85th birthday marks an abrupt realignment in Alaska politics and will alter the power structure in the Senate, where he has served since the days of the Johnson administration while holding seats on some of the most influential committees in Congress.

The slim margin by which Begich has prevailed may trigger a recount, but reports say that the remaining ballots to be counted come from Anchorage, where Begich is the mayor.

Stevens' downfall was being indicted and found guilty of seven charges of making false statements. The lame duck senator could face up to five years of prison for each count.

Things are looking up on Sarah Palin's cold frontier.

You may have thought that the elections were over and done with as soon as you heard the words "President-Elect," but three Democrats across the country are fighting on for Senate seats as their races are still too close to call.

In Minnesota, comedian-turned-politician Al Franken is trying to unseat Republican Sen. Norm Coleman. The state is undertaking what appears to be a recount as only about 200 votes separate the two candidates.

Down in Georgia, Democratic candidate Jim Martin has forced Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss into a runoff election. We'll know the fate of that Senate seat after the results come in from the Dec. 2 contest. (By the way, Chambliss seems to think that he's in a runoff because so many black people voted in Georgia.)

And finally, there's a showdown taking place in Sarah Palin's stomping grounds of Alaska! It seems that voters, even those that are traditonally Republican, don't take kindly to their senator being convicted of three felonies during a re-election campaign. Alaskan officials are still counting the votes, which at last count showed Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich ahead by a razor-thin margin of only three votes. The state Democratic Party is "cautiously optimistic."

It's going to take hard work, but Democrats could win these three seats. And if that were to happen, they would be entering the next session of Congress with a filibuster-proof supermajority of 60 solid Democratic votes, with or without Joe Lieberman in the caucus.

We can't wait to see the results of these exciting races! We'll keep you posted on the outcomes. In the meantime, please consider making contributions to Jim Martin's runoff campaign in Georgia.

Of course it's a long shot, but new polling suggests that the conservative bastion of Alaska may be in play in tomorrow's presidential election.

Yes, the same Alaska whose governor, Sarah Palin, is the vice-presidential candidate on the GOP ticket.

A Hays Research statewide survey in Alaska taken yesterday gave John McCain 46.6% of the vote, while Barack Obama garnered 43.9%. Factoring in those that were leaning one way or the other, the numbers are 48-45. That would mean that the Democrats are only down in Alaska by a mere three points, which is within the margin of error of the poll.

According to RealClearPolitics, however, an average of October polling puts the Republican ticket more than 15 points ahead of Obama in the state.

While it would be a total rejection of the Republican Party if the Democrats were to prevail in Palin's home state, we think it's much more likely for Obama to carry McCain's state, Arizona.

John McCain's running mate, Sarah Palin, may have been going "rogue" again, but on the eve of tomorrow's historic election she continued a desperate line of attack against her opponents.

In the process, she's helping to confirm in people's minds how sad the back-to-the-wall Republican campaign has become.

At a rally in Missouri today, Palin asked:

"What do they think? Do they think the terrorists have all the sudden become the good guys and changed their minds? No, the terrorists still seek to destroy America and her allies and all that it is that we stand for: freedom, tolerance, and equality. The terrorists have not changed their minds."

You can watch a video of her remarks below.



We hope that the American people will repudiate this despicable style of negative campaign when they head to the polls tomorrow to elect a president. We don't need more dirty politics in Washington- we need change. Real change.

In an interview with ABC News' Elizabeth Vargas, the Republican vice-presidential nominee was asked about 2012, whether she was discouraged by the daily attacks on the campaign trail, and would instead pack it in and return to her home state of Alaska.

"I think that, if I were to give up and wave a white flag of surrender against some of the political shots that we've taken, that would bring this whole … I'm not doing this for naught," Palin said.

On CNN, Dana Bash said that when she told a senior McCain adviser about Palin's remarks, that person was "speechless."

Are you surprised?

It may go against conventional wisdom that the vice-presidential picks don't do a lot of mind-changing in the long-run, but I will say that I've spoken with several undecided voters and even Republicans who voted early for Barack Obama, and when asked why, Sarah Palin was at the top of the list.

It seems that the Palin pick has backfired.

She may prove to be a formidable candidate one day, but for now, she's just now ready. And it shows. John McCain is losing valuable votes because of his choice.

Watch Barack's compelling new ad below. It really makes you think doesn't it?

If people were making fun of Gov. Sarah Palin's wardrobe choices, then The View co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck might have had a point when she was out stumping for Palin and her running mate, John McCain, but instead her attacks fell flat as she called criticisms of Palin's shopping spree "deliberately sexist."

Sorry, Elisabeth, but you're just flat out wrong on this one.

As we explained last week, the RNC spent $150,000 on a designer wardrobe for Palin's campaign appearances. This is relevant because Palin is attempting to appeal to Joe Sixpack and Joe the Plumber while painting the Democrats out to be the ones shopping at Neiman's while sipping their lattes. She can't have it both ways.

And there is no double standard here. First of all, the Obamas shop on a budget, and much ado has been made about the fact that Michelle Obama shops at H&M instead of pricy boutiques or department stores. Secondly, Democrats have come under fire for similar hypocrisy as Palin's. For instance, John Edwards' message of "Two Americas" fell flat after it was revealed that he received a $400 haircut.

Edwards is a man. The right endlessly criticized him for trying to appeal to blue-collar voters and leading an elite lifestyle. Now Hasselbeck and her ilk are going to have to suck it up when the Ferragamo is on the other foot.

In September, we brought you a two-piece special series on the Republican vice-presidential nominee, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska [The Palin Pick and The Sarah Palin Show].

At that point, after the American public was still getting introduced to the governor, we argued that Palin seemed real to voters in Middle America, and that Barack Obama's supporters would do well not to ignore Palin's "everyman" appeal.

After today, we've changed our mind. We're retracting that warning. Why? Because now, it will be hard for Middle American voters to view her as much more than a fraud.

After weeks of battling her public image as Tina Fey "mocked" her and Katie Couric "tricked" her, she seemed to redeem herself by not falling flat at the vice-presidential debate.

But now she has suffered a death knell: it has been revealed that the Republican National Committee provided Palin with a $150,000 wardrobe from high-end retailers, including over $75,000 at Neiman Marcus and nearly $50,000 at Saks Fifth Avenue.

In a time when the Democratic ticket is leading the Republicans by double digits in most polls and has already amassed over 270 electoral votes in most predictions, this is the nail in the coffin for John McCain and Sarah Palin.

If this were Cindy McCain (and it has been), we wouldn't bat an eye. Why? As the Style section of the Washington Post says this morning, a shopping spree doesn't go against McCain's public persona. It isn't unexpected or out of character. McCain has never tried to appeal to "Joe Sixpack." (And we're sure that Barack is forever grateful today for his wife Michelle's ability to shop on a budget.)

But Palin is almost desperately middle-class- and she never lets the media or the voters forget her humble beginnings. While her spokesman has said that Palin has intended to give the clothes to charity in some way after the election ends, I'd like to hear a surrogate or Palin herself explain how the shopping trip matches anything that the candidate has said on the trail over the past couple of months.

The fact is that it doesn't. Not at all. Not ever. And there's no defense for Palin to be dressed in Valentino while she criticizes liberal regions of the country for not being "real America."

The act is up, Sarah. It's time to return your expensive wardrobe- but you can keep a winter coat, because you may need one back in Alaska.

Today (coincidentally the fourteenth of October) a new CBS News/New York Times poll has Barack Obama leading John McCain by a whopping 14 points, 53%-39%.

One week ago, prior to the Town Hall debate that uncommitted voters saw as a win for Obama, that margin was just three points.

Among independents who are likely voters - a group that has swung back and forth between McCain and Obama over the course of the campaign - the Democratic ticket now leads by 18 points. McCain led among independents last week.

McCain's campaign strategy may be hurting hurt him: Twenty-one percent of voters say their opinion of the Republican has changed for the worse in the last few weeks. The top two reasons cited for the change of heart are McCain's attacks on Obama and his choice of Sarah Palin as running mate.

Obama is currently leading in every major poll, and Real Clear Politics gives him an average lead of 8.1 points after factoring in this new poll and an LA Times/Bloomberg poll that has the Democrat leading by nine points. (Obama's second-highest showing is in the GW/Battleground Tracking poll, in which he leads by 13 points.)

Taking a look at the electoral map at RCP, the Democratic ticket also holds a clear advantage over McCain and Palin. Obama has 313 electoral votes according to their calculations, while McCain would only win 158. Even if McCain were to win all of the remaining toss-up states (Nevada, Missouri, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, and North Carolina), he would still lose the election handily. Notice any notorious swing states missing from that list? That's because Florida, Virginia, Colorado, and New Mexico have shown the potential to become bonafide blue states, and for now are being listed in the Democratic column.

Sunday wasn't a great day in the media for Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin.

First of all, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright had to correct the Alaskan governor when Palin misquoted her. Then, an AP op-ed called Palin's attacks on Barack Obama "racially-tinged," referring to her trying to link the Democratic presidential nominee with terrorists. Also, conservative columnist and pundit Peggy Noonan referred to Palin's populism as "not a good road to be on" for the country.

One of the more interesting comments, though, came from the moderator of last Thursday's vice-presidential debate, Gwen Ifill.

Ifill commented on Palin's unwillingness to answer her questions during the debate. Ifill suggested that Palin ignored the questions that she was asked and instead chose to deliver a stump speech. Watch Ifill say that Palin "blew me off" in the video below:

Tina Fey reprised her Sarah Palin role over the weekend on Saturday Night Live. The opening sketch from this weekend's episode satirized last week's vice-presidential debate. Check out the hilarious clip below, with a special guest star, Queen Latifah as moderator Gwen Ifill.

Thursday night's vice-presidential debate was hands down the most-watched VP debate ever and the second most-watched political debate in U.S. history, according to the Style section of today's Washington Post. That means more people tuned in to see Joe Biden and Sarah Palin debate the issues than than the number that have tuned in to almost every presidential debate in history. And these guys don't even get to run the show.

Along with a projected seventy-three million Americans, we tuned in to see Biden v. Palin. Many thought that Palin, the governor of Alaska and Republican John McCain's running mate, would fall flat on her face (figuratively, at least). Her expectations were low following a series of Katie Couric interviews that were released last week that made Palin seem like she didn't know what was going on. She couldn't name any newspapers that she read or any Supreme Court cases that she disagreed with other than Roe v. Wade.

Palin surprised us all, though, by generally seeming as if she knew the issues when pressed on them. She employed the age-old tactic of skirting the question, but that's to be expected of most honed politicians. She at one point even claimed to be such a Washington outsider that she likely wouldn't answer questions in the way that Biden or moderator Gwen Ifill may like.

Palin also employed colloquialisms and her famous Alaskan accent to her advantage, making her seem more appealing and real. If the debate were judged solely on style, she'd be a sure winner. Unfortunately for Palin, we judge debates on substance.

Biden, Democrat Barack Obama's running mate and the senior senator for Delaware, was more substantive. His deeper understanding of the issues was glaringly apparent. He made a clear case against a McCain administration while remaining friendly and cordial toward Palin. He outlined to the American people why they can't afford to re-elect the Republicans, and spoke of a better future offered with an Obama administration.

Biden also seemed to have a better understanding of the role of a vice president. While Palin argued that the Constitution allowed for an expansion of the VP's role, Biden countered that Vice President Dick Cheney "has been the most dangerous vice president we’ve had probably in American history."

Other standout moments found the governor and senator practically agreeing on their respective stances against same-sex marriage, followed up by stark contrasts on foreign policy. "Your plan is a white flag of surrender in Iraq," Palin told her opponent.

It was an interesting debate and seemed to captivate a large audience, but historically vice-presidential debates haven't had much, if any, of an effect on the outcome of an election. Eileen Smith at Poll Dancing sums it up nicely:

In the end, do VP debates matter? Probably not. Palin had the most to lose, and could have possibly done damage to the ticket, if she had given a lackluster performance. But she didn’t. Biden didn’t all of a sudden turn into Rick Lazio, and there were more than a few opportunities for that to happen.

So, Biden did well and Palin did well, and nothing changes. Now back to your regularly scheduled programming, also known as McCain versus Obama.

Tomorrow we'll have more analysis of the vice-presidential debate, but tonight enjoy this video montage of Gov. Sarah Palin's many winks throughout the night.

Actor Matt Damon called Sarah Palin's nomination "a bad Disney movie." That's all that some humorists needed-- they took it and ran with it, creating a "trailer" that looks like it really could be "a bad Disney movie" about Sarah Palin. Watch it below for a few laughs.

John McCain, after suspending his campaign yesterday in light of the unfolding economic crisis, snubbed an appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman.

After praising McCain's military service, Letterman took him to task for canceling his appearance at the last minute. Letterman also said that "you don't quit" in the middle of a campaign, and that McCain should have returned to Washington and let his vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin shoulder the campaign. The late night host continued to express his disappointment in McCain, suggesting that the campaign suspension was due to sliding poll numbers for his campaign.

"This just doesn't smell right. This is not the way a tested hero behaves," Letterman chided.

Later in the show, Letterman realized that McCain was conducting an interview with CBS News host Katie Couric, after telling Letterman by phone that he was "racing to the airport" in order to return to Washington.

You can view the video of Letterman's remarks below:

We all shared a laugh at Tina Fey's deadringer impersonation of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, because Fey mocked some of the obvious holes in Palin's candidacy.

But will Middle America overlook these holes, among them zero foreign policy experience? Are they more interested in her family life than her politics, and if so will that help her or hurt her in the long run?

Americans have certainly tuned in to the Sarah Palin show, and as long as it continues the public will continue to eat it up.

The past eight years have been riddled with war and scandal, but Palin's life on display translates into a more understandable narrative that is more likely to resonate with the public. Sure, the majority of people have turned on the president and believe we should end the war in Iraq, but I'm willing to bet that a majority could also recite details on Britney Spears' rocky road to recovery and Lindsay Lohan's sexual orientation. Those are the kinds of stories that get readers and viewers, and we're learning that it doesn't really matter if we're stalking celubtantes or politicians through the media's omniscient eye, we still salivate over every luscious detail.

In the same way that the English relish in royal scandals, Americans love to dissect the personal lives of their own ruling class. But there's a difference in the Palin narrative when compared to say, the Clintons or John Edwards. While a sex scandal could potentially end a politician's career, family drama could prove to propel it.

While some in the blogosphere have dismissed Palin, Middle America has embraced her as one of their own. She's a Westerner, she's folksy and gutsy, sure, but as Eileen Smith explains at Poll Dancing, there's more to it than that: she's normal.

They raise their kids, go to work, go to church and do the little things that so often don’t garner media attention, but keep much of America stable and functioning. They feel slighted by a left-wing that has (fairly or unfairly) become the party of elites that scoff at IHOP patrons and can’t step inside Wal-Mart without trepidation (the selection of Joe “I have a much higher IQ than you” Biden doesn’t help). And Palin is the perfect stand-in for their ambitions: someone who has five kids, ran a city, now runs a state and, hell, hunts moose in her free time. She embodies the overlooked potential of normal people.

I've spoken with several Texans who feel that Sarah Palin is "one of us." They don't necessarily have to have or have had a pregnant teenager in order to empathise with her. They don't have to have a son going off to war in order to know how that must feel. They don't have to have raised a child with special needs to understand and appreciate how tough of a challenge it is. But they have done it, or their sister has done it, or their neighbor has done it. These are challenges that real Americans face on a daily basis. Middle America is not judging Palin for her family woes, they're rewarding her for them. They're defending her against media slights, and in some cases, pledging to give her their vote.

In a commentary for CNN today, Ed Rollins describes the situation perfectly:

What the country wants to know is do these candidates understand what's going on in their lives and in their neighbors' lives, and are they willing to try and fix it.

They want to get our soldiers home from Iraq as quickly as possible and leave that country as stable as it can be without us being there for another decade. They want someone who understands ordinary Americans are hurting and will try to find solutions to the economic mess we are in.

The leading "mainstream media" including ABC's condescending Charlie Gibson and The New York Times' Maureen Dowd have raced "North to Alaska" to find out what makes this woman tick. But alas, they show again and again that they just don't get it.

Nobody cares if Palin knows the Bush doctrine. I defy anyone to tell you what the Bush-Cheney strategy has been over the last seven years (other than getting re-elected) or what doctrine has been practiced by this "gang that can't shoot straight." And who cares? They are gone in 126 days.

What the media doesn't get is that Palin is one of us. She got to the top of the heap because she could relate to ordinary people, because she is ordinary people and through extraordinary efforts made it.

An unnamed Dallas area professional woman told me that she would be more likely to vote Republican with the addition of Palin to the ticket. Why? "She gets it." Obama and the Democrats are once again relegated to the elite class, and while McCain may be aloof, he is experienced and he can "train Sarah Palin for the job." The source went on to say that politicians usually lie or are corrupt, so if you can actually trust them and know that they understand your needs, specific policy becomes less important.

The woman said she had voted for Hillary Clinton in the primary, but is usually Republican-leaning. So we have to realize that the Palin pick may not be drawing away potential Obama voters in droves, but it's certainly inspiring previously disenchanted Republicans to make plans to support their party this time.

Clinton is reminding her voters why it's so important for them to choose Obama, but many women voters did not choose Clinton in the primary or do not have loyalty to her and are beyond her grasp. Clinton is taking the right track, though, and should continue to pound out the differences between potential Obama and McCain administrations, to really highlight it for anyone on the edge. Joe Biden needs to step up his game, as well, because he has hardly gotten half of the coverage that Palin has gotten since their respective VP announcements.

Polls show that McCain is suddenly leading the race among white women, though. This bounce can only be contributed to Palin's addition to his ticket. While black women (along with the vast majority of black voters in general) are pretty much locked up for Obama, white women have become a voting block to be reckoned with, and presently McCain holds the advantage.

It's true that the Palin bounce could be temporary, but Democrats would do well not to underestimate it.

[This post is part two of our Sarah Palin series. Be sure to read part one, The Palin Pick.]

Barack Obama may have had to cancel his appearance on the season opener of Saturday Night Live, but Tina Fey and Amy Poehler wouldn't miss the chance to impersonate Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton. Some have already drawn comparisons in looks between Palin and Fey, so it was only fitting that Fey portray Palin's character on the late-night sketch show.

Many analysts are pointing to John McCain's pick of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate to explain his post-convention poll bounce, but why?

The media should have taken the pulse of the nation on the Palin pick before assuming that women would be up in arms about the choice and that informed voters would reject her. The liberal blogosphere should have given her half a second before pouncing on her, and bringing all of her personal controversies to light.

Why? Well, because the mainstream media combined with the online left may have helped to bolster Palin's image despite their efforts to tear her down. By attacking her from the moment of her announcement, Republicans were forced to learn more about her and begin defending her on day one, which has set a precedent. Because the left was so outraged at the pick, the right was automatically inspired by it.

Others will leap to Palin's defense as sexism continues to color her coverage. If some of us in the blogosphere may be thinking that Palin's large family would prohibit her from holding the office of vice president, we'd do best not to express those feelings publicly, because we would be perpetuating a sexist meme that has seeped into the American conscience: the idea that the woman's first priority is to the home.

Yes, Sarah Palin has a special needs child, a pregnant teenager, as well as three other children, but she also has a husband who can help with the parenting while she holds elected office. If it were her husband that were running for vice president, no one would even think to ask if he could hold office while presiding over a large family.

And regardless of whether or not Democrats have sexist intentions behind their comments, if the American voter perceives sexism in politics, especially if that voter is a woman, she may feel a duty to defend that person and even vote for that person. Sometimes, when the media wants to pronounce someone down and out, the American public has different ideas and forces the media to come around to the pulse of the public.

The Palin pick was not an accident. McCain knew what he was doing, whether or not you think she was fully vetted. By picking Palin, McCain utilized the element of surprise to steal attention away from Barack Obama's powerful convention speech. He knew that her feisty nature, her scrappy style of politics, her contrasting youthfulness, and her conservative chops would add considerably to his ticket. He also hoped that she might stir resentment among Democrats who voted for Hillary Clinton in the primary and felt she got a raw deal.

On Barack Obama's part, Joe Biden is a solid pick. He closes holes in Obama's candidacy, namely foreign policy experience, Washington know-how, and blue-collar appeal. But Obama mainly picked Biden because he knew that Biden would actually make a decent vice president. Obama chose his Senate colleague as a running mate under the assumption that he was going to win the election. From what we have seen since the announcements, Biden has not considerably helped the Democratic ticket, but would arguably be a boon to an Obama administration if elected.

Palin's is a pure political pick, because her experience as governor of Alaska actually brings little to the table of national politics. Is it qualifying, executive experience? Sure, but how will she help McCain's administration once in office? McCain picked Palin to help him win. It is reminiscient of the long-canceled television series Commander In Chief in which Geena Davis stars as the first female president, rising to that office from vice president following the death of the president. On his deathbed, the president asks Davis' character to resign from office and allow the Speaker of the House to ascend to the presidency, reminding her that he only picked her to win the "soccer mom vote." Needless to say, she ignores his pleas and assumes the presidency.

As it turns out, Obama would have benefited greatly from picking his former opponent Hillary Clinton as his running mate. If Obama had chosen Clinton, McCain would not have chosen Palin. Because both of the running mates would be female, it would starkly contrast the two... and even Republicans can admit that Sarah Palin is no Hillary Clinton. I'm sure that Palin was a lock under the assumption that Obama would not choose Clinton, but had he chosen her, McCain would have been almost forced to make another choice. Without the Palin pick to shake things up, the media would have incessantly covered the new Democratic team of Obama and Clinton right through the Republican convention, and with a duller pick from McCain he arguably wouldn't have enjoyed a post-convention bounce. (Another way McCain could've shaken things up would have been to choose Joe Lieberman, but that would have opened a whole new can of worms on both sides of the aisle.)

But Obama did not choose Clinton, so what can he and Biden do now to tame Palin and take down McCain?

[This post is the first in a series about Sarah Palin and her affect on the presidential race. Stay tuned for the next installment.]

Republican strategists and pundits such as Karl Rove and Bill O'Reilly have been yet again exposed by Jon Stewart on The Daily Show.

Watch the segment in which Rove belittles Gov. Tim Kaine, who at the time was a potential VP pick for Barack Obama, for his lack of experience, and then turn around praise Gov. Sarah Palin, whose qualifications are similar to Kaine's. Stewart also shows a clip of O'Reilly telling his viewers that Palin's daughter Bristol's pregnancy is a private matter, yet blaming pop star Jamie Lynn Spears' pregnancy on the parents at an earlier date.

It's very funny, and very telling. "The most outrageous double standards you've ever seen" abound in Washington, and thank God Jon Stewart is there to keep them honest.