NORTH CAROLINA: Headlock Congressman loses to Renee Elmers

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Remember this Guy?

From Eric Dondero:

That's right. The guy who put a young conservative video reporter in a headlock on a Washington D.C. street lost his race. Longtime Democrat Congressman Bob Etherige lost to Tea Party Republican and Registered Nurse Renee Elmers.

From the Washington Examiner:

Weirdly, it appears only seven-term Democrat Bob “Who are you?” Etheridge -- neck and neck with his challenger throughout the night -- finally succumbed to Renee Elmers (according to WRAL news of Raleigh).

Elmers ran fiery campaign commercials including one accusing Etherige and the Democrats of being soft on Islamo-Fascism and supportive of the Ground Zero Mosque in NYC.

Etherige was the only Democrat Congressman to go down to defeat in the State.

Democrats lose the NC House; a loss of "Titanic proportions"

In other North Carolina results, the State House of Representatives has gone Republican. Continuing:

If history was to be a guide with respect to the Democrats’ lock on the N. C. General Assembly, history was a no-show this November. The N.C. legislature should have remained in the hands of a party that had not let go of power for more than 100 years. Ignoring their appalling ethics, one had to admire the sheer tenacity of Tar Heel Democrats who -- despite all manner of corruption charges and accusations -- had managed to keep the state in their clutches through scandal after scandal (since the horse and buggy age).

And yet North Carolina is now red at the state level. This is a flip of titanic proportions. According to the Charlotte Observer:

Republicans haven't led both chambers together since their Fusion coalition with farmers got defeated in 1898. That includes a 112-year losing streak in the Senate and only four years of House control in the 1990s.

SOUTH DAKOTA: Kristi Noem is already off and running…

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Western Conservatism triumphs!

From Eric Dondero:

Kristi Noem, Congresswoman-elect from the State of South Dakota, addresses a Republican luncheon in Rapid City, the day after her win.

"A small and limited government... We're gonna cut our spending."

The Congresswoman thanks all her supporters, campaign workers and volunteers. She gives a preview of her "Sarah Palin-esque" agenda: Fighting for limited government and frontier values of South Dakota.

Note to Readers: Travel day for LR editor. Next site update tomorrow morning. Tons more election results to report.

CORRECTION: LR gets it wrong; Jesse Kelly still in contention

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From Eric Dondero:

Yesterday Libertarian Republican reported that Pro-Defense Tea Party Republican Jesse Kelly lost his race for US Congress in Arizona to Democrat Gabriell Gifford, by less than 1% of the vote (less than 2,300 votes). We were relying on reports from liberal media sources.

We received a call from the campaign that indeed Kelly was still in contention, and that the race had not yet been called.

Obviously, it's a welcome error on our part. The campaign indicated to us that results might be known within days. We'll keep you informed of the latest.

Additionally, the race for a neighboring seat, Tea Party Republican Ruth McClung vs. Democrat Raul Grijalava, has similarly not yet been called. Approximately 3,000 votes separate the two candidates.

Huge Oklahoma Victory for Pro-Defense libertarians

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70% of Okies oppose Islamo-Fascism

From Eric Dondero:

The Stop Sharia Law proposition in Oklahoma passed with an overwhelming margin of 70% of the vote.

From Politico:

The proposition’s sponsor, Republican Rex Duncan, told reporters Tuesday that the proposition is a "preemptive strike" against judges who he worries could be “legislating from the bench or using international law or Sharia law.”

Duncan is a Constitutionalist Republican, and strong advocate of increasing state sovereingty.

Two heartbreaking losses in Arizona for Tea Party/libertarian Republicans

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Two other seats GOP pick-ups

From Eric Dondero:

Ruth McClung lost to incumbent Democrat Raul Grijalva, 48% to 45%. McClung a spritely, inspiring young Republican and Tea Partyer, ran a David versus Goliath type race. She became a sweetheart of the Right blogosphere when polls began to show her within striking distance.

Grijalva is best known for having alled for a boycott of Arizona over Jan Brewer's anti-illegal immigration stance.

Also in southern Arizona Iraq War Veteran Jesse Kelly lost to incumbent Democrat Gabrielle Gifford 48.6% to 47.6%.

Though, Arizona Republicans picked up three other Democrat seats further north, fiscal conservative Dave Schwiekert in a re-match over Democrat Harry Mitchell 53% to 42%, and Paul Gosar over Ann Kirkpatrick 49% to 43%.

Additionally of note, Dan Quayle's son Ben Quayle won the 3rd CD 52% to 42%, already held by Republicans. Quayle had beaten a number of more Tea Party/libertarian-oriented Republicans in the primary.

Justin Amash wins in Michigan; Other MI GOP wins for Congress

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From Eric Dondero:

Democrats tried to paint Justin Amash as a dangerous Tea Partyer who wanted to privatize Social Security and abolish Medicare. Amash is a libertarian Republican, friend of former libertarian Republican State Rep. Leon Drolet, and a longtime member of the Republican Liberty Caucus.

He won 59.7% to 37.5% over Democrat Pat Miles.

In other Michigan races, in a re-match former Congressman Tim Wahlberg who lost in the Obama Wave of 2008, regained his Kalamazoo-area seat. He beat incumbent Democrat Mark Shauer 54% to 45%. Wahlberg is a social conservatives and a hero to the pro-life movement. But he's also a strong economic libertarian and Constitutionalist.

Finally, another race of interest to libertarian Republicans, Dr. Dan Benishek won in Michigan's 1st District with 52% to 42%. Benishek is a surgeon. This was his first time running for political office. In Upper Michigan he became a folk hero of sorts for blasting fmr. Rep. Bart Stupak and leading a Tea Party revolt against ObamaCare.

Blue Collar libertarian elected to Michigan Senate

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From Eric Dondero:

Jack Brandenburg, a former 3-term State Rep. from St. Clair Shores, easily won election to the State Senate in the 11th District, Macomb County. Back in August, Brandenburg faced a tough GOP primary against two opponents, including fellow libertarian, and his longtime friend fmr. State Rep. Leon Drolet.

From MI SourceNewspapers.com:

In the 11th District, Jack Brandenburg defeated Democrat Jim Ayres by 31,228 votes. The Republican received 65,389 votes while Ayres received 34,161.

Brandenburg is a longtime advisory board member of the Republican Liberty Caucus, and a fervent anti-tax activist. He also served as Chairman of the successful Repeal Affirmative Action initiative sponsored by Ward Connerly in 2006. He owns a construction firm in Macomb.

Republicans now have the Governorship and appear to have taken both the State House and Senate.

MASSIVE DEFEAT OF DEMOCRATS IN NEW HAMPSHIRE

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From Eric Dondero:

Kelly Ayotte won her Senate race with a much higher percentage than anyone predicted. Ayotte gave Democrat Congressman Paul Hodes a thumping, with 61% to 35%.

Republican Frank Guinta, former Mayor of Manchester, was widely expected to win the 1st District US House race. But he did so with a somewhat larger margin than expected with 58% of the vote. Guinta was running against an ultra-left liberal Carol Shea Porter. (I spent a day in Manchester phone banking for Guinta.)

What was less-anticipated is that moderate-to-conservative Republican Charlie Bass won the Paul Hodes seat in the 2nd District with 49% to 46%%. Ironically, he beat his childhood friend Ann Kunster, a relatively moderate Democrat. The two ran a clean race, and refrained from criticizing each other.

According to RedState.com, Democrats had held a 14 to 10 advantage in the State Senate. That has flipped to Republicans with a whopping 20 to 4 majority.

The New Hampshire State House has completely flipped, and in a big way. Democrats have had a comfortable majority in the House for 4 years. Early indicators predict at the low end of 250 Republicans (out of 400), and possibly as high as 300.

The Executive Council, a statewide constitutional office in the State, with important veto power of the Governor, has flipped from 3 to 2 Democrat, to 5 to 0 Republican.

Democrats claimed only one single victory, and by a hair. Incumbent Democrat Governor John Lynch was re-elected over Tea Partyer John Stephen 52% to 48%.

On the ground in New England.

Senate races: Republicans pull only 1 or maybe 2 of the 4 Aces

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by Clifford F. Thies, Senior Editor

Republicans scored astounding victories in every category: (1) House seats, picking up a net of 60 or more seats, not only control of the House, but by a margin larger than have enjoyed since the 1920s; (2) Senate seats, picking up six to eight seats (AR, IL, IN, ND, PA and WI, with CO and WA still deadlocked); (3) Governors, picking up maybe a net of nine; (4) state legislative chambers, picking up twenty (!!!). State chambers that flipped from Democrat to Republican as of press time include: AL (both), IA (lower), IN (lower), ME (both), MI (lower), MN (both), NC (both), NH (both), MT (lower), NV (lower), OH (lower), PA (lower), WA (lower), WI (both)

You might ask, with such an enormous victory, why didn't the Republicans win control of the Senate. For about the last four weeks, we have been talking about the 4 Aces: IL, NV, WA and WV; the four key states the Republicans needed to win to win control of the Senate. It turns out we only pulled one of the four Aces from the deck, IL; with WA standing at 50-50 with 54 percent of the vote counted at press time. And, CO, which we should have won, is too close to call. The Democrats circled the wagons tight, cut funds to numerous incumbent Congressmen, and focused their resources on the key Senate races. As a result, Republicans made gains on the House side near the top end of projections and on the Senate side near the bottom end of projections.

Greatest Republican victory in the House of the night: Allen West, Florida

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Election Night Victory Celebration: "USA, USA, USA..."

From Eric Dondero:

Retired Army Lt. Colonel, Iraq War hero, and Tea Party member Allen West won election last night to the United States Congress with 53% of the vote. He beat incumbent Democrat Rep. Ron Klien.

West represents the ideal libertarian Republican: Staunch advocate of Free Market economics, Individual Liberty, and unapologetically Strong on National Defense.

We were supporting West back in 2006 when he first ran for this seat. He lost a heartbreaker that year. His win last night might be the greatest of all libertarian Republican wins for 2010. Needless to say we are absolutely thrilled that he won.

Editor's note - Site will be updated with more election results tomorrow. This post and open thread for election results, commentary.

It’s official! Texas’s top Democrat blog declares Republican Party has been taken over by Libertarians

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From Eric Dondero:

Burnt Orange, named after UT Longhorns colors, is the largest and arguably most respected and influential political blog in Texas. Editor Todd Hill whines this morning about the massive Republican victory in Texas and across the Nation: "The Onus is on Republicans to Now Govern."

Republicans won 3 US House seats from the Democrats: Quico Canseco in CD-23, Bill Flores crushing longtime Democrat incumbent and bitter Ron Paul foe Chet Edwards 62% to 34%, and a shocking win in the Corpus Christi area of little-known Blake Farenthold over Texas Democrat institution Solomon Ortiz, 48% to 47%.

And just as devastating to Texas Democrats, Republicans now have a near 2/3rds majority in the State House 99 to 51.

The cause of the Repubulican Hurricane in the Gulf State of Texas according to Burnt Orange: Libertarians.

These Teapots are not your normal, rank and file, GOP platform supporting, GOP establishment-loving Republicans. You've witnessed much of this splintering as the race toward November 2nd closed, right Sarah? Quite "sleazy" you think?

Teapots in fact do not support the modern Republican Party, they simply saw an opportunity to tap into voter fear, anger and despair and took advantage of that for electoral gain. Most of the recent Teapot-to-GOP nominees are actually more Libertarian than anything else. People seem to forget that since Ron Paul has been on the ballot he has brought forth an army of Libertarian leaning supporters to the Republican Party with orders to take it over at the grassroots level. Many of you may recall that Paul ran as the Libertarian candidate for President in 1988. What Ron Paul figured out many years ago was that running as a Republican versus a Libertarian for Congress and President, is what his supporters and grassroots organizers have figured out over the last two election cycles--if you want to makeover the political process, and want to get like-minded Libertarians elected, you must take over one of the shells that is the American two-party system to make it happen. Developing a third party in the American political system has been tried by many a men, including a former President, only to collapse like a house of cards. Without a billion dollars at one's disposal, mainstream platforms to boot, and a candidate with appeal in the Midwest to Western areas of the United States, forget about it. Ask yourself this, which shell most resembles what a Libertarian-leaning supporter is most likely to vote for? Republican! And which party was reeling after the 2008 election cycle in which many wrote the obituary of the modern GOP? Republican! Libertarian takeover of the Republican Party, although not complete, has certainly moved beyond stage one.

Sidenote: Governor Perry won with 55% of the vote over Houston Mayor Bill White despite a strong Libertarian candidate on the ballot, Houston Attorney Kathie Glass who polled 2.2%.

Governor races morning update: LePage secures win, Kasich wins in Ohio, Rick Scott holding on to lead in Florida, Huge GOP upsets in Oregon and Conn.

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Pro-Liberty Republicans win across the U.S.

From Eric Dondero:

A quick look at some of the Governor's races around the country that Libertarian Republican has been following these past few months.

No doubt, those who were following the returns on Fox News or CNN last night are aware of these big Republican wins: Rick Perry easily re-elected in Texas, Susana Martinez historic win in New Mexico, Nikki Haley prevails in South Carolina, Tom Corbett with 55% in Pennsylvania, Rick Snyder the winner in Michigan, Jan Brewer wins overwhelmingly in Arizona, and Sean Parnell easily re-elected in Alaska.

Pro-Liberty Republicans however, suffered two heartbreaking losses in New England; Charlie Baker for Massachusetts Governor by 49% to 42%, and John Stephen for New Hampshire Gov. 52% to 46%.

Ohio: Kasich defeats Obama Dem Ted Strickland

Now, for the closer races.

Although they do not declare the race over, CNN has Tea Party Republican Paul LePage winning in Maine over Independent Elliot Culter, 38% to 37%. LePage is over Cutler by slightly more than 6,000 votes.

Ditto for Florida. CNN does not yet put FL in the Republican column. Yet Republican Rick Scott is over Democrat Alexis Sink 49% to 48%. The margin of the win is right at a significant 53,000 votes. This would appear comfortable enough where Sink should concede. (Jennifer Carroll, Scott's running mate, now becomes the highest elected African-American female officeholder in the Nation.)

John Kasich, and running-mate Mary Taylor, have been declared the winners in Ohio, with 49% to incumbent Ted Strickland's 47%. This was a bit tighter than many had expected. But still an enormous win for the Republican Party.

Shockers! Dudley up in Oregon, Foley wins Connecticut

In a heartbreaking loss for the GOP and the Tea Party, Tom Emmer was defeated in Minnesota 44% to 43%. There was a viable third-party candidate in the race. But in neighboring Wisconsin Republicans picked off a longheld Democrat Governorship, Scott Walker over Tom Barret 52% to 47%.

The Illinois Governors race really is still too close to call with incumbent Democrat Pat Quinn at 46%, and Republican Bill Brady at 46%. Quinn is ahead by some 9,000 votes out of a total of 3.2 million cast.

Another race too close to call, but increasingly looking like the biggest Governors race upset of the night: Oregon. Former NBA star Chris Dudley is at 50% over Democrat incumbent John Kitzhaber with 48%. Dudley is ahead by 21,000 votes with some 1.1 million cast. A win here for the GOP would be hugely devastating for the Democrats.

And perhaps the most shocking loss for the Democrats of the night, in any of the Governors races: Connecticut. Although the race has not yet been declared, Republican Tom Foley has 50% to Dan Malloy's 49%. Foley is up 11,000 votes out of approximately 1 million cast. Foley had been behind in all the polls until late last week.

Mark Kirk declares himself a libertarian-leaning Pro-Defenser in Victory Speech

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From Eric Dondero:

A very interesting declaration late last night from the winner of the Barack Obama US Senate seat in Illinois:

"Tonight I stand before you as a fiscal conservative, a social moderate, and a national security hawk."

Has Mark Kirk been reading Libertarian Republican?

Congratulations to the new Republican Senator from the State of Illinois, from the fiscally conservative, socially moderate, national security hawk wing of the GOP.

Note - Kirk is a 20-year Veteran of the United States Military.

See - Breitbart Video of Kirk's victory speech.

RELATED NEWS: In another election night shocker, it appears that Republicans may have held Mark Kirk's House seat in IL CD-10 (north of Chicago). This was expected to be one of handful of Democrat pick-ups. GOPer Bob Dold leads the Dem 51% to 49%.

How To Be An “Instant” Physicist

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Next month (I think on the 16th) Norton will release a new book by Richard A. Muller, The Instant Physicist:  An Illustrated Guide.  The book can be pre-ordered now from various distributors.

Image shamelessly lifted from Amazon.com

I think you’re going to enjoy this book.   The format is perfect for quick dips; on the left side, an easy-to-read (and humorous) explanation of every-day physics, and on the right, a clever illustration (by Joey Manfre).  You’ll learn how spy satellites operate (and how to hide from them), how to calculate the epicenter of an earthquake, what really fell out of the sky at Roswell, and many, many other nuggets.

This is science brought into your living room.  It’s interesting, engaging, and even captured the attention of my teenager.  I consider that nothing short of incredible.  Although designed for non-scientists, it is an enjoyable read at all levels.  With gentle wit (and great illustrations), Muller will instill a love of physics in the ordinary world.  I would say it’s definitely worth a trip to your local library or favorite bookstore.

Richard Muller is a professor of physics at the University of California, Berkeley.  He has published several books, including Physics For Future Presidents, a book based on his popular lecture series for non-science majors at Berkeley.

W. W. Norton & Company is the oldest and largest independent (employee-owned) publisher in the United States.  Its roots go back to 1923.  They have a solid reputation; publishing textbooks in science, history, art and literature, along with bestsellers like Helter Skelter and A Clockwork Orange.

Enjoy!

EPOXI Flyby is Complete

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One of the five close up images we have so far. Click for larger and the link for more is below. Images: Epoxi spacecraft/NASA

We are waiting for the shuttle launch, perhaps as early as tomorrow, but the news of the day is the EPOXI flyby of comet Hartley 2.

The flyby has just been completed successfully and the spacecraft has been re-oriented to utilize the high gain antenna.  The high gain antenna allows for a higher data rate of data to be downloaded.  Job #1 right now is to download engineering data and then the pictures can be sent.  I think I heard (so don’t hold me to this) they have something like 199 pictures?

I hope to have pictures to put up later today.  For now we can give the EPOXI mission team a pat on the back, the flyby was pretty much right on the numbers.

The image above is one of five you can see here.

Scrubbed Again

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The source of the leak is the GUCP. Credit: NASA

The shuttle mission is scrubbed again and this time until November 30th at the earliest.

The problem was a leak at the Ground Umbilical Carrier Plate (GUCP) where the external tank and an external 17 inch pipe are attached. Essentially the 17 inch lines is a vent pipe to carry gaseous hydrogen safely away from the shuttle and burned off so as not to cause a problem.  Hydrogen is VERY flammable.

The leak was termed “significant” by shuttle launch director Mike Leinbach. It is similar to leaks on STS-119 and 127 except the rate of leakage was higher.  The problem was noted during the tanking process so now the tank needs to be drained and the vapors inside rendered inert before technicians can take a look, the process should take about 20 hours.

By Saturday they should have a pretty good handle on what is going on. The Mission Management Team will meet and decide if there might be a possibility of a Monday launch.  I know, I know, I said the 30th, but something tells me that will still be the case.  Besides for those of you that have followed my more recent predictions concerning the shuttle KNOW now that I’ve said that, to be watching the news on Monday!

No matter, better safe than sorry I say.

Deep in the Depths of the Outer Solar System…

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Isn’t that a poetic title?

Deep in the outer Solar System (about 1/4 the way to Proxima Centauri), lies the hypothesized home of long-period comets; the Oort Cloud (rhythms with “fort”, “short” and “snort”).  Possibly a remnant of our Solar System’s original protoplanetary disc, the Oort Cloud was hypothesized by astronomer Jan Oort in 1950 to resolve a paradox concerning comets (basically, there shouldn’t be any comets left in the Solar System, so where are they coming from?).

Oort Cloud comparison - NASA/CalTech/R.Hurt

Believed to occupy a space from about 5,000 AU to about 50,000 AU, the Oort Cloud is thought to contain several trillion objects.  These objects would be small (some tiny), and the Oort Cloud is believed to have a total mass of only about 5X the Earth.  While there have been no confirmed, direct observations of the Oort Cloud, four Trans-Neptunian objects are considered part of the structure:  90377 Sedna, 2000 CR (105), 2006 SQ(372), and 2008 KV (42).

Voyager 1 conception - American Museum of Natural History

Admittedly, not much is yet known about the Oort Cloud.  It’s too far away and its objects are too small to allow easy study.  Hopefully, once Voyager 1 gets a bit further out, we’ll have more information.  Voyager 1, by the way, is currently in the heliosheath, and should enter heliopause in 2015.  That puts it about 10.6 billion miles away.  It has a long way to go before it will enter the Oort Cloud, if ever.  Also, New Horizons will blow past Pluto in July, 2015, and continue on toward the Kuiper Belt and the Oort Cloud.

Illustrated as roughly spherical, the Oort Cloud is very tenuously bound to the Sun’s gravity.  It is also influenced by the gravity of nearby stars, like Proxima Centauri.  It’s thought that gravity perturbations from nearby stars and planets are what sends objects from the Oort Cloud rocketing into the Inner Solar System, giving us comets.

Oort Cloud - NASA - It's big, for certain

While distant and mysterious, the Oort Cloud serves as a reminder that we really know very little about the Solar System (much less the Universe) in which we live.

Last Launch for Discovery – Tomorrow

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Current Status: Delayed.

Launch Date: Friday, November 5, 2010 @ 3:04 pm ET

Odds of Launch: Unknown at this time

Shuttle: Discovery (OV-103) – Sad to say this is the final scheduled flight for Discovery.

Mission: STS-133

Mission Length: 10 days

EVA’s: 2 (on flight days: 5 and 7)

Primary Objectives: Among other things, robotically install Express Logistics Carrier to starboard three truss lower inboard common attach site and robotically install Permanent Multipurpose Module (PMM) to Unity node nadir or Earth-facing port.

Commander: Steve Lindsey

Pilot: Eric Boe

Mission Specialists: Tim Kopra, Alvin Drew, Michael Barratt and Nicole Stott


Launch Pad 39A — Webcam Image courtesy: NASA/Kennedy Space Center

NOAA’s Forecast:

Tomorrow: Partly sunny, with a high near 83. East wind between 5 and 10 mph.

To keep current with the news about the launch, I recommend you go to NASA’s Launch Blog which should be live around 10:30 am ET. You will need to refresh your browser to get the latest from that site, but it’s THE place to get the up to the minute stuff especially if you can’t watch NASA TV.

I will be watching the launch itself on NASA-TV in between getting home and rushing out the door again.

ALSO: You can listen to KSC communications via Radio Reference, click the little speaker and then you can minimize the player and continue browsing.

This is the last scheduled flight for Discovery. She made her first flight as STS-41D on August 30, 1984. This is also the next to the last scheduled shuttle flight for the program before the government slams the door shut on human space flight, but hey we will have a second rate health care system that we still can’t afford so it’s all good right?

Image Credits: NASA / NOAA