11/3: Time To Break Out The Brooms?

Conservative bloggers are feeling very confident about the GOP's chances in today's elections, and some are speculating about the possibility of a "big sweep" in the VA GOV, NJ GOV, and NY-23 races. Many righty bloggers are complaining about yesterday's AP article, "GOP Victory Tuesday Won't Erase Party's Problems," which they perceive as an attempt to downplay the significance of today's election results. Meanwhile, lefty bloggers are pessimistic about the Dems' prospects in today's elections. Most expect the Dem candidates to lose handily in the VA GOV and NY-23 races, and they're hoping that NJ Gov. Jon Corzine (D) can eke out a win "to avoid the sweep."

What else is happening in the blogosphere?

• Conservative bloggers (Lane, Knight) are accusing NJ Dems of trying to "steal the election" for Corzine, and they're buzzing (Morrissey, Gardner, Geraghty) about allegations that NJ Dems are "using gangbangers for GOTV." Liberal bloggers (Roth, Black, Schulman) are accusing their conservative counterparts of making phony voter fraud allegations.
• Liberal bloggers (Hamsher, Benen) are criticizing Blue Dog Rep. Jason Altmire (D-PA) for claiming that centrist Dems would benefit from GOP victories in today's elections. Lefty bloggers (Benen, Sudbay) are also blasting Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) for declaring that health care reform poses a bigger threat than "any terrorist right now in any country." Finally, several liberal bloggers (Klein, digby, Rosenberg) spent yesterday raising money for Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL).
• Liberal bloggers (Black, McCarter, Lemos, Benen, Drum) are mocking Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) for claiming that passage of the Dem health care reform bill will keep Dems in power for years.

ELECTION DAY: Preemptive Spin From The AP?

Conservative bloggers are criticizing Liz Sidoti's AP article, "GOP Victory Tuesday Won't Erase Party's Problems":

• Hot Air's Allahpundit: "AP pre-spin: These elections mean nothing and the GOP is doomed."
• Ace of Spades: "It's hard to read the AP as anything other than a DNC spokesman."
• AmSpec Blog's Quin Hillyer: "This whole article is wishful thinking and editorializing disguised as news. With almost no attribution to other sources, either. For shame."
• RedState's Erick Erickson: "The Obama administration and the media are together going to downplay today's electoral victories for the GOP. They will, to the mainstream media, not be relevant to or any sign of a rebuke against Barack Obama and his far left agenda. In fact, the media is already beginning the narrative that we cannot see today as a referendum on Barack Obama. [...] Don't believe it. The facts speak for themselves."
• Townhall's Matt Lewis: "To be sure, there are various factors at play here; there always are. Still, how can anyone say that Tuesday's elections don't reflect -- at least, to some degree -- Obama's unpopularity? He may not be to blame for the bad candidates, but it's also fair to say that his coattails don't seem to be long enough to lift them ..."
• Michelle Malkin: "Democrats and their media water-carriers got a head-start with this preemptive AP piece downplaying anticipated GOP wins. So: Tea Party movement? Doesn't mean anything. Nationwide government health care takeover revolt? Doesn't mean anything. Gallup poll showing 'Conservatives Maintain Edge as Top Ideological Group?' Doesn't mean anything. [...] If they plug their ears, stamp their feet, and say it often enough, maybe they can wish tomorrow and the conservative surge all away."
• NRO's Jim Geraghty: "Remember, whatever happens on Election Day, no result could possibly ever suggest that Barack Obama and his administration is not as popular, as persuasive, as well-liked or as influential as he was a year ago. Never, ever, ever."

Several liberal bloggers are concerned about the impact of today's elections:

• Open Left's Chris Bowers: "On Wednesday, Democrats will be tempted to brush off these results as lacking in national meaning. There are undoubtedly local factors at play in all of these elections, and candidate / campaign quality always makes a real difference in the outcome of any election. However, as a group we should not delude ourselves. Compared to one year ago, Republicans have made measurable gains."
• MyDD's Jerome Armstrong: "[W]ho thought it was a good idea to wait till after the election to try and close the deal on healthcare reform? Without a doubt, this will give the [Joe] Lieberman's all the talking points they need. We could be strong-enough along the public option path to make it happen still, but a election-night sweep like the above would nuke our chances at big progressive climate bill changes, pro-immigration reform, and a pro-labor bill."

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: The Republicans' Branding Problem

Nate Silver echoes Patrick Ruffini's argument that Doug Hoffman's success in the NY-23 race suggests that more GOP candidates should abandon their party label:

"The Democratic brand is marginal in about half the country, but the Republican brand is radioactive in about two-thirds of it. The biggest story of the cycle is that a non-Republican conservative, Doug Hoffman, might win. Counterfactual: if Hoffman had in fact been the Republican nominee in NY-23 all along, would he be in the same strong position that he finds himself in today? Methinks not: it would have been easier for [Dem candidate Bill] Owens -- who isn't much of a Democrat -- to identify himself as the moderate in the race.

You can actually make the argument -- although maybe it's not a good one -- that Republicans should in fact find a way to pull a Blackwater and switch their party ID when nobody is looking, from Republican to capital-C Conservative. This would probably involve at least some degree of bona fide structural change, and undoubtedly some near-term trauma: an orchestrated chaos. But the 'conservative' brand is just as powerful as it ever was in America, whereas the Republican brand is as weak as it has been."

LEST WE FORGET: ...I Just Can't Read Yet

From Overheard in New York:

Mother: What do you have there?
Five-year-old daughter: My schedule.
Mother: Do you know what class you have first?
Five-year-old daughter: Mom, I'm not retarded.