From yesterday's Los Angeles Times...

UPDATE 11/11/06 11:49pm PT: My friend RJ Eskow discusses this mandate. A real one.

Slow getting started today, as both my body and brain conspired against me to insist we slow down for just a few early hours this morning so that we can all get back on the same page. Though I fought off the mutiny originally, eventually we've worked out an agreement that I can catch up with a few items this afternoon and evening, as long as I promise to go a bit easier on them for a while to allow full rejuvenation in the days and weeks ahead. I'll try to keep that promise to both my brain and body. Don't tell them, however, but I've reserved the right to veer from that course as events on the ground warrant (and they do warrant, so we'll see.)

But for a start then today, I'll let Bev Harris of BlackBoxVoting.org do some of the early heavy lifting. She has some concerns, which caught our eye, about Rumsfeld's announced replacement, Robert Gates, as DefSec. Described by Wonkette as "an Iran-Contra crook and ex-CIA chief," Harris's concerns about Gates revolve around his involvement as Director of a mysterious E-Voting group. She writes in a noteworthy article posted at SCOOP today...

Much more in her SCOOP scoop...

AP concurs...

The BRAD BLOG still calls on Allen to not concede!... (Seriously, we won't call him a whining, sore-loser, tin-foil hat wearing conspiracy theorist! Go for it, George! Make 'em prove those numbers if they can! See if you can verify that vote count!)

Well, hallelujah! And thank you, Francine. On behalf of every voter in CA-50, San Diego, California and America (if we may be so bold.)

The Voice of San Diego continues...

The Registrar of Voters in San Diego is Mikel Haas, one of the country's worst, as BRAD BLOG readers likely know well by now.

More interesting details in the article by Daniel Strumpf and Kelly Bennet, both of whom are to be congratulated for their use of the word "appeared" to qualify their reporting of a possible Bilbray win, and letting CNN and New York Times face the ignominy of reporting the results of a race --- marred with so many security, integrity and verification issues --- that neither outlet, nor any human being on the face of the earth, could actually prove to be accurate in any way at this time.

From today's New York Times in an article headlined "Blogs Take Lead in Reporting Polling Problems" by Tom Zeller, Jr.:

Well, somebody hadda "take the lead in reporting polling problems," Zeller!

(Here's a good place to start. Though, NOTE TO CIO Insight: they weren't "glitches," they were failures.)

After co-anchoring last night's 9-hour Velvet Revolution Election Strike Force radio marathon spectacular until the wee hours, we were still more than happy to wake up and speak to both Stephanie Miller and then Thom Hartmann this morning...

-- Brad on Stephanie Miller Show, 11/8/06 [MP3, 9 minutes]

-- Brad on Thom Hartmann Program, 11/8/06 [MP3, 8 minutes]

UPDATE 4:57pm PT: And here's another from this afternoon with Chris Duel on KTSA News-Talk 550 AM...

-- Brad on Chris Duel Show, 11/8/06 [MP3, 11 minutes]

AP and Fox "News" (and thus, the White House) is reporting that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld will be "stepping down." The man responsible for choosing him for the roll and keeping him in that post has not yet announced that he will have the decency to do the same. He should.

We'll have much post-mortem to come today, and likely for the next several. Now that the media has announced John Tester (D) the "winner" in Montana, the balance of the Senate all comes down to Virginia. Will it get ugly? We hope so.

For now, here's a far-from-complete list of folks that The BRAD BLOG feels shouldn't concede or shouldn't have conceded, and a few whom we congratulate for announcing they don't plan to do so. More soon on these races specifically and why we feel this:

SHOULDN'T CONCEDE:
George Allen (R-VA) U.S. Senate
Conrad Burns (R-MT) U.S. Senate
Bruce McPherson (R-CA) Secretary of State

SHOULDN'T HAVE CONCEDED:
Jim Talent (R-MO) U.S. Senate
Rick Santorum (R-PA) U.S. Senate
Harold Ford (D-TN) U.S. Senate

ANNOUNCED THEY WON'T BE CONCEDING UNTIL EVERY VOTE IS COUNTED:
Francine Busby (D-CA) U.S. House, CA-50
Bob Fitrakis (G-OH) Governor, Ohio
Clint Curtis (D-FL) U.S. House, FL-24

UPDATED 10:38am PT: AP is now reporting that Debra Bowen has won the Secretary of State's race in California! This is a huge win for those of us who care about Election Integrity in America! Perhaps the most important race in the nation on that front! More on this later today!

The California Sec. of State's website reports the disingenuous, lying, Diebold-loving, democracy-hating California Sec. of State Bruce McPherson trails freedom-loving, voter-supporting State Senator Debra Bowen in the race for California Sec. of State. As of this moment, Bowen reportedly leads 48.5% to 44.7%.

It's currently the only statewide race that's yet to be called by AP. We hope that conpsiracy theorist McPherson doesn't cry fraud and he soon realizes, for the good of the state, that it's time to concede, get over it, and move on.

Guest Blogged by Alan Breslauer

At the end of the joint Olbermann - Matthews election coverage Chris Matthews, a bit condescendingly, opines about Olbermann's show which he finds "bracing" and "provocative" and...

Guest Blogged by Alan Breslauer

Bob Shrum stops Norah O'Donnell from waxing stupid before giving way to some talk about the Republican Senate offering the world to Joe Lieberman in order to prevent Democrat control. Finally, the clip ends with some pretty hearty laughter from Chris Matthews and the gang.

Guest Blogged by Alan Breslauer

Earlier today, on Lou Dobbs Tonight, Kitty Pilgrim reported on a number of E-Voting problems.

Guest Blogged by Jim Cirile

As of midnight EST, MSNBC reported that with 90% of the vote in, Tom Feeney was projected to win FL-24 57%-43%.

As loyal BRAD BLOG readers know, Feeney, one of CREW's 20 Most Corrupt Congressmen, was being challenged for his congressional seat by election fraud whistle-blower Clint Curtis, who alleges Feeney asked software designer Curtis to design vote-rigging software.

Curtis just got off the phone with BRAD BLOG'S Brad Friedman, broadcasting live in the Election Meltdown-apalooza. Curtis says he "apparently lost 57-43%" based on MSNBC results with 90% of the vote in --- but notes that there were "oddities" --- for example in some districts there were more Republican votes than there are registered Republicans. Of course, some Dems or independents could have voted for Feeney, but statistically, that is highly unlikely.

Curtis says "We have a lot of feet we'll be putting on the ground," and he will now do a "forensic reconstruction" to find out "if the actual election is supported by actual voters." Imagine that!

Note that there are STILL no numbers being reported from Seminole County per the FL Sec. State website (as of 12:06 PM EST).

In short, Curtis is not conceding. We say BRAVO! If he lost fair and square, that's fine, we will all accept that. It's the "fair and square" part we are just a bit uncertain of. Who was it who once said "Trust Yet Verify"? Why, it was Ronald Reagan. Wise man occasionally, it turns out. Stay tuned for more news from FL-24. It's likely this story may continue for awhile. And that, friends, is a good thing.

UPDATE: 2:20 AM Eastern time with 99% reporting:

District 24
Tom Feeney (R) 122,938 58%
Clint Curtis (D) 89,158 42%

Continuing the previous thread... which includes more details on the Election Integrity Broadcast Marathon with Peter B. Collins and Brad Friedman (listen up right here!)

Everyone, please start commenting on this thread now. We want to hear from our dial-up friends, and long threads knock them out of the conversation.

UPDATE FROM BRAD: Feel free to call in as well at 888-573-8372 and let us know how we're doing! Thanks Kira and 99 for doing a beautiful job here! Jim Cirile to blog a fresh Clint Curtis item shortly I'm told!