Glass Half Full -- (Some) Election Results UPDATED 2:30am 11-7-12

By now you know that President Barack Obama has been re-elected and may know that Richard Carmona -- a tremendous Democratic nominee for the US Senate from Arizona -- lost; to a FLAKE.

However, I'm pleased to report that, according to Maricopa County's Elections Dept., voters in Tempe, west Mesa and the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community have elected Ed Ableser to the Arizona Senate as well as, Juan Mendez and Andrew Sherwood, to represent our district in the Arizona House of Representatives.

In so doing, LD26 voters overcame obstacles put in the way by GOP activists. Namely, efforts to suppress ASU students' votes, determination to undermine the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission and the federal court challenge to the AIRC legislative district map.

I'm tremendously proud of LD26 voters and Democratic organizers and activists, who would not take NO for an answer -- not to mention (again) the three candidates.

By the way, LD26 was cited by David Cantelme in his arguments before a federal court last week, as one of the main reasons he believes GOP voters' votes have been compromised and diluted by the AIRC.

However, overall results reflecting changes to the 51rst Arizona Legislature will become more clear over the next couple of days. The Arizona Capitol Times is already reporting that the GOP will still dominate the state legislature but lost its ability to override a gubernatorial veto. To me, that's much of a consolation.

Yet, if the assessment by the Capitol Times holds, it would seem that Cantelme's argument doesn't hold... water. Again quoting reporter Howard Fischer:

In this case, though, attorney David Cantelme contends the Independent Redistricting Commission drew the lines solely to create Democrat-dominated districts with less population and Republican districts with more. He said that means those in the overpopulated districts have less individual effect on the outcome.

A legislature still dominated by the GOP should represent prima facie evidence that Republican voters' ability to influence public policy at the state level in Arizona has NOT been substantially diluted.

Regardless of the intensity of the questioning by each of the three federal judges last week, it seems quite apparent to this non-attorney observer that the AIRC motion to dismiss the challenge to the legislative district map should be granted.

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At this time, the races for Congress, in CDs 1, 2 and 9 race are too close to call. In CD 1, Democrat Ann Kirkpatrick faces Jonathan "Payday" Paton; CD 2 has Democrat Ron Barber against retired fighter pilot Martha McSally; and the CD 9 contest is between Democrat Kyrsten Sinema and Republican Vernon Parker.

That those three Congressional races are so close is a testament to the problematic nature of the Citizens United ruling opening the floodgates for Corporate America to overwhelm the airwaves, cyberspace and voters' mailboxes with literally BILLIONS of dollars worth of propaganda. Well, that and the work of the AIRC. We'll get vote total results eventually as well as reports on the amount of SuperPAC money spent on those races.

So, if you need a day or two to decompress, take it. But we MUST Move to Amend the United States Constitution NOW more than ever -- to overturn Citizens United.

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UPDATE 2:30am MST 11-7-12

According to Maricopa County Elections, with 100 percent of precincts reporting, Kyrsten Sinema has won election to represent Arizona's Ninth Congressional District. CD 9 is entirely in Maricopa County.  Sinema has 76,967 votes, Vernon Parker 74,866 votes and Libertarian Powell Gamill 10,293 votes.

That pretty well shows CD 9 to be legitimately competitive, with the Libertarian significantly influencing the outcome.

That link also shows results for CD 1, with Ann Kirkpatrick leading, but because most of the district is outside of Maricopa County, we cannot rely Maricopa County's results for this district.

According to Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett, at this time, Ann Kirkpatrick leads Payday Paton 99,903 votes to 93,552 votes with 337 of 339 precincts reporting.

Also according to Bennett, in CD 2, McSally leads Barber 110,868 to 109,556 with 216 of 216 precincts reporting.

Without knowing how many provisional ballots remain outstanding (not yet counted), we do not know if an unofficial winner has been declared for either CD 1 or CD 2.