stunned

... omg

I had to go to sleep last night before final results came in. (Plus, it was obvious by then that Virginia was going to go into a recount, and if I wanted to stay up for "final" results it would be, like, next month before I slept.)

And I just woke up and refreshed the Missouri Senate race results (before my flist even) and omg we took Missouri. Over the incumbent. Not in a new race.

And Montana and Virginia are too close to call but the Dems are up in each -- by about 1,500 votes in Montana and 8,000 in Virginia. That is like half a percentage point at best, but it's always good to go into the recount ahead so that you don't look like a sore loser.

This is incredible. Average House seat pickup predicted by "liberal bloggers" was 24. Dems took 28. Dems picked up four in the Senate and might, just might, maybe, pick up those last two seats. *stunned*

Let me tell you, this is a much better morning than the one in 2000 where I stayed up half the night watching votes inch closer and waiting for a recount. I was expecting to get up and be depressed and, and, no! Look! OMG! People! I love you all! You phone-banking, poll-working, letters-to-the-editor writing, blog-commenting, kick-ass GOTVers. *sniff*

Also, thanks to svmadelyn for the fannish political chat last night, which vastly improved the stressful experience of refreshing the Virginia Interactive Results page every thirty seconds.

OMG OMG OMG!

RUMSFELD JUST RESIGNED.

And AP has Tester (D) as the winner in Montana.

OMG.

/squee

ETA: And it's not just from, like, ThinkProgress. No, baby, this shit is on CNN.COM. And remember a week ago, Bush was all "Rumsfeld's my man and he'll serve me through this entire term"?

ETA 2: Oh, oh, and remember this: Who has to approve the new Sec of Defense? Senate. Which just might go blue.

I'm gonna cry right here in the library, I swear. I didn't know how much Rumsfeld leaving meant to me until just now. Rumsfeld. Gone. God. All the parents of kids in Iraq and and the kids themselves in Iraq and ... and... just. He's gone.

ETA 3: Oh, right, like I was going to get any reading done after that? Please. CNN also just called Montana for Tester by 4000 votes.

ETA 4: We post the ETAs as they come in. Because Hastert just said he's not going to try to be in the (minority!) Republican leadership. Nice. (Not that the Reps don't have plenty of bastards to take his place, but it'll be nice to not see Hastert all over.)