Election Day

6:55 a.m. -- I leave for work and find myself happy that I early-voted on Saturday, because that means I won't have to wait in line today.

2:28 p.m. -- I leave work early for my annual appointment at the ophthalmologist.

4:15 p.m. -- I leave the ophthalmologist's office, happy that he confirmed what I already knew: namely, that my eyes remain in excellent shape after 22 years of diabetes.

6:34 p.m. -- We leave the house to attend Week Nine of Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace course.

8:13 p.m. -- While sitting in that class I receive a text message from my brother, informing me that although it is early in the counting, Rick Scott is up by 4% in the Florida governor's race.

9:53 p.m. -- Back home, I check and see that Scott is now up by more than 5%. But more importantly and more gratifyingly (is that a word?) I see that Marco Rubio has officially won Florida's open Senate seat. It appears that the final tally will show he received more than 50% of the vote even though it was a three-way race. On many levels, this is very good news for conservatives.

9:54 p.m. -- I see that Democrats have won both the senate and congressional seats from Delaware. This was expected, but I still don't like it.

9:55 p.m. -- I see that Democrat Joe Manchin has won West Virginia's open Senate seat, which is disappointing because it was thought that Republicans might pick it up. Still, it is encouraging that Manchin won it by campaigning against Obama.

10:07 p.m. -- In Arkansas, Republican John Boozman (great name!) has unseated incumbent Democrat Senator Blanche Lincoln. Since the 1860's, there has been only one other Republican Senator from that state.

10:17 p.m. -- Watching the ticker at the bottom of the TV screen, I note that Republicans are ahead in three of the four Pennsylvania races whose results I see. Although the counting is still going on, this is an encouraging sign.

10:23 p.m. -- Still watching the ticker, I see that Republican Kelly Ayotte has an insurmountable lead (64% to 33%) over Democrat Paul Hodes in the New Hampshire Senate race. This surprised me, but apparently it is not a shock to many national observers.

10:25 p.m. -- It looks like Pat Toomey is going to lose the Pennsylvania Senate race. Bummer.

10:27 p.m. -- I am watching Geraldine Ferraro and listening to her, and she is annoying the hell out of me.

10:37 p.m. -- The Republicans just picked up a congressional seat in New Hampshire. Is the Granite State going back to being red, or did I miss something?

10:38 p.m. -- The Republicans just picked up two congressional seats in Ohio. This is good.

Also at 10:38 p.m. -- Republican Mike Lee won the Senate race in Utah. As you may recall, he is an upstart conservative who upset "establishment Republican" Tim Bridgewater in the primary. He is what the MSM derides as a "Tea Party candidate," and his victory is a good sign for America.

10:54 p.m. -- Toomey just pulled ahead in Pennsylvania! Maybe I was speaking too early with my 10:25 entry.

11:02 p.m. -- More good news: Republicans have picked up at least three congressional seats in Pennsylvania.

11:06 p.m. -- I might as well state that with the exception of Rubio's victory in Florida, all of the wins and losses mentioned above are based on news outlets "calling" elections based on returns. Therefore it is possible, but highly unlikely, that they could change before the night is over.

11:18 p.m. -- It is safe to say that the GOP has picked up the open Senate seat in North Dakota, where, with 87% of precincts reporting, John Hoeven is trouncing Tracy Potter by a margin of 77% to 22%.

11:28 p.m. -- In Wisconsin, Russ Feingold goes down! And Scott Walker wins the governor's mansion to boot! This is a very good night for the GOP in a state that usually goes blue.

11:30 p.m. -- Although Republicans have fared poorly in New York tonight, they did just gain a House seat.

11:43 p.m. -- Of the four tallies from Washington state that I just saw on the ticker (three House races plus the Senate race) the Republican is ahead in each one. Almost two-fifths of precincts have yet to report, so there is a good chance the numbers will turn around, but things are looking better than I would have expected out there.

11:49 p.m. -- It looks like we have this one in the bag. Looking at the district-by-district map, the entire country is a sea of red broken by only a few isolated spots of blue, and the Republican wave is so enormous (apparently the biggest in 78 years) that the GOP will definitely take control of the House. In fact, John Boehner just gave a speech as the presumptive new Speaker of the House. And although I doubt Republicans will gain a majority in the Senate given how few Senate seats are being voted on, they have already gained four seats to break up the Democrats' filibuster-proof super majority. I am cracking open a victory beer.

12:11 a.m. -- The Republicans just won the governorship of Michigan in an ultimate "it's the economy, stupid" moment.

12:12 a.m. -- Switching back to my home state, I should mention that at least two high-profile Florida Democrats have been booted from Congress, and Rick Scott is holding onto a two-point lead in the governor's race with only a handful of precincts outstanding.

12:28 a.m. -- Fox News just called the Nevada Senate race for Harry Reid. This makes my blood boil because I consider him a lying Marxist scumbag who has done nothing for this country but harm it. And when you consider this and this, in conjunction with Reid's long history of prevailing in close elections, I can not shake the feeling that his win today is not above board. Fortunately for America, however, the GOP wave has greatly diminished Reid's power no matter what.

12:51 a.m. -- The Republicans have gained 56 House seats, far more than they needed to take control, so we DO have this in the bag!

Also at 12:51 a.m. -- Toomey has won Pennsylvania, so cancel my 10:25 entry.

12:56 a.m. -- Although I still expect us to come up short of taking numerical control of the Senate, I like what I am seeing from a philosophical-shift perspective. Not only did Toomey win in traditionally blue Pennsylvania, but Mark Kirk won in traditionally blue Illinois and Ken Buck is leading in lately purple Colorado.

1:04 a.m. -- I just saw the numbers in the Florida Senate race, and couldn't help but notice that even though it was a three-way race, Rubio received greater than one million votes more than second place finisher Charlie Crist. And back when he first announced his candidacy, he was considered a can't-win curiosity. All I can say is: 1) Wow! and 2) I am happy.

1:10 a.m. -- I should be going to bed, but I am not the least bit tired. I am cracking open another victory beer, even though I am disappointed that Dino Rossi is trailing in Washington and Carly Fiorina and Meg Whitman are both trailing in California.

1:16 a.m. -- Brighter West Coast News just showed up on the ticker. In Oregon, Republican Chris Dudley, who many of us remember as an NBA player from the 1990's, has a two-point lead in Oregon's gubernatorial election.

1:50 a.m. -- Nothing above has changed in the last 29 minutes, except that it is now looking like Republicans will gain more than 60 House seats. I have to get up soon for a challenging day of work, so I am calling it a night...and on balance, a good one!

Keep an eye out

Since I historically write a lot about politics, it probably seems strange that the closer we have gotten to next week's vital mid-term elections, my posts have become less and less political. But, because the electorate obviously understands the big picture of these elections, and my writings over time have made it clear that I never side with the Democrat Party way of doing things, voicing my opinions about the minutia of recent weeks has felt unnecessary and, frankly, uninteresting.

Still, I can't keep myself from commenting about the mid-terms, if for no other reason than to warn my fellow conservatives to keep their foot on the gas and to not assume anything before the final gun sounds. Polls suggest that the GOP is in good position to at least regain control of the House of Representatives, but given the Democrats' long history of chicanery (deceased Chicagoans casting ballots for JFK, Al Gore trying to overturn Florida's entire statewide election by cherry-picking which counties to recount, Black Panthers threatening white voters in Philadelphia) I am nowhere near ready to believe all those predictions that say a GOP sweep is inevitable.

If you don't think voting fraud is a genuine concern, consider what has been reported recently about Pennsylvania's 8th Congressional District, where the incumbent, Democrat Patrick Murphy, is facing a challenge from Republican Mike Fitzpatrick. As reported on The Corner blog on National Review Online:

New reports are emerging that could spell trouble for Patrick Murphy's campaign after it was revealed that his campaign manager controlled a post office box where voters were being instructed to send their absentee ballots. The ballots were then re-mailed to the county Board of Elections.

A letter from a fictitious agency, the "Pennsylvania Voter Assistance Office," was sent to an unknown number of residents across the 8th district in southeastern Pennsylvania warning them that their ability to vote could be jeopardized unless they returned an enclosed absentee ballot in a pre-paid envelope that went to a private post office box in Bristol, PA...

At the heart of the controversy is the unusual practice of a party not only soliciting absentee voters, but specifically directing the ballots be returned to the party -- rather than directly to the board of elections.

While Democratic operatives insist there was no wrongdoing, the mere fact that ballots were directed to their private post office box before being received by the county raises a cloud of suspicion over the motive for receiving and holding the ballots.

In other words, local Democrats with the Murphy campaign are asking for trust in their word alone that no ballots were discarded or manipulated.

It is incumbent on me to state that neither Murphy nor any of his campaign workers have been charged with breaking any laws; and even if they were, they are entitled to the presumption of innocence unless proven guilty.

But what we know is suspicious at the very least, and I guarantee you that if Murphy was a Republican, the MSM would be talking about the story ad nauseum and ringing alarm bells from coast to coast. This shows why we should remain vigilant in the days and weeks ahead, as the elections come to an end and as the results are sorted out.

For the entire National Review Online report as of this evening, go here.