Wake Up To Politics - November 3, 2014
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Monday, November 3, 2014
1 DAY UNTIL ELECTION DAY 2014!!!!
736 Days Until Election Day 2016
It's Monday, November 3, 2014 - 1 day to go until Election Day!, I'm Gabe Fleisher for Wake Up To Politics, and reporting from WUTP world HQ in my bedroom - Good morning: THIS IS YOUR WAKE UP CALL!!!
To send me questions, comments, tips, new subscribers, and more: email me at wakeuptopolitics@gmail.com. To learn more about WUTP or subscribe, visit the site: wakeuptopolitics.com, or read my tweets and follow me on Twitter: twitter.com/Wakeup2Politics.
Election Central
Election Eve Welcome to the homestretch of the 2014 midterm election cycle. It has been an honor reporting on the many races on the ballot Tuesday, and I hope I have helped to make you a truly informed voter.
Today and tomorrow’s Wake Ups will not be huge, as I hope to make them short-and-sweet, with a single underlying message: Go VOTE! Today will be a wrap-up of the cycle, and tomorrow will be just a final urge for you to vote.
And then, the rest of the week is going to be fun – results, results, results! It’s Election Eve, the most wonderful time of the year (for me)…
Early Voting Dozens of states have opened early voting for midterms this year, and over 17 million Americans have answered the call to early vote.
While numbers from early voting are not always solid predictors for results, the Washington Post looks at what can be taken away from early voting data.
Ballot Measures Not every state can have a competitive Senate or gubernatorial race – but 41 of them have ballot measures!
On Election Day, every race counts, even those ballot measures on the back of the ballot you don’t understand. Educate yourself on the measures on your state, because if you have some (and most of you do), you are able to not only vote on representatives, but make some policymaking choices of your own. And many are on hot-button issues, ranging from minimum wage to marijuana to gun control, taxes, and more.
The Washington Post has a full rundown of ballot measures from across the country.
Race for the House Most of the reporting around the 2014 midterms have centered around Senate and governor races, but there’s also the race for control of the U.S. House. Republicans are widely expected to retain the majority, and could even make gains to build their largest majority since the 1940’s.
Politico reports on wild cards in the race for the House.
Spending When it is all said and done, and Election Day has come and gone, the 2014 cycle is projected to have cost $3.67 billion, and become the most expensive midterm cycle in American history.
How does that break down? The Center for Response Politics has the report.
Runoffs It’s going to be a late night tomorrow, but the race for control of the Senate may not even be decided on Election Day.
Georgia and Louisiana both face competitive Senate races – where it is possible no one will get 50%, forcing a runoff between the top two candidates.
In Georgia, a runoff is possible because of a Libertarian candidate, who could take enough votes to make a January 6 runoff between Democrat Michelle Nunn and Republican David Perdue necessary. The only problem…a January 6 runoff means, if control of the Senate hinges on Georgia, the majority party will not be clear when the new Congress is sworn in on January 3, three days prior.
Meanwhile, in Louisiana, the November election is an open primary – where every candidate is on one ballot running against everyone else, and if no one nabs 50%, a runoff between the top two runner-ups will occur in December. Anyone running for Senate in Louisiana – no matter their party – is running against each other Tuesday, but the main candidates are Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu, and Republicans Bill Cassidy and Rob Maness. The three-way race may result in a runoff, likely between Landrieu and Cassidy.
Supreme Court Spotlight
Jerusalem, Separation of Powers Front and Center in Supreme Court Passport Case Menachem Zivotofsky is the name in a passport case to be heard by the Supreme Court today, and he won’t even celebrate his Bar Mitzvah for another year.
Zivotofsky was born in Jerusalem to American parents in 2002, and his parents are suing to have Israel placed on his U.S. passport, rather than just “Jerusalem,” as is used for those born in the Israeli capital city.
Many presidents, of both parties, have maintained the policy to recognize neither Israeli nor Palestinian rule over Jerusalem, instead considering Jerusalem a city without a nation.
More from the New York Times here.