After attack, a leadership test for Obama, Boehner (AP)

Bad Night for Sarah Palin?
Josh Marshall: "It makes sense to be pretty careful in judging how things will affect Sarah Palin. But there's a decent argument that this is not a great night for her. Think about if Sharron Angle and Christine O'Donnell hadn't won their primaries. There's a decent chance Dems would have lost the Senate tonight. That's a pretty Big Deal. She also made a late Endorsement of John Raese in West Virginia. He got crushed. And perhaps most importantly, she went to war in a Big way with her state's s...

Murkowski snubs Palin, Tea Party: I know what they did
Has Sarah Palin cost Republicans the Senate? Lisa Murkowski, the write-in Candidate in the Alaska Senate race, spoke disparagingly of Sarah Palin and the Tea Party Express in an interview with Fox News’ Dan Springer early this morning. When asked whether Palin is the right person to be leading the Tea Party movement across the country, Murkowski said: “I think that remains to be — decided. I think here in Alaska tonight, people are more focused on Lisa Murkowski than Sarah Pali...

Sarah Palin's Endorsements See Mixed Results
The Tea Party scored major victories in the mid-term Elections Tuesday, but Endorsements by its de facto Leader -- Sarah Palin -- showed more mixed results. Palin, who has become a major force in national politics since she stepped down as Governor of Alaska, travelled coast to coast in recent weeks campaigning for Candidates that often bucked the Republican establishment. Six of her selected Senate Candidates won on Tuesday, including Tea Party favorites Rand Paul in Kentucky and Marco Rub...

Palin Emerges with Even More Clout
Large Majority of Candidates She Backed Won; Do Results Make Her More Likely to Seek GOP Presidential Nod in 2012? Like this Story? Share it: Sarah Palin speaks in support of Joe Miller, the Republican Senatorial Candidate for Alaska on October 28, 2010 in Anchorage, Alaska. The Alaska Senate race was considered too close to call Wedneaday morning. (Getty Images/John Moore) (CBS) Most of the Candidates Sarah Palin endorsed chalked up victories Tuesday. And that scorecard leaves pundits wonderi...

Haley credits Palin for helping message in SC
Voters give Sean Parnell full term as Alaska gov. COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina Gov.-elect Nikki Haley says former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin helped spread Haley’s message, but she’s not ready to endorse Palin for president. Haley told NBC’s “Today” show Wednesday she already was picking up momentum in the Republican Primary when Palin came to Columbia to endorse her. But Haley says it’s too soon to say she would back Palin for president in 2012. Hal...

Palin's scorecard
Shushanna Walshe takes a look at Sarah Palin's Election night, noting that "Even in her home state of Alaska, her help seems to have been less than helpful." There was the likely Miller loss, the O'Donnell loss, and one that might be more acute -- the Angle loss. Palin spent the entire campaign cycle telling the electorate that Reid had to be retired, headlining a Tea Party rally in his hometown of Searchlight in early spring and later kicking off the Tea Party Express bus tour in the state in...

Thank You, Sarah Palin
In a disastrous night for Democrats, only the Momma Grizzlies provided some solace, helping them hold on to the Senate. If the GOP had nominated more plausible Candidates than Christine O’Donnell in Delaware, Linda McMahon in Connecticut, Sharron Angle in Nevada and Carly Fiorina in California, they might have swept both Houses of Congress. Judging from the wave of discontent otherwise, the White House can thank Sarah Palin for helping define the limits of crazy and clueless. Even in Alas...

Thank You, Sarah Palin
In a disastrous night for Democrats, only the Momma Grizzlies provided some solace, helping them hold on to the Senate. If the GOP had nominated more plausible Candidates than Christine O'Donnell in Delaware, Linda McMahon in Connecticut, Sharron Angle in Nevada and Carly Fiorina in California, they might have swept both Houses of Congress. Judging from the wave of discontent otherwise, the White House can thank Sarah Palin for helping define the limits of crazy and clueless. Even in Alaska, Li...

Palin Proves That "Mama Grizzly" Has Bite
If former Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska decides to run for president in 2012, she will now have plenty of help. In New Hampshire, which holds the first Primary, Ms. Palin can count on the support of its newest senator, Kelly Ayotte. When the Presidential Campaign moves to South Carolina, the state’s New Governor, Nikki Haley, will owe her one. And out West, Susana Martinez, the Governor-elect in New Mexico, will be ready to help during a potential General Election matchup with President Obama as...

A mixed bag for Sarah Palin's endorsed candidates in 2010 election
By Felicia Sonmez Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin (R) endorsed a total of 47 Senate, House and Gubernatorial Candidates who won their party primaries and were on the ballot in Tuesday's Election. So how did those Candidates facing competitive races fare? The answer: it's a mixed bag. In Senate races, Palin backed 11 Republican Candidates who were on the ballot Tuesday (two others, Clint Didier in Washington State and Todd Tiahrt in Kansas, lost their primaries). Six of those Candidates won ...

Palins Picks: Good Morning America Scores Sarah Palins Midterm Performance
Just because Sarah Palin wasn’t up for Election last night doesn’t mean that she couldn’t win—or lose. As Midterm results continue to pour in, Good Morning America took a moment to reflect upon how House, Senate, and Gubernatorial Candidates endorsed by Palin performed last night. So how did her Mama and Papa Grizzlies do? Pretty, pretty well. “If there was any doubt about it, last night’s Election confirmed the strength of the Tea Party and of Sarah Palin as a na...

Tea party eyes GOP with suspicion
Emerging from its first election with a string of major victories – and two glaring defeats – leaders of the Tea Party movement wasted no time claiming credit and taking names, signaling to the Republican establishment that they intend to remake the GOP, not merely help it regain power in Washington. “Tonight, there’s a Tea Party tidal wave, and we’re sending a message to them!” Tea Party favorite Rand Paul proclaimed after being declared the winner of the ...

The write stuff: Murkowski leads as write-in candidate in Alaska
Alaskans are writing "Murkowski" in record numbers. And it could just pay off. Write-in Candidate Sen. Lisa Murkowski is leading so far in the heated rematch between her and Tea Party favorite Joe Miller. "They said it couldn't' be done," Murkowski told supporters on Tuesday night. "We said,  'If it can be done anywhere, it can be done in Alaska, and let's prove the country wrong.' " With 99% of the precincts reporting early Wednesday, write-ins had 41% of the vote, compared to Miller's 34%. ...

It Looks Like Lisa Murkowski Could Beat Joe Miller in Alaska
Photo: Clark James Mishler/Getty Images An unofficial Associated Press count has 73 percent of precincts reporting in Alaska's Senate race, with write-in Candidates as a group taking 40 percent of the vote over Tea-party Candidate Joe Miller's 35 percent and Democrat Scott McAdams's 24 percent. The Anchorage Daily News says more than 80 percent of precincts have reported, but also gives write-ins the same lead with 40 percent. Officials say it could still take days before they can determine wh...

Senate, House, Governor Races - Election Center 2010 - Elections & Politics from CNN.com
• All Times Eastern Daylight Time. • CNN will broadcast a projected winner only after an extensive review of data from a number of sources. Details about CNN's projection process • Poll closing Times by state and Time Zone. • "Party Change" denotes a race where the 2010 projected winner is from a different party than the previous Incumbent. • Not all Candidates and Ballot Measures are listed. • This site is designed for Flash; download the latest version of th...

Several Senate, governor races remain uncertain
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska celebrates early election returns in Anchorage,... Denver (AP) - Senate races in three States and a handful of gubernatorial races remained extraordinarily close Wednesday and seemed destined for contested vote counts that could drag on for weeks. The tight votes signaled how closely divided American voters are in an election that produced a split Congress, with Republicans taking control of the House and Democrats maintaining power in the Senate. The Candidates i...

Murkowski appears to make history in Alaska
Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski appears to be winning a write-in campaign to keep her seat, according to unofficial Election returns posted Wednesday morning. If victorious, she would be the first U.S. senator elected by write-in vote in more than half a century. This Story 2010 Election results show Republicans winning the House, not the Senate Murkowski appears to make history in Alaska Fear, frustration reign at the polls A day at the polls: 2010 Midterm Elections Election 2010: Results in batt...

About Last Night
--Our colleague David Von Drehle wraps up Tuesday's contests and spins things forward. If you take the President's 2008 victory map and subtract the States where his fellow Democrats were obliterated in major races on Tuesday — Virginia, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Florida — you discover that Obama's 2008 landslide has evaporated into a dead heat. --Looking over the electoral map as a whole, Republicans outperformed already high expectations in House races, blow...

We're Back. And There's Plenty Still Unknown.
Yes, it’s Wednesday, the day after, yet there’s plenty that we don’t yet know. We are still waiting for results of the Senate contests in Alaska, Colorado and Washington - and we may be waiting for days or weeks as the votes are carefully tallied in these three very close races. There are still 11 House races that are so close they remained Undecided. And more than a half-dozen races for Governor are so close that control of the statehouse remains in doubt. Those include: Connecticu

Election night leaves 3 Senate races, some governor races undecided; recounts possible
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska celebrates early election returns in Anchorage, Alaska, Tuesday Nov. 2, 2010. With Murkowski are from left, sons Matt and Nick Murkowski and longtime friend Hope Neslon. (AP Photo/Michael Dinneen) (AP) Denver — Senate races in three States and a handful of gubernatorial races remained extraordinarily close Wednesday and seemed destined for contested vote counts that could drag on for weeks. The tight votes signaled how closely divided American voters are in...

The 2010 Midterm Elections: How Did Sarah Palin and the Mama Grizzlies Do?
She didn't appear on any ballot yet one big question of the Tuesday night Election was how well did Sarah Palin do? Shushannah Walshe tallies her wins....

The Day After Election Day
Mike Tedesco’s top five Election take-aways: 1. It was really not that bad of a night for the Democrats. This is coming from a dyed in the wool Democrat. Maybe it is because after all the talk of Tsunami’s I honestly expected to be sitting here at the end of the evening starting down a Republican majority in both the House and Senate. Instead we have a Republican House and a Democratic Senate meaning that if anything is going to get done in the next two years the credit will go to both ...

Barbour talks to U.S. (and Mississippi)
Haley Barbour was all over cable yesterday talking about the national implications of the GOP's win, and made news for adamantly claiming he won't step down as Governor to become RNC chair. But he also had his more formal messages -- first in his capacity as chair of the Republican Governor's Association. “Four years ago Republicans controlled just 22 governorships. The fact that we’ve already reached a majority tonight is a Testimony to the four-year plan our governors and staff d...

Before hosting Breitbart, ABC must investigate his most recent claims
Late last week, ABC News came under fire for allowing discredited conservative Andrew Breitbart to participate in their election night coverage. (ABC later announced he would only appear online.) Now Breitbart's websites are accusing an Alaska CBS affiliate of gross journalistic misconduct by alleging the station's assignment editor and reporters were "conspiring to set up some type of smear of Joe Miller," the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate seat in Alaska. The allegations stem from a ...

Nikki Haley credits Palin for helping message in SC
Nikki Haley told NBC's "Today" show Wednesday she already was picking up momentum in the Republican Primary when Palin came to Columbia to endorse her....