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In the event you live under a rock, allow me to reset the story: Keith Olbermann owned up to donating to three Democratic candidates and was summarily suspended, indefinitely, without pay. Much as been written already, but tonight, Olbermann’s cohort (and mentee?) Rachel Maddow provided a vociferous defense of her colleague, drawing a false equivalency between Olbermann and Fox News’ Sean Hannity.

The New Republic’s Jonathan Chait joins the ranks of reporters posting midterm post-mortems this morning, with a piece that offers a simple explanation for why the elections turned out the way they did. Chait says that turnout yesterday was “disproportionately old and white,” which explains why the GOP swept the House and nearly wrested control of the Senate.

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After giving a statement on the midterm elections earlier today, President Obama took questions in the East Room of the White House. ABC News reporter Jake Tapper reminded the President that, in 2006, former President Bush said “we took a thumpin’” after a similar political drubbing and plainly asked the the sitting president “what does it feel like?” Obama did not hesitate in replying “it feels bad” before launching into a reasoned and reflective explanation of the results.

We all know that the Muslims are plotting to conquer America’s heartland, one Denny’s at a time. Thankfully, they’ve been dealt a blow after last night’s election, when Oklahoma voters approved a ballot measure that will prevent judges from taking Islamic law into consideration while arbitrating a case.

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Our founder, Dan Abrams, is a busy man. When he’s not writing about his web properties or telling America what he thinks of Charlie Sheen, he’s asking venerated journalists to give their thoughts on on the 2010 Midterm Elections.

In these days of recession, war and witchcraft, it can be hard to remember a simpler time—namely, a time when nobody really cared about the midterm elections. Incredibly enough, that bygone era wasn’t actually very long ago.

Though Delaware’s Christine O’Donnell will, in all likelihood, be denied the title of senator tonight, Yahoo News reports that she’s already been won a different honorific: the designation of 2010’s Most Covered Candidate.

As you may have already heard, today is election day. Citizens across this great nation are considering which candidates for whom they will cast their ballot (or, at least those who have not yet let cynicism and apathy ruin their lives.) Since the mainstream media has strangely decided to cover the elections with a strange and comprehensive mix of hyperbole and apocalyptic fury, Mediaite will be there to hold your hand all the way, with extensive coverage throughout the day.

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Just two days after hosting the “Rally to Restore Sanity,” a seemingly tired Jon Stewart returned to hosting The Daily Show, and recapped some of the more absurd political stories in advance of today’s midterm elections. The segment culminated in the outrage expressed by some over Barack Obama’s “driving the economy car into a ditch” metaphor that led some pundits (almost all on Fox News) to hear racial overtones to the president’s comment of “the GOP can sit in back.”

After reading about Fox News’s Halloween coverage schedule, we know there must have been just one question on your mind: “What does MSNBC’s day look like?” Well, wonder no more! Like their cable compatriot, MSNBC will be fighting hard to keep viewers informed as Election Day approaches.

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Polls indicate that the West Virginia Senate race between Republican John Raese and the Democratic Gov. Joe Manchin is skewing in the GOP’s favor. So with only a week to go, Manchin’s latest campaign ad, “Good Message,” is going the whole nine yards. The carefully worded spot calls the Republican’s ideas (though not the Republican himself) “crazy.”

Who: Alec Baldwin, Jeffrey Toobin, Judy Gold, moderated by Andy Borowitz
What: “The Borowitz Report: Midterm Madness!”
Where: 92nd St. Y
When: October 20, 2010
Thumbs: Up

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A few weeks ago MSNBC unveiled some new promos that featured a news the slogan, “Lean Forward.” On his MSNBC show last last week, host Ed Schultz used the new MSNBC catchphrase “Lean Forward” to urge Democrats to go to the polls to defeat Republicans in the coming election, further blurring the line between news, opinion, and advocacy.

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Unfortunately for anyone addicted to midterm election madness, tonight’s debate between Delaware Senatorial candidates Chris Coons and Christine O’Donnell has been remarkably straightforward. Except, that is, for one wrinkle, which came after moderator Nancy Karibjanian asked O’Donnell about her well-documented financial woes.

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President Obama kicked off a busy week of campaigning yesterday by speaking at a political rally in Philadelphia. But energizing his base in advance of the coming midterm elections was not the most interesting part of the event; that would be the alleged security breach that allowed someone to throw a book at Mr. Obama as he finished speaking. Oh, and a naked dude also showed up. This is the way we live now.

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Art Robinson is the GOP candidate for Oregon’s Fourth Congressional District. Last night he bravely went on to The Rachel Maddow Show to discuss his background and some specifics of his campaign. Host Rachel Maddow calmly tried to get to know Robinson by asking specific questions about his previous writings, but was not very successful in getting past Robinson’s claims that the host was “smearing his reputation,” “throwing mud” and “sarcasm.” Oddly, this style of”opiniotainment” was really fun to watch.

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It’s been less than two weeks but Lawrence O’Donnell continues to make a compelling and entertaining program (and his ratings seem to suggest that more people are tuning in.) Perhaps more interesting is his demonstration of how a political debate can be both civil and spirited, as was the case last night when RNC chairman Michael Steele joined the program to discuss the current political landscape, the minimum wage and Christine O’Donnell’s claim of knowing classified information.

The Census Bureau released new data today that suggests a deepening divide between the countries wealthiest citizens and its poorest. According to census statistics, the United States has the greatest disparity between “rich” and “poor” among Western industrialized nations, which spawned commentary from Rachel Maddow via Twitter.

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Apparently, nothing gets partisan pundits worked up into a frothing lather quite like their own party disappointing them. After Michael Moore and Keith Olbermann spent a Countdown segment trashing Democrats last night, Ann Coulter used her appearance on Sean Hannity’s program to call out the “whining babies” in Republicans’ midst.

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Harry Reid’s spokesman Jim Manley emails: “Democrats believe we must permanently extend tax cuts for the middle-class before they expire at the end of the year, and we will. Unfortunately, to this point we have received no cooperation from Republicans to do so. Democrats will not allow families in Nevada and across the country to suffer or be held hostage by Republicans who would rather give tax giveaways to millionaires and corporations that ship jobs overseas. We will come back in November and stay in session as long as it takes to get this done.