...on a cell phone, frantically asking, "Where should I go right now?"

"This feels so good."

"It was fun to do."

"It was so balanced, and I think that really resonated with the voters!"

To anyone who will look, Wynn shows his copy of the new National Geographic Traveler, naming Austin "the best little city in America." "It's a play on Best Little Whorehouse in Texas," he excitedly explains, "but we're the only city in America that made the list," he gushes. Best to keep your cool, Mayor, as not to frighten off the alluring constituent by his side... who seems to have taken grooming tips from Malibu Stacy. Who just left Joe's Bar and Grill with him...

ABC News has projected that the Dems have the House in the bag; CNN says the current actual tally is Dems 158, GOP 134 (with 218 needed for a majority).

In the Senate, the current tally is Dems 47, GOP 46, with 51 needed for a majority the Dems to take control, but only 50 for the GOP to have the edge with VP Cheney's tie-breaker vote.

In the eight Senate races we've been watching:
Virginia: too close to call
Missouri: Talent(R) 52%, McCaskill(D) 44%, with 41% of precincts counted
New Jersey: CNN calls for Menendez(D)
Maryland: CNN calls for Cardin(D)
Tennessee: Corker(R) 52%, Ford(D) 47%, with 77% precincts
Rhode Island: CNN calls Whitehouse(D)
Arizona: Kyl(R)53%, Pederson(D) 44%, with 63% reporting
Montana: Tester(D) 54%, Burns(R) 44%, with 3% reporting

If the GOP holds onto their current leads in VA, MO, TN, and AZ, then the Dems come up short. We may not know who has won VA until the morning.

Because Gov. Goodhair is on TV right now, reminding that we're about to endure four more years of his far-right incompetence. Unfortunately, the Texas governorship tends to lead to bigger things, such as the presidency. Jeez, if you think the Bush White House has been bad, say this phrase without screaming in horror: "President Perry"

… are in the state 3rd Court of Appeals, where I'm guessing you have a push and pull between Travis County and the 23 other mostly rural counties that make up the district, which basically runs from LaGrange to San Angelo. Here are the numbers, with what I estimate to be about 50% of the vote counted:

Place 2
Alan Waldrop - Incumbent (REP) 49.42%
Jim Sybert Coronado(DEM) 50.58%

Place 3
Will Wilson(REP) 47.81%
Diane Henson(DEM) 52.19%

Place 5
David Puryear - Incumbent(REP) 49.77%
Mina A. Brees(DEM) 50.23%

Place 6
Bob Pemberton - Incumbent(REP) 49.30%
Bree Buchanan(DEM )50.70%

Charlie Baird is fretting. He's been at Cuba Libre for over an hour and he hasn't seen any election results. For whatever reason, the e-night numbers in the 299th District Court are nowhere to be found. They're not showing up on TV. And he can't seem to locate them on the county Web site (they're there, but he's apparently too frazzled to properly navigate the Net). In short, Baird is nervous. Yeah, it's funny, especially considering his opponent, Madeleine Connor – which more than one Baird party reveler has dubbed the "GOP sacrificial lamb" – hasn't ever tried a criminal case in her short career as a criminal attorney. Still, Baird isn't a guy who takes anything for granted. Even after he's been told, even by the Chronicle more than once, that early voting totals showed him with 63% of the vote at 7:30pm. "You take this stuff for granted, that's when you lose," says Baird. Still, at least somewhere, he does know that his election is, thankfully, inevitable. "If I lose, it's gonna be a bad night for Travis County, and probably only Kirk Watson would win." That's right, Charlie – now have that drink and celebrate, because come Jan. 1, you'll be donning the black robe.

And in other breaking news, AP has declared that the sun will apparently rise in the east tomorrow.

The way these librarians party, they're gonna need a 25-cent shot bar and an AA meeting room in the bottom of that new central library. Here at the Libraries for Austin party at Molotov, the early voting 60-40 split in favor of a new library has backers PSYCHED! "if it it stays that way, I think we're pretty much mandated," said LFA backer Patricia Fraga. "We're happily surprised... early polling showed a low 49 percent. (We were a) little anxious going into it," Fraga said, but she credited a late cash infusion from UNITY PAC and work on Will Wynn's part for pushing the shelving cart along. "It's important to the community for sure."

The major issue at the Lege has been public school financing, and how well public school supporters can hold off the pro-voucher crowd. Here are some key races in that respect, based on a "races to watch" tip sheet from a public education lobbyist. Most of these races include all of early voting, and a handful of e-day boxes, meaning that about 30-40% of the vote has been counted (all Texas House races, listed by district number):

32: Seaman-R 50%, Garcia 45%
47: Bolton-D 50%, Welch 47% (this is big – possibly a Republican seat flipping to Dems, to go along with Donna Howard winning D.48)
134: Cohen-D 58%, Wong 40% (this is big – a Republican incumbent losing solidly)
85: Landtroop-R 49%, Heflin-D 48%
118: Farias-D 47.15%, Antuna-R 46.85%
133: Murphy-R 58%, Thibaut-D 40%
129: Davis-R 56%, Matula 44%
107: Keffer-R 51%, Vaught-D 46%
127: Crabb-R 58%, Trautman-D 40%
59: Miller-R 54%, Casbeer-D 46%
114: Hartnett-R 59%, Shinoda-D 40%

With what I estimate is about 40% of the vote counted, here are some key races we're looking at:

Governor:
Perry 41%
Bell 29%
Friedman 11%
Strayhorn 18%

U.S. Senate:
Hutchison 63%
Radnofsky 35%

Congress:
Dist. 10
McCaul-R 55%
Ankrum-D 42%

Dist. 17
Chet Edwards-D 66%
Van Taylor-R 33%

Dist. 22 (DeLay's former seat)
Lampson-D 50%
Gibbs (R write-in) 27%

Dist. 31
Carter-R 59%
Harrell-D 40%

More to come on key Lege races in a minute.