memeorandum: Political violence? Watch Senator Ted Cruz get hit with a can during Astros victory parade (Karen Townsend/HotAir)

11:55 AM ET, November 8, 2022

Top Items:

Catherine Rampell / Washington Post:

Democrats are drowning in denial — Democrats appear to be heading toward painful losses on Tuesday, in one if not both houses of Congress. What went wrong will be debated for months, perhaps years. — Much of the problem can be summed up in one word: denial.

Discussion: Mediaite, HotAir and Fox News

Amy Walter / Cook Political Report:

Three Most Likely Scenarios for Tuesday — When it comes to possible outcomes on Tuesday night, I see three potential scenarios. — 1. The Classic “Tsunami” Election — We can put the 1994/2006/2010 midterms into this category. In this scenario, the bottom drops out for the party in the White House.

Discussion: The Guardian, New Republic, The Daily Wire, The Daily Caller and WHNT-TV

CNN:

Biden readies for ‘a horrible two years’ if GOP takes control of Congress — As if Democrats needed any more convincing Tuesday's midterm elections carry enormous stakes, President Joe Biden offered a bluntly dire assessment during a fundraiser last Friday in Chicago.

Discussion: The Free Press, The Daily Caller, CBS News, Bloomberg, The Hill and Blue Virginia

Jonathan Martin / Politico:

Biden's and Trump's Performances on the 2022 Trail Sow Doubts About 2024 — OCEANSIDE, Calif. — It's the bipartisan truth that dare not speak its name, at least not in public: Republicans and Democrats alike are stumbling into the midterm elections saddled with presidential frontrunners …

Discussion: Associated Press, New York Post, Bloomberg, Washington Times, Cyprus Mail, Instapundit, CBS News and The Hill

Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:

Trump is losing steam. That's reason for Biden to bow out in 2024. — Donald Trump is losing steam. Even his nicknames have gotten weaker. — Over the weekend, right-wing commentators were irate at the former president for taking a jab at Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, whom he referred to as “Ron DeSanctimonious.”

Discussion: The Guardian, The Daily Beast, Ringside at the Reckoning, HotAir and Echelon Insights

Politico:
POLITICO Playbook: Bidenworld makes peace with the midterms

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, National Review, Fox News, Opinion Today, NBC News, Politico and CNN

Sahil Kapur / NBC News:
Early bellwethers: Key races to watch once polls close on election night

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Politico, The Hill, NPR, New York Times, Slate, Sacramento Bee and Roll Call

Jason Lange / Reuters:
Biden approval ticks lower as Democrats brace for midterm losses -Reuters/Ipsos

Discussion: The Hill, Washington Times, The Daily Caller, The Federalist and Sputnik News

Scott Dworkin / Newsweek:
Democracy Is on the Ballot. The Democrats Are the Only Choice

Discussion: AFP, Politico, Washington Post, The Guardian, HuffPost, The Bulwark, CNN, Letters from an American, WND, The Daily Caller, Herald, Associated Press, Common Dreams, The New Arab and New York Magazine

Sabato's Crystal Ball:
Final Ratings for the 2022 Election

Discussion: The Hill, Wall Street Journal, OPB, Split Ticket, FiveThirtyEight, Outside the Beltway, Washington Post, New York Magazine, HotAir, Raw Story, No More Mister Nice Blog, Erick Erickson Show Notes, Elections Daily, Fox News, Mediaite and Instapundit

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:

Final Election Update: The Forecast Is More Or Less Back Where It Started — Republicans are favored in the House. The Senate is more competitive. — By Nate Silver — Nov. 8, 2022, at 2:20 AM — When we launched our midterms forecast on June 30, Republicans had a 53 percent chance …

Discussion: Vox and Exiled Policy

Casey Newton / Platformer:

Musk discusses putting all of Twitter behind a paywall — Will he go through with it? PLUS: Botched layoffs, how the new Blue could lose money, and more — If Friday brought massive layoffs to Twitter, Monday brought fresh evidence that the company will never be the same.

Discussion: Gizmodo, Fortune, Mashable, Metro.co.uk, New York Times, Adweek, Breitbart, Protocol and Bloomberg, more at Techmeme »

Kalley Huang / New York Times:
What Is Mastodon and Why Are People Leaving Twitter for It?

Discussion: MIT Technology Review, Bloomberg, The Atlantic, TechCrunch, Courthouse News Service, Mercury News, Quartz, Slate, globalnews.ca, One America News Network, Fortune, Al Jazeera and Cyprus Mail, more at Mediagazer »

Alex Heath / The Verge:
Twitter tells advertisers that user growth is at ‘all-time highs’ under Elon Musk

Discussion: HotAir, Fortune, Washington Post, The Register, Webb Chatham Report, Slate, Mashable, Twitchy, The Atlantic, Brookings, Al Jazeera, Bloomberg, Mediaite, The Daily Beast and New Republic, more at Techmeme »

Kimberly Wehle / The Bulwark:

Case After Case After Case: The GOP Keeps Suing to Toss Out Midterm Ballots — “While it is easy to hurl accusations of violations of law and corruption, it is another matter to come forward and produce the evidence.” — The midterms have sparked debate as to whether this election is a referendum on the future of American democracy.

Discussion: Washington Post, The Atlantic, Raw Story, MLive.com, Occupy Democrats, Los Angeles Times and Bridge Michigan

The Philadelphia Inquirer:

John Fetterman's Pa. Senate campaign is suing to have undated and misdated ballots counted — Lt. Gov. John Fetterman's campaign for U.S. Senate has joined the legal fight over whether mail ballots with no date or the incorrect date should be counted in Tuesday's election …

OpenSecrets.org:
Most Expensive Races — Some Congressional races are seeing more spent by super PACs …

Discussion: Semafor, NBC News, Washington Post, Raw Story and Fox News

Charlie Mahtesian / Politico:

The looming election disaster — OFF THE RAILS — It's time to talk about it out loud: This year's election is going to be a train wreck. Not just Election Day, but the weeks and perhaps even months to come. — For starters, it might not be clear who controls the House for days, or longer.

Discussion: Morning Shots, ABC News, New York Times and Politico

Matt Keener / American Thinker:
Does Joe Biden Know The Fix Is In?

Discussion: Chris Waldburger and Washington Post

Isabella Murray / ABC News:
Early election night results might not indicate final tallies (and why that's OK)

Discussion: Media Matters for America, Bloomberg, The Hill, HotAir, Big League Politics, New Republic, The Gateway Pundit, Summit News, NPR, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Michigan Advance, CNN, PoliticusUSA, Vox and Al Jazeera

Nate Cohn / New York Times:

Are the Polls Still Missing ‘Hidden’ Republicans? Here's What We're Doing to Find Out. — There was no breakthrough in our experiment, but the differences were intriguing. — It won't be long until we learn the results of the 2022 midterm elections — and how the polls fared.

Spencer Abraham / Washington Free Beacon:
On Election Day, Here's What the Polls Really Say

Discussion: HotAir and Daily Kos

Simon Rosenberg / NDN:
On This 2022 Election Eve Would Rather Be Us Than Them

Discussion: Raw Story

Wall Street Journal:

Ukraine's Zelensky Sets Conditions for ‘Genuine’ Peace Talks With Russia — President says he is open to negotiations that guarantee Ukraine's territorial integrity — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was open to negotiations with Russia if they are focused …

Discussion: The Hill, The Daily Caller, The Times of Israel, Associated Press, Al Jazeera, PravdaReport, Euractiv and Telegraph

Associated Press:
N. Korea denies US claims it sent artillery shells to Russia

Discussion: Washington Examiner, The Hill, Defense One, The Guardian, Al Jazeera and globalnews.ca

Lawrence Norden / Brennan Center for Justice:

Why Does It Take So Long to Count Mail Ballots in Key States? Blame Legislatures … The slow count of mail ballots has been used to cast doubt on election results, but these delays are a deliberate choice by lawmakers in battleground states. — Lawrence Norden Photo — Derek Tisler Photo

Discussion: Washington Post, WHNT-TV, HuffPost, USA Today, Brookings, Las Vegas Review-Journal, Axios, Media Matters for America and Sacramento Bee

Washington Post:

DeSantis official says Justice Dept. can't send monitors to 3 Florida counties — The DeSantis administration is attempting to block Department of Justice election monitors from gaining access to polling places in South Florida, saying in a letter that the federal government's involvement would be …

Discussion: Fox News, The Capitolist, Florida Politics and Raw Story

U.S. Department of Justice:
Justice Department to Monitor Polls in 24 States for Compliance with Federal Voting Rights Laws

Julia Davis / The Daily Beast:

Putin Insiders Pray for ‘Frightening’ GOP Election Sweep — Kremlin cheerleaders are hoping for Republicans to win big in the midterms to unleash “poisonous American spiders, tearing each other up” on Capitol Hill. — Russian state media is following the midterm elections in the United States …

Discussion: Raw Story

Sam Roberts / New York Times:

Ernie Lazar, Who Trawled for Secret Government Documents, Dies at 77 — By pursuing his “unusual hobby” of filing as many as 10,000 Freedom of Information requests about extremist groups, he proved invaluable to historians and journalists. — Ernie Lazar, an unheralded hero of researchers …

Alexander Hall / Fox News:

Karine Jean-Pierre blasted for warning it may take ‘a few days’ to count votes: ‘This insanity has to stop’ — Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton warned, ‘Counting ballots after Election Day undermines voter confidence.’ — White House warns midterm results may be delayed

Discussion: The Post Millennial, Breitbart, IJR and The Daily Wire

Hurubie Meko / New York Times:

Cornell Halts Fraternity Parties After Alleged Sex Assault and Druggings — The campus police issued alerts over the weekend that one student was sexually assaulted and at least four others were drugged at off-campus residences affiliated with fraternities.

Discussion: CBS News, University Statements and UPI