HEH: Unfortunately, bandwidth problems have kept me mostly out of virtual presence — and apparently have kept some bloggers offline intermittently, too. Bandwidth is at a premium in the YouTube age. . . .

UPDATE: Just tried again, but “network issues” stood in the way.

EVAN COYNE MALONEY interviews Lamont supporters in Connecticut.

BILL KRISTOL ON FOX JUST NOW: “George Allen would be winning this race if it weren’t for the blogs and YouTube.”

That’s right. Allen helped himself recover by hiring blogger Jon Henke — but he’d have helped himself a lot more if he’d hired him before he was in deep macaca.

IF YOU’RE HAVING TROUBLE GETTING INSTAPUNDIT TO LOAD, try loading the printer-friendly page, which has less overhead.

MARK BLUMENTHAL: “we all need to remember that in 2004, the exit polls had an average error favoring the Democrats of about 5 or 6 points on the margin. In other words, if 2006 turns out like 2004, a 6 point lead may not be a lead.”

Related thoughts from Jim Geraghty.

CATHY SEIPP: “Despite being an evil Republican, I suppose I voted mostly like a Democrat on the California state propositions and Los Angeles city measures today.”

LIVEBLOGGING THE ELECTIONS at U.S. News.

FIRST RESULTS — A REPUBLICAN VICTORY. In Guam. Hey, the GOP will take what it can get today.

UPDATE: Michael Ubaldi emails: “Remember: As goes Guam, so goes Guam.”

BILL BRADLEY REPORTS FROM SCHWARZENEGGER HEADQUARTERS: “It could be a very good night for California conservatives.”

I guess both of them will win!

IN A WAY, IT DOESN’T MATTER HOW IT TURNS OUT: The message for the Republicans — and the Democrats — is that they need to do much better. The GOP, as I noted before, made a number of “unforced errors” that took them from a strong to a weak position — not because they spent political capital, but because they squandered it. They were too busy stuffing their pockets and taking their base for granted, and — whether or not they lose big or lose small — they could have done beter, without sacrificing any of their principles, if they’d had a bit more self-restraint.

Meanwhile, the Democrats, even if they take both houses, will have to actually discover some governing principles — and if they’d had those on display, they’d be running away with this election right now.

I’ve written before that technology, diminishing voter loyalty, and new media make a third party a lot more feasible than it used to be. The two big parties are depressingly inept, each arguing that the other is worse, and both make a strong case. . . .

HEAVY TURNOUT IN MISSOURI — dirty tricks in New Jersey.

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL (free link) is rounding up blog reports on the elections.

ANN ALTHOUSE IS photoblogging from the CNN bloggers’ party. I was talking to people via webcam for a while, but with dozens of bloggers there and online they’re having bandwidth problems and now I’m disconnected. D’oh!

LOTS OF READERS ARE EMAILING that turnout at their polling places was very heavy. Don’t know how representative this is, but it squares with my impression — and with what the pollworkers told me at my own early-voting location — that this is more like a Presidential year than a midterm election in terms of turnout. I suspect that makes the polling models less reliable, but I don’t know in which direction.

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER CASTS HIS VOTE: Roger Simon and Bill Bradley were there, and witnessed one of the dumbest press questions ever recorded.

CHEATMANIA: Both sides declaring elections “bogus unless they win.” Jeez.

BAD NEWS FOR REPUBLICANS? Just saw them saying on CNN that “Corruption” was the number one issue mentioned by voters in exit polls. If — and it’s a big “if” — this is an accurate reflection I think the GOP will wish it had passed all those promised ethics reforms that it didn’t deliver.

SIXTY SECOND PUNDITRY: Mary Matalin prognosticates to Richard Miniter.

KAUS on the Democrats: “What does it tell you about a political party if in a year of epic disaster for their opponents the best they can hope for is a 51-49 majority in the Senate?”

ANDREW MARCUS has a video interview from Lieberman headquarters.

UPDATE: Evan Coyne Maloney is there, too, covering things for Pajamas Media and sends this snap from his Macbook.

ADAM NAGOURNEY observes that for Democrats, even a win may feel like failure.

Ann Althouse comments: “Hey, I kind of like the idea of everyone feeling like they lost! Keep everyone humble.”

Both parties have a lot to be humble about.

YES, I WAS INVITED TO THE CNN BLOG PARTY in Washington, DC and I would have really liked to have been able to make it, but family issues made that impossible. But they fedexed me a Mac-mini-based webcam setup and I’ll be participating that way. Not as good as being present in the flesh, but kind of cool.

JOHN FUND OFFERS an hour-by-hour guide to tonight’s election results.

KNOWLEDGE AT A GLANCE: N.Z. Bear has set up an election results tracking page that’s very cool.

JUST A REMINDER that there’s loads of election coverage over at Pajamas Media.