The Albany Times Union has an editorial outlining why John Aschroft should resign as Attorney General.

His departure can't come fast enough. His legacy, after all, will be the Patriot Act. Three years later, it's clearer than ever that this ill-conceived and hastily approved package of anti-terrorism laws made the country no safer. In exchange for an erosion of their civil liberties, Americans got, well, nothing to speak of.

Of course, we agree. But so what? Ashcroft is not the only danger. Bush and his power of appointment are what is to be feared.

Karl Rove has spoken on the re-election of the President. A summary:

• Bush will resume the fight for a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage.
• Evangelicals were key to the re-election, but national security was a bigger issue.
• Bush won't have a litmus test for Supreme Court nominations, but nominees must be strict constructionists.
• He hopes the election will contribute to a "long-term GOP domination of U.S. politics."

Maybe the term limits that apply to a President should apply to their campaign strategists. Like throwing the bathwater out with the baby.

BOP News has this roundup of links with the latest on reports of election theft.

I've received a few e-mails asking why TalkLeft isn't all over this. No reason in particular, but the election is over, Kerry has conceded, and until there is hard evidence, I'd rather be an advocate for reform for the next election.

Here are some things we need to change: The long lines have to disappear. We need more voting booths, paper trails, anti-intimidation tactics and same-day registration or vote by mail (like Oregon.)

Something strange went on in Ohio. And other states. Proving deliberate fraud will be difficult. I'll mention and post links for those of you that are following it. But, for the most part, I'm moving forward to the next election cycle.

You can get the latest at BlackBoxVoting. Steve Soto at Left Coaster always has good analysis.

The New York Times presents its list of winners and losers in the election.

John Zogby is listed in the loser column, for inaccurately predicting John Kerry would win. He responds:

It began with Howard Dean, but John Kerry raised Internet campaign contributions to an art form, collecting $82 million from online supporters. Bush only raised $14 million.

To put it in perspective, consider that Al Gore's total individual donations in 2000 amounted to $50 million.

Mr. Bush raised about $273 million, while Mr. Kerry raised about $249 million. The amount Mr. Kerry raised online virtually ensures that few presidential and Congressional campaigns will develop in the future without the Internet in mind.

"This is arguably the most powerful tool for political engagement we've ever seen," said Simon Rosenthal, president of the New Democratic Network. "It made it easier for the average citizen to participate in politics. Every moment they interact with the campaign can be a direct-response moment. They can watch a speech on TV, get motivated and give money."

The blogosphere's own Daily Kos gets a top mention in the New York Times:

The Internet pioneer MoveOn.org, which advocated Mr. Bush's defeat, raised millions. At the popular liberal Web log Daily Kos, its founder, Markos Moulitsas, directed more than $750,000 to the Democratic party and candidates from 6,500 contributors. Just a mention on the blog was worth thousands to a campaign.

Wait till they see what we do between now and 2006. Get ready for BlogPAC. As Molly Ivins said Friday, "Don't mourn, Organize."

The meme since Tuesday, which we heard first on NBC, has been that the youth vote didn't materialize. New reports say the opposite:

Under-30 voters came through in big numbers this year, with more than 20 million casting a ballot for president, researchers found. The turnout bested their 2000 showing by more than nine percentage points and heartened activists who worked to get young voters to the polls.

Researchers at the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning & Engagement at the University of Maryland found that 18- to 29-year-old turnout was up by 4.6 million voters from exit poll data from the 2000 election. They based their calculations on exit polls done for The Associated Press and others by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International.The figures also beat exit poll numbers from 1992, the last time the youth vote spiked amid an otherwise general decline in turnout since 18-year-olds first got the chance to vote in 1972.

The young voters preferred Kerry to Bush:

Here's how Hunter Thompson spent election night and took the news. He casts some blame on evangelicals and the youth who didn't come out in the numbers we needed--but has nothing but praise for John Kerry, whom he got to know while serving as his unofficial tour guide this summer in Aspen. Through the disappointment, he finds something to be postive about for the future:

"Their army is how much bigger than mine? Three percent? Well shucks, Bubba. Now is the time to establish a network and an attitude," he said. "You make friends in moments of defeat. People in defeat tend to bond because they need each other. We can't take the attitude that it's over and we give up. We're still here."

Thompson added: "I'm proud to have known John Kerry."

Too little, too late? But how often might this have happened?

An error with an electronic voting system gave President Bush 3,893 extra votes in suburban Columbus, elections officials said.

Franklin County's unofficial results had Bush receiving 4,258 votes to Democrat John Kerry's 260 votes in a precinct in Gahanna. Records show only 638 voters cast ballots in that precinct.

Bush actually received 365 votes in the precinct, Matthew Damschroder, director of the Franklin County Board of Elections, told The Columbus Dispatch.

Voting machine malfunctions were the cause. In North Carolina, 4,500 votes were lost. With all our resources, you would think we could figure out a reliable voting system. It's not like we didn't have four years to prepare for this election.

What Oliver says: " Shut up. Shut up. The media is not your friend."

They should never work in D-town again. They are suddenly unemployed campaign aides with no hope of a job in the new administration who are now hoping for a book deal. But the competition will be fierce, so only those with the most titillating and scandalous stories, true or not, will succeed.

Memo to 2006 and 2008 candidates -- Take note of who's talking out of school and freeze them out.

Liberal bloggers not giving up after Tuesday's loss. There are good points, angry points, sensible points and even funny points being made. Here's several:

• Fafblog:

The election results have come in and they have surprised no one... no one on the side of Giblets that is! It is Giblets in a landslide! Giblets by a whopping three percentage points! Only 49% of the population rejected Giblets! VICTORY! AMERICA HAS SPOKEN!

• Athenae at First Draft

• Skippy:

strangely enough, the mood here at skippy international is not as somber as it was 3 years and 11 months ago, when it was first clear that awol would occupy the oval office. it's rather like having someone back into your car right after you scraped it pulling into the parking lot...more of the same damn tsuris.

...buck up, kids, it's not like we supported mondale or dukakis. come on, we were on the side that just barely lost. just barely! a few more thousand votes here or there, in one state or another (but mostly one state), we would have won! a mere 5,500,000 votes separated the two guys running. the margin was 3% of the popular vote!

• David Yoo (Via ConclusiveEvidence)

Oh come on, this is absurd. The media is jumping on the idea that Bush won because bloggers posted unreliable exit polling data in the afternoon. As Instapundit says:

THE BIG-MEDIA SPIN is that "Bloggers are to blame" for the leak of early exit-poll info. Hmm. Conspiracy theories aside, why blame the bloggers instead of the network folks who did the actual, you know, leaking?

If bloggers (is Drudge a blogger?) are to blame for publishing leaked information from news organizations, then why aren't news organizations equally to blame when they publish leaked information from government officials? Do they really want to go down that path?

And why let Zogby off the hook? Mainstream America is far more likely to listen to him than bloggers. As we and countless other blogs pointed out election day,

This doesn't mean you don't have to go vote. It's a poll, and we all know how reliable those can be. But things are looking good, so go, put it over the top for Kerry.

Our best wishes go out to Elizabeth Edwards who was diagnosed with breast cancer Wednesday, right after her husband's concession speech.

Elizabeth found a lump in her breast last week and held off going to the doctor until yesterday. A biopsy confirmed the cancer.

Mrs. Edwards is a trooper. She's strong and tough. We join her family in believing she will conquer this. Nonetheless, it's devastating news.

Mrs. Edwards is also a big internet user. When we find a place you can e-mail her good thoughts, we'll post it.