(Maybe) Kirk over Giannoulias; Quinn V Brady still too close

Almost all of the votes are in, and it looks like Kirk is 3 percentage points ahead of Giannoulias--a few more thousand votes going Kirk's way and it will be the point of no return. However, Brady and Quinn are so close, I'm not going to be surprised if there is a recount.

If Alexi Giannoulias does win the President's former Senate seat, he would have been an outspoken full-equality, pro-marriage ally on the hill. We're now getting half and half with Kirk, who supports ENDA, but not a DADT repeal. Sad thing is, whoever wins will be replacing Sen. Burris immediately, and--though we're not going to see ENDA come up in the Senate in the Lame Duck session, we WILL see DADT repeal come up.

With the Pentagon's working group sure to report to the Senate favorable conditions in the armed-forces for a DADT repeal, might we see Kirk switch positions? I'd hope so. It would be the honorable thing to do. However, a brand new Senator is unlikely to flip-flop like that, even if it is the right thing. When is the last time you've seen a politician do the right thing, anyway? Oh yeah, that's right, all of them were voted out tonight.