For me, the Senate isn't the most important thing on Tuesday.

[hiaasenrocks]

First, win the House. This will essentially tie Bush's hands, making him president for six years instead of eight. The House is important.

Secondly, win more governorships. This is extremely important for the 2008 presidential election. Governors have important networks throughout their respective states, thus making it somewhat easier to create a political machine for the presidential ticket. Getting more Democratic governors is important.

While I would love to see the Senate go Democratic Tuesday, I think winning the House is good enough in the short-term, and winning more governorships will prove critical in the long-term.

[IndyOp]

1. Supreme Court - Justice Stephens is quite ill...

The Senate approves/blocks nominations. It *all* matters.

Every single House & Senate and state and local candidate matters.

:(

[hiaasenrocks]

3. I'm not saying that it doesn't matter or that it's not important.

I'm simply ranking the importance as I see it.

If we don't win the Senate, I still feel as though Bush will have a tough time getting legislation and nominees through that body. At the very least, we're going to close the gap in the Senate, and I think Bush's political capital is long spent dry.

[ruggerson]

12. Since when is he quite ill?

Last I heard he was in great health.

But, frankly, I'd rather take the Senate than the house. I don't want Bush getting his way on one more federal judge.

[elocs]

2. Well, the Senate is important too.

Especially if Bush gets to appoint another Supreme Court Justice who will serve for life and have an effect on our lives for many years after Bush is gone.

[hiaasenrocks]

4. Again, I'm not saying it's *not* important.

I don't necessarily think the Senate is out of reach. Far from it. But the two items I listed are well within reach (even more likely than not) and that's still a win even if the Senate remains in Repub hands (slim margin).

[AIJ Alom]

5. I agree with you. Your points + the fact that in 2008 the GOP will

have to defend 21 Senate seats.

[AlCzervik]

6. i've said from the beginning that i'd be really happy to just get the house

the senate would be a bonus.

[blm]

7. Supreme Court rulings last for GENERATIONS.

.

[Zhade]

8. Another big one - legalizing marijuana in NV and CO.

Some may disagree, but these are THE issues that would bring immediate positive change. Not more important than prosecuting the criminals in the White House, but the one that could change major laws and really force the issue.

Watch this one, people! They'll do everything they can to not allow it to pass, but the people will speak, and we'll see what we see.

[emulatorloo]

9. Check out Senator Pat "Cover-Up" Roberts (R) Kansas - Intel Chair

who has done nothing but cover up for Bushco on the Iraq war, and who we learned last week pushed to publish Atomic Bomb How-To instructions on the internet to score political points with his Republican Base.

These Republican Committee chairs must go.

If Dems have a majority in the senate, they go bye bye.

[upi402]

10. we need both and impeachment to get it back

or we're screwed. If the Bushler appoints another judge or justice we're toast. And there will be no chance to get PBS and NPR back.

my .02

[elocs]

11. Impeachment without conviction can only be a moral victory.

Bill Clinton was impeached, but not convicted, and served out his term. So will Bush. One of the ultimate examples of how life is unfair.

[upi402]

13. Exactly

We need the neocons OUT and real Dems in there. Or at least a Dem majority that may go with the mandate to move against the corporatist stranglehold.

[Riverman]

14. Don't Worry, one or more Republican Senators will be forced

to resign and/or be indicted those the House Democrats catch in the "Rpublican Culture of Coruption." Any Republican Senatorial Candidates who will be snared after Nov 7th in coruption charges?

[bain_sidhe]

15. Not just the Supreme Court

It's the whole Federal bench. Even if bushit doesn't get another shot at the SC, remember, most cases never make it to the Supremes - they are decided below that level and the decisions are just left to stand. Bushit and the publican senate are packing the whole system with young, reich-wing ideologues - and they blocked most of Clinton's nominees during his last two years just so that they could do this. Republican appointees now constitute a majority of judges on 10 of the nation's 13 federal appeals courts.

His picks have already done a lot of damage. I know a lot of people don't like to click through on links - especially pdf links - but I urge you and everyone reading this to read People For The American Way's report Confirmed Judges, Confirmed Fears (pdf - Here's a link to the press release about the report). His court appointments have already done a lot of damage. Things they've tried to do - things that they can succeed in doing with just a few more judges - are even worse.

From that press release (emphasis mine):

The new report documents that troubling trends identified in earlier reviews have continued as more Bush appointees gain more experience and tenure on the appellate courts – more and more opinions seek, sometimes successfully, to cut back broadly on Americans’ rights under our Constitution and laws.

...

Another damaging trend documented in the report is judges preventing, or advocating in dissent to prevent, individual Americans from having their day in court and presenting their claims to a jury. In a number of cases, Bush judges have been specifically criticized by their colleagues for improperly applying the summary judgment standard and denying plaintiffs their day in court despite the existence of important evidence supporting their claims, or for other reasons have tried to throw such cases out of court.

These ideologues will issue rulings intended to implement their vision of the "law" for a generation. It won't matter much what laws get passed when these reich-wing judges are "interpreting" the laws to suit their ideology. I'll probably be dead before we can replace them, and frankly, I don't want to live in their world for the rest of my life.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

16. Governors are important for other reasons too

What the neo-theocrats can't accomplish at the national level they take to state legislatures. Be it weakening environmental laws, worker protections, or corporate accountability, they are hard at work in the states to roll back decades of progress. It's especially important in the West and South to elect Dem Governors for the veto power. We can tell you a thing or two about that here in AZ. If we didn't have Janet Napolitano we'd be screwed 10 ways from Sunday.