ELECTION TIDBITS – AT 5:03 P.M. ET:  Some late polls give support to some trends we detected in the last few days:

In Pennsylvania, a new Morning Call poll has Toomey up three against Sestak for the U.S. Senate.  We had feared, early in the week, that Toomey's support was collapsing among independents, but things seem to have stabilized.  The lead is still within the margin of error, and too close for serenity, but we're hoping that GOP enthusiasm will stretch that number.

Reports from Illinois tell us that early voting has been disappointing for the Dems.  For the first time, according to one report, numbers from the Chicago suburbs have been greater than from the city itself.  And that includes the counting of Chicago voters who passed away years ago. 

A new Mason-Dixon poll in Illinois shows Republican Mark Kirk up two over his Dem opponent, whose name I cannot spell.  He's the guy who plays basketball with Obama, and this race is for Obama's old seat in the U.S. Senate.  Or maybe we should say "new" seat, since the chair didn't get much use when Obama was supposedly occupying it.

In California, obnoxious pseudo-Senator Barbara Boxer hangs on to a small lead, maybe two, three points, over Carly Fiorina, who has run a fine campaign.  This could be a heartbreaker if Carly falls a bit short.  Again, we're counting on GOP enthusiasm.  But California's public-employee unions, who can send literally hundreds of thousands to the polls, are going all out for the far-left Boxer.

Similarly, the old guard in California wants retread, third-owner used car Jerry Brown to be governor.  Sadly, Brown, who was governor in an earlier era, before most of us had computers, before e-mail, before the internet, has a comfortable lead over Meg Whitman and will probably win.  This is particularly sad because congressional redistricting in California will now, if Brown does win, be in Democratic hands.

October 23, 2010