From the "Credit where it's due" file.

Every once in a while, even a Republican gets something right...

Voters should face a deadline of 8 p.m. on Election Day to get their ballots in to county election officials, Secretary of State Sam Reed said Friday, as he submitted a set of reforms to the Legislature.

It's not really his idea, of course. It's the way things are already done, for instance, in Oregon. It's a good one just same, though, and Reed's backing should help make it happen.

Stuff I learned from the election…

East of the Cascade Curtain, they loves 'em some socialized liquor…

Initiative Measure 1105 Concerning liquor (beer, wine and spirits)... Even the yellow counties in western Washington were mostly close calls, but in eastern Washington's Republican precincts, they seem to prefer their hootch East German style.

Overall it's going down 48-52. The other privatization bill, I-1105, is going down everywhere by even more.

Click the headline for the interactive map and more at the Secretary of State's election site.

More filing fun.

King County's list hasn't quite caught up, but the Secretary of State shows former State Rep. Patty Butler in race for the open State Senate seat in the 32nd. That sets up a race between a former Democratic Rep and current one, Maralyn Chase, for the Senate seat and a former Shoreline Councilmember, Cindy Ryu, and a current one, Doris McConnell, for Position one. There are also Republicans (known locally as "also-rans") involved.

Still just the phony D and token R challenging Rep. Kagi in position 2.

With an hour and a half to go, I don't expect any more surprises, but if I expected them, they wouldn’t be surprising.

Conspiracy theory of the day.

Melissa McEwan on Secretary of State Clinton's "broken elbow" (slightly bowdlerized as is my wont)...

The fall is just a cover story. It's really a repetitive strain injury sustained from four decades of nudging dudez in the ribs to get sh*t done or get the hell out of her way. Feminist elbow.

Heh™.

And get wells to the Secretary from here, too.

My own personal Congressman…

…answers The Big Question…

Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.): There is no American more capable or better able to serve our nation as Secretary of State than Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, and I enthusiastically applaud the news that she has accepted an invitation to serve from President-elect Barack Obama...

So, is Jim considered "center-right" these days?

Well, yeah…

NBC's Mark Murray...

If Obama selects Hillary Clinton to be his Secretary of State, it would be an ironic pick -- given that Team Obama downplayed her foreign-policy credentials (especially as first lady) during the Democratic primary season.

I mean, that's one of the things I thought Obama was right about from the beginning.

The good…

Via 538...

In 2008, there were seven direct elections of Secretaries of State who control oversight of statewide elections. Going into the elections, Democrats held four seats while Republicans held three. After Tuesday, Democrats hold six of the seven up for grabs.

…and the bad (it's ugly.)

Only in Washington did the incumbent Republican hold his seat.

Sorry about that, America. There's a stubborn streak of contrariness (adherents like to call it 'independence') in the upper leftian electorate that manifests itself in ticket splitting. For some reason, Secretary of State has traditionally been seen as a "safe" opportunity for an otherwise rational person to vote for a Republican.

Combined with down-ballot drop-off (nearly 200,000 presidential voters didn't marke their ballots for SOS), ticket splitting has returned Republican Sam Reed, the man who created the "Prefers GOP Party" shield for Dino Rossi and who has supervised the radical distortion of our state primaries, essentially forcing a single party ballot on a number of districts and effectively disenfranchising thousands of genuine third party voters in our state.

The challenge for Jason Osgood was formidable. It wasn't just the traditional ticket splitters and ballot drop-off working against him. Getting his message heard through the din surrounding a historic presidential campaign, a high profile gubenatorial rematch and one of the most celebrated Congressional challengers in the country was nearly impossible without almost unimaginable resources. A similar fate befell John Ladenburg, the Democratic challenger for Attorney General.

A thought - what if we elected the statewide constitutional officers in off-year elections, without presidential and gubenatorial distractions? It might enhance public awareness of not only the campaigns, but of the actual duties and importance of the offices themselves.

Anyway, again, sorry America.

And sorry to Jason and John, too. You fought the good fight. You deserved a better result.