CARACAS, Venezuela - Humbled by his first electoral defeat ever, President Hugo Chavez said Monday he may have been too ambitious in asking voters to let him stand indefinitely for re-election and endorse a huge leap to a socialist state.

"I understand and accept that the proposal I made was quite profound and intense," he said after voters narrowly rejected the sweeping constitutional reforms by 51 percent to 49 percent.

Opposition activists were ecstatic as the results were announced shortly after midnight — with 88 percent of the vote counted, the trend was declared irreversible by elections council chief Tibisay Lucena.

Some shed tears. Others began chanting: "And now he's going away!"

Without the overhaul, Chavez will be barred from running again in 2012.

Foes of the reform effort — including Roman Catholic leaders, media freedom groups, human rights groups and prominent business leaders — said it would have granted Chavez unchecked power and imperiled basic rights. [link]

Labels: Venezuela, vote

Labels: senate, vote

Senate scuttles troop withdrawal bill

By ANNE FLAHERTY, Associated Press Writer
15 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Senate Republicans scuttled a Democratic proposal ordering troop withdrawals from Iraq in a showdown Wednesday that capped an all-night debate on the war.

The 52-47 vote fell short of the 60 votes needed to cut off debate under Senate rules. It was a sound defeat for Democrats who say the U.S. military campaign, in its fifth year and requiring 158,000 troops, cannot tame the sectarian violence in Iraq.

"We have to get us out of a middle of a civil war" said Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., who chairs the Foreign Relations Committee. A political solution must be found "so when we leave Iraq, we don't just send our children home, we don't have to send our grandchildren back."

Republicans were mostly unified in their opposition to sidetrack the legislation, with four exceptions. Three Republicans — Sens. Gordon Smith of Oregon, Olympia Snowe of Maine and Chuck Hagel{heh-LN} of Nebraska — announced previously they support setting a deadline on the war.{surrender-LN}

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who is up for re-election next year, also voted to advance the bill. Spokesman Kevin Kelley said Collins believes the measure should be subject to a simple majority vote and not the 60 votes needed to end a filibuster. She opposes the legislation, however, Kelley said.{don't believe the lie, if she voted to send it to a vote, she wants it to pass, but wants a safe vote for re-election} (link)

Labels: senate, vote, war

President Poll

Who would you vote for in the Presidential Election? Fred Thompson Hillary Clinton Rudy Guiliani Barak Obama John McCain John Edwards Ron Paul Mitt Romney view results

heh sorry guys, I totally left Mitt Romney off the poll :( I'll put up a new one later, but for now, I'm changing 'other' to Mitt.

Labels: U.S. President, vote

Mass. lawmakers vote to allow proposed amendment banning gay marriage to proceed

By Steve LeBlanc, Associated Press

Last update: January 02, 2007 – 4:12 PM
BOSTON — Lawmakers in Massachusetts, the only state where gay marriage is legal, voted Tuesday to allow a proposed constitutional amendment to move forward that would effectively ban the practice.

Within two hours, they voted to reconsider, but then voted again to uphold their initial decision.

Sixty-one lawmakers voted in favor of advancing the measure, which would appear on the ballot in 2008 and declare marriage to be only between a man and a woman. The proposal still needs approval of the next legislative session.

After the initial vote, gay marriage proponents called for an hour recess.

They returned and voted 117-75 to reconsider the vote after a scolding from one of the Legislature's most outspoken gay marriage opponents.

Lawmakers later considered the issue a third time, voting 62-134 to advance the amendment to the legislative session.

If it makes it on the ballot and residents approve it, the amendment would leave Massachusetts' existing same-sex marriages intact but ban any new ones. (link)

Labels: congress, marriage, vote