11:07 PM ET — House health care bill gets votes needed for passage. 220 members of Congress — including one Republican, Rep. Joseph Cao of Louisiana — voted in favor of health care reform, advancing the legislation by the slimmist of margins. Forty-nine Democrats voted against the bill, along with 176 Republicans.

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) cast vote #218, solidifying passage. Speaker Pelosi was "near sobbing," HuffPost's Ryan Grim reports.

Here's my favorite Republican comment thus far, from Politico:

Congratulation Democrats. You just killed our country. Collectively you have done more damaged than Osama Bin ladin could have dreamed of.
Posted By: jflobenst@dockpoint.net | November 07, 2009 at 11:25 PM

On the afternoon of November 6th , 2009, Seattle Police Homicide detectives received a tip about a Datsun 210 matching the description of a possible suspect vehicle used in the slaying of Officer Tim Brenton. Detectives responded to a parking lot in the 13700 block of 56th Avenue South in Tukwila. While detectives were investigating the scene further an adult male suspect emerged and pointed a gun at them. Detectives fired on the suspect in self defense, striking him at least once. [...]

SPD detectives obtained search warrants to further examine the crime scene. Evidence located inside the suspect’s apartment included improvised explosive devices (IEDs), a rifle, and various other items of evidence. Detectives now believe that this individual is responsible for both the murder of Officer Brenton, the attempted murder of Officer Sweeney, and the arson attack on October 22nd at the Charles Street facility. Detectives are asking the Prosecutor’s Office for formal charges. The Datsun that detectives were looking for is registered to the suspect. Our investigation into the murder of Officer Tim Brenton and attempted murder of Officer Britt Sweeney continues and we are still receiving and following up on tips.

In a news briefing today, Seattle Police assistant chief Jim Pugel called Monfort "a lone domestic terrorist."

AUDIOASIS at the Sunset Tavern!
Get your funky little butt over to Ballard circa 6 pm if you hanker to indulge yourself in the newest installment of KEXP’s beloved live broadcast, Audioasis. (And you DO! Oh, you KNOW you DO!) The bands showcased this evening will include Black Whales, Vs., and Feral Children. Hosted by the ever delightful Hannah Levin! Tickets through www.brownpapertickets.com. Top drawer! Ballard-y! KEXP-y! Levin-y!

BACON STRIP at Re-Bar!
Oh, calm down, it’s not like it doesn’t happen once a month. This fresh new installment marks Bacon Strip’s four year anniversary, and you can expect these dizzy freaks to go berserk. The theme is Superheroes. (Be a hero! Be a villain! Your choice! Prizes to the best costume!) As always, there will be bacon. 10:30 pm, Re-Bar. (1114 Howell Street.) It’s $5.00 with costume, $7.00 without. Nude? FREE! (But you might spend the night in jail. Sounds worth it.) Bacony!

WESLEY HOLMES and BMP at The Baltic Room!
Something called “Crème de la Crème Productions” (I’m drawing a blank) is putting on the dancey event, featuring the famous DJs Wesley Holms and BMP. The cover is $6 before 11 pm, a whopping $8 after. 1207 Pine Street, starting at 9 pm. Funky!

You guessed it…TONIGHT!

(Where did he get that baby from?) Maybe someone should bring in a puppy who will give a hearty "Arf!" for the Democrat's health care bill. The Republicans will get confused about which way to vote.

Queers can't have titties and beers?

These so-called virtual goods, like a $1 illustration of a Champagne bottle on Facebook or the $2.50 Halloween costume in the online game Sorority Life, are no more than a collection of pixels on a Web page. But it is quickly becoming commonplace for people to spend a few dollars on them to get ahead in an online game or to give a friend a gift on a social network.

Analysts estimate that virtual goods could bring in a billion dollars in the United States and around $5 billion worldwide this year.

I'm no longer nervous as fuck.

Benjamin has been involved in the campaign longer than his daughter has been alive. Where did he celebrate the latest returns? He texted back: "At home with my family."

• .Ariel / Stranger Flickr
• "Sassafras, ready for rain"**

Nice weather*, eh? And here's the Seattle forecast from the National Weather Service:

Today: Showers and possibly a thunderstorm. High near 49. South wind between 14 and 21 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%.

Tonight: Showers and possibly a thunderstorm before 4am, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms after 4am. Low around 41. South southwest wind between 9 and 13 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%.

Sunday: Rain likely, mainly after 10am. Cloudy, with a high near 51. South wind between 9 and 13 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%.

Sunday Night: Rain likely, mainly before 10pm. Cloudy, with a low around 42. South wind between 11 and 14 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%.

Monday: Rain, mainly after 10am. High near 51. South wind around 14 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%.

Monday Night: Showers likely. Cloudy, with a low around 41. Chance of precipitation is 70%.

Tuesday: Showers likely. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 50. Chance of precipitation is 60%.

Tuesday Night: Showers likely. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 39.

Veterans Day: A chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 49.

Wednesday Night: A chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 40.

* Here's the Cliff Mass Vocabulary Word of the Day.

**Backstory from .Ariel in The Stranger's Flickr pool: "My coworker Gretchen gave me this doggie raincoat for Sassafras. She'd received it as a gift for her cat (!?!) and since the cat hated it, Gretchen decided to pass the raincoat on."

Follow it here, here, and here.

*Without the help of Washington Democrat Brian Baird.

Art/Tears

Crawl Space's Final Opening

Music

David Bazan, Say Hi, the Sea Navy

• See what else is happening in Art on Saturday »

Martin Limon reads at Seattle Mystery Bookshop from his book G.I. Bones, which is about a ghost, a red-light district, and the army. Also a missing girl. It is fiction.

The Central Library is hosting an event from Jack Straw Writers. The Washington Center for the Book co-presents this reading by local authors Lana Hechtman Ayers, Madeline Ostrander, Storme Webber, and the outstanding Kim-An Lieberman, among others.

The Fantagraphics Book Store is hosting Al Columbia, who is a great cartoonist. Pim & Francie is a wonderfully weird new comic book. I haven't had a chance to read it yet, but it looks like kind of like a nightmare I had once when I watched a bunch of vintage Mickey Mouse cartoons and ate some improperly thawed Pizza Rolls.

And at Town Hall, it's time for a benefit event titled Exposed to the Cliffs of the Heart. This is an evening about our responsibilities to the earth. Someone will talk about the Bible and how it pertains to global warming, someone else will talk about science, and then the great authors David James Duncan and Sherman Alexie will come out and kick everyone's ass.

The full readings calendar, including the next week or so, is here. And if you're planning on staying in and you're looking for personalized book recommendations, feel free to tell me the books you like and ask me what to read next over at Questionland.

Captured: Tukwila police shoot a suspect in the Officer Timothy Brenton killing after he pulled a gun on them. The suspect is in critical condition.

The Procession: Hundreds of police cars snaked through the city on their way to Brenton's KeyArena memorial.

Hurtling Toward Decisive: McGinn jumped further ahead in both of yesterday's ballot drops, and now leads by 1.4 percent (2,384 votes). But no concession from Mallahan.

The Power of Prayer: It probably won't be enough to reject R-71.

More Shooting News: Few answers about Fort Hood gunman; one dead and eight injured after shooting spree in an Orlando office building.

Abortion, Democrats and Cowardice: House Democrats back down, likely will end up with a health care bill amendment that prohibits coverage for elective abortions.

And Guess Who'll Be in D.C. for the Vote: The usual dumbfucks throwing teabags around.

How Unemployed are You? U.S. unemployment rate is at 10.9 percent—over 10 percent for the first time since 1983. But it's kinda really 17.5 percent.

Crying in French: Apparently babies start to learn their parents' language super-early.

Today in Bigoted Douchebags: The battle to release R-71 petition signers continues after the election.

The Swine Flu: The vaccine's on its way to King County, but now the virus will kill your pets!

Your Phone's NOT your only friend! A study says technology doesn't isolate people but expands social contact.

Wearing Out Our Welcome: Many Afghan people have had enough of us Americans.

Kent, Washington: Number one in space elevators!

Microsoft Wins: Microsoft Messenger and the company's other sites led time spent online in September.

Microsoft Loses: But the Xbox 360 is no longer cool with the kids.

Continuing the Looney Tunes with the best one ever:

This study seeks to illuminate and further the relatively unknown legal scholarship of Professor Paul Butler, in the area of Jury Nullification. My objectives are three fold. (1.) To explain in detail what jury Nullification is. (2.) Inform fellow citizens as to the history of Jury Nullification both Conceptual and Actual. (3.) Give clear succinct descrip- tions of a Citizens Rights, Duties and Protections with regards to effectuating change, through said Jury Nullifica- tion. I believe that once citizens are enlightened as to the extent of their individual power. These enlightened citizens cannot help but spread their knowledge to others, effectuating positive change at an exponential rate. Much like the elation and excitement of the young eaglet, that realizes it can fly for the first time.

Florence & The Machine:

I am also certain that she identifies strongly with movies about a quirky girl who meets a sweet indie dude with permanently messy hair who wears rumpled, button-up shirts. He is about to get married to some uptight bitch who wants to control everything and stomp all the creativity out of him, but fortunately the quirky girl comes along and reignites his passion for life and shows him that he has to call off the wedding at the last minute, even though it's going to disappoint his parents and make him question everything he thought he knew about himself.

Oh, and I'm almost positive she "doesn't even OWN a television" and takes every possible opportunity she can to tell you that she doesn't know who a given celebrity is: "Who is THAT?? Why do you get so wrapped in all that fake Hollywood bullshit? It's so PLASTIC and PHONY, man! Wait, hang on a second, my iPhone is ringing."

So... are you gonna win? "Obviously, what we are seeing the right now is the same trend as primary, where voters favored Mike. Right now we feel very good."

Is there any hope for Joe? "King County had another 30,000 votes dumped in today, which nobody would have expected—that's abnormally large," Neuman says. "We will wait and see, but it's not going in the right direction for us. We would have to see an immediate reversal in trend, I think, and an abnormally high one."

The P.I. is reporting that the man shot in Tukwila this afternoon is in fact a suspect in the Halloween killing of Officer Brenton—the suspect is in critical condition at Harborview after being shot in the head, according to the Seattle Times.

The suspect is 41-year-old UW student Christopher J. Monfort. He's been studying criminal justice, of all things.

Police received a tip about the car they were looking for and waited for Munfort to approach it.

Three detectives confronted Monfort at the apartment complex later Friday afternoon. He turned and ran, then pulled out a handgun and pointed it at police, King County Sheriff's Office Sgt. John Urquhart said.

"For some reason, it did not go off," Urquhart said. "I don't know if he tried to fire it."

Monfort allegedly then ran a short distance again, and had another confrontation before he was shot at least twice, police said.

Investigators did not say how many officers were involved or how many shots were involved.

"It'll be tough to overcome," she acknowledged. But she said a win is "still in the realm of possibility" and that the campaign wants to evaluate "oustanding factors."

For example, she said, there may have been some Seattle ballots in a vandalized ballot box in Tukwila.

* I added that "Right?" because I didn't want to jinx things.

Mike McGinn 85416 50.31%
Joe Mallahan 83032 48.91%
Write-in 1328 0.78%

That's a 2,384-vote spread.

Is the race still too close to call? “Hey, we’re waiting to see what the next results show, but the trend looks positive for us now.” The next drop hits between 9:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m.

Mayor

Mike McGinn 75,657 49.99%

Joe Mallahan 74,448 49.19%

Write-in 1240 0.82%

All the King County election results are here.

• King County Elections has counted 137,025 ballots from Seattle voters and the McGinn camp estimates the county has an additional 55,000 uncounted ballots on hand.

In a recent SurveyUSA poll, you can see that McGinn's base is among voters 18 to 34. In contrast, Joe Mallahan's base is older voters, especially voters over 65 years old. In other words: Uncounted ballots appear to represent younger voters—who are more likely to be McGinn supporters—than the votes already counted. This could mean that the next batch of votes puts McGinn over the edge.

Late voters could also be McGinn voters if they read The Stranger.

According to Google Analytics, the Stranger's bill of endorsements—which give a hearty endorsement to McGinn—was viewed by 43,933 unique individuals. Of those, about 18,500 people viewed our endorsements in the last three days before the election. (That's not even counting cheat-sheet downloads from the home page or three issues of the paper around town that had our endorsement cheat sheet.) So those are late voters, they're mostly likely young voters, they are probably mostly McGinn voters, and they are voters whose ballots may not have been counted yet.

Seattle is estimated to have 213,841 total ballots when it's all said and done.

Tukwila Police recently shot a man at an apartment complex near Southcenter. From seattlepi.com:

Seattle Police responded to Tukwila after receiving a tip that the man was connected to the fatal shooting Halloween Night of Seattle Police Officer Timothy Brenton, according to a police source familiar with the investigation. SWAT members were among those responding.

According to Stranger books intern Corey Kahler, who was listening to police radio, the suspect was shot after drawing a weapon, after multiple squad cars and SWAT arrived. The suspect is alive and has been taken from the scene.

His condition has not been officially released, seattlepi.com reports.