Each week Xpress reporter Alli Marshall and WOXL DJ Pat Ryan team up to bring you their entertainment suggestions. Here are Pat & Alli’s Weekly Winners for Friday, Nov. 7 through Saturday, Nov. 8.
Click here to listen.

It was an historic election night Tuesday, and the Mountain Xpress was there to capture the highs and lows with photos and video.

From the subdued Republican gathering at the Grove Park Inn to the exuberant party local Democrats held at the Crowne Plaza Resort, Asheville rolled with the ups and downs of an historic election that ended with the United States electing its first African-American president. Go here to see scenes from from Election Day, and click here and here for photos from gatherings of locals watching the returns come in.

— Jason Sandford, multimedia editor

Click below to see David Gantt’s acceptance speech after winning the chairmanship of the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners.

URTV’s Ralph Roberts interviewed local Republicans during their gathering Tuesday night. Click below to see his report for Xpress.

The next Buncombe County Board of Commissioners will be entirely Democratic, as David Gantt ousted Chair Nathan Ramsey and the party’s entire slate won commanding victories Tuesday night. The victors promised to tackle the economic issues facing the county when they take office.

With 98 percent of precincts reporting and a record 71 percent turnout in the county, the Democrats won impressive numbers over their Republican rivals. Though it was predicted by many observers to be a close race, Gantt (currently the board’s vice chair) defeated Ramsey by 66,490 votes to 52,864. Former AB-Tech President K. Ray Bailey and City Council member Holly Jones will take their seats along with commissioners Carol Peterson and Bill Stanley, who both handily won re-election. Peterson got the fewest number of votes among the Democrats, but still came in more than 13,000 votes ahead of the nearest Republican challenger, John Carroll

The total votes, according to a preliminary count, were as follows:

K. Ray Bailey - 72,976
Holly Jones - 65,916
Carol Peterson - 60,027
Bill Stanley - 62,030
John Carroll - 47,860
Mike Fryar - 37,523
Ron McKee - 45,450
Don Yelton - 42,393

The mood at the Democrat’s victory celebration at the Crowne Plaza in Asheville was exultant.

“I’m humbled by the support,” Gantt told Xpress. “This is a mandate. People want us to take care of the money, preserve the mountains and take care of people who don’t have as much as we do.”

He promised a series of public meetings. “We got so caught up in zoning we stopped getting out there as much,” he said.

Bailey said he hoped to get to work on a “strategic plan with input from all the citizens so we can prioritize the goals of the community. The first thing we’ve got to do is understand we’re in tough economic times: We’ve got to survive this recession.”

Entering later in the night, Jones was greeted enthusiastically, and shook hands and hugged supporters before turning to talk about the economy ("issue number one is the money,” she noted).

“I believe with all my heart, just like the country is open to a new way of being and relating, I think our city and county are hoping for a new way of being,” she said. “I think there are going to be a lot of bridges built.”

Stanley described his election to a sixth term as “fantastic!”

“I’m pleased at the confidence people have to elect me to another term,” he said. “The county manager will bring us something in January so we know what we have to do to maintain these services and not raise taxes. It’s going to be difficult — but I don’t want to raise taxes.”

Over at a Republican gathering at the Grove Park Inn, the tone was more subdued. Ramsey, who ran a campaign that appealed to Democrats to vote for him, was somewhat surprised.

“Voters just went in and voted straight ticket,” Ramsey said. “I had Democrats every day come up to me and say ‘I voted straight Democrat except that I voted for you,’ so I’ve had more crossover support. But that’s a big margin to overcome. I always felt like I had a pretty good feel for what the average person in Buncombe County was thinking. I didn’t anticipate this, but it’s like 1994 in reverse.”

Carroll compared it to a reverse of Ronald Reagan’s victory in 1980.

“I thought we ran a good campaign, we did everything the right way, the honorable way, but the Obama ticket had a great deal of coattails with the local election,” he said. “It’s like the big sweep when Reagan came in — these are cyclical things that happen from time to time.”

McKee was taking it in stride.

“Whatever happens, we’ve had a great process and a great turnout,” McKee said. “Buncombe County has spoken, what else can you say?”

— David Forbes, staff writer

“This is fun, isn’t it”?

Such was the feeling of one Democratic voter Tuesday night, as Democratic incumbent Rep. Heath Shuler bested his Republican rival, Carl Mumpower, for the 11th District Congressional seat on a night in which Democrats racked up huge wins locally and nationally.

With 14 of 15 counties reporting late Tuesday, Shuler bested Mumpower with nearly 61 percent of the vote, compared to slightly more than 37 percent for Mumpower. Meanwhile, Libertarian candidate Keith Smith trailed far behind with just over 2 percent of the vote.

The carnage came early for Mumpower. Despite a maverick campaign that saw him fight Shuler, as well as his own party, on several key issues, Mumpower was resigned early in the evening to defeat, though he held no regrets about his unconventional campaign, in which he forsook party money and took not only Shuler but his party to task for what he saw as years of misrule.

Said Mumpower: “We said we were going to do it with a volunteer staff. No lobby money. No party money. Put principles first and not wear a mask — and we were true to all of that. So I’m proud of it. Nobody is going to see any tears of disappointment on my face. We did what we were in charge of and the rest of it is up to a higher authority, so I’m OK. I’m fine. I would not change a thing. ... If I ever run again, I’d run the same way.”

While upward of 40 people packed Mumpower’s campaign headquarters to watch the returns, hundreds of the Democratic faithful packed a ballroom at the Crowne Plaza Resort to cheer on Shuler and a plethora of other Democratic candidates who would emerge victorious on a historic night in which the nation’s first African-American was elected president.

At slightly after 10 p.m., Shuler took to the microphone before the gathered throng, who roared their approval over his re-election when introduced by campaign spokesman Andrew Whalen.

“What an exciting day this is,” Shuler told the crowd. “I have to thank our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, for all the many blessings bestowed upon us,” he said as his wife and two young children stood by his side.

“And I’m so excited that I have a partner in the U.S. Senate in Kay Hagan,” added Shuler, referring to Hagan’s upset win over incumbent Republican Sen. Elizabeth Dole. “I can’t thank you enough. And remember: this is only a beginning of a long trek. Let’s continue to work every day. ... Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

(Check out the Nov. 12 edition of Xpress for a full story on Shuler’s win).

— Hal L. Millard, staff writer

With 94 of 96 precincts reporting, it appears Democrats will take the N.C. House and Senate seats for Buncombe County districts. Incumbents Sen. Martin Nesbitt and Rep. D. Bruce Goforth will keep their seats, while Jane Whilden won a close race to take a seat left open by Republican Charles Thomas. Rep. Susan Fisher, meanwhile, ran unopposed and won again.

The unofficial results list the following preliminary totals (listed first as number of votes and then as percentage of votes cast):

N.C. House 114: Susan C. Fisher (Dem):  28,149 100%
(Unopposed)

N.C. House 115: D. Bruce Goforth (Dem): 27,670 67.46%
Paul Purdue (Rep) :  13,349 32.54%

N.C. House 116: Jane Whilden (Dem):  19,913 51.70%
Tim Moffett (Rep) 18,604 48.30%

N.C. Senate 49: Martin Nesbitt (Dem):  55,887 65.65%
R.L. Clark (Rep):  29.236 34.35%

— Brian Postelle, staff writer

With totals in from 94 of 96 Buncombe County precincts, Democrats appear to have won in virtually every local race.

New and still unofficial totals from the Buncombe County Board of Elections indicate that local Democrats have likely won every one of their contested races, from state legislative seats to the Board of Commissioners. Likewise, Buncombe voters chose Democrats in the race for president, the U.S. Senate, the U.S. Congress, and the governor’s office.

Look for more details on each of those races here soon.

With the votes in from 78 of North Carolina’s 100 counties, the presidential contenders are neck and neck in the state.

The N.C. Board of Elections presently shows McCain with a miniscule lead over Obama — 49.60 percent to 49.47 percent — in our battleground state, which carries 15 Electoral College votes.

According to several news analysts citing early voting tallies, North Carolina Republican Sen. Elizabeth Dole is on the cusp of losing her seat to Democrat Kay Hagan.

On its website, the North Carolina Board of Elections says that, with 63 of the state’s 100 counties’ voting totals in, Hagan leads by roughly 52 to 45 percent.

The Mountain Xpress will bring you updates about Election Day today. You’ll see the updates below. Or go here to see the Mountain Xpress Twitter page. Twitter is a site that allows anyone to offer brief online updates.

Here’s the Mountain Xpress live blog of Election Day:

Voters trickled into polling places around Buncombe County this morning as Election Day got underway. At a few locations, people were in line waiting for poll workers to open up at 6:30 a.m., and lines appeared around 8 a.m. at a few of the larger precincts, but there were no reports of long waits.

Forty-eight percent of the county’s registered voters voted in early voting, according to the Buncombe County Board of Elections. That’s a record, and probably accounts for the lack of a rush at polling places this morning. Local elections officials expect a record overall voter turnout by day’s end.

Local bloggers are keeping an eye on things, as well. ThunderPig reports a strong turnout in Jackson County, while Scrutiny Hooligans reports that voting is particularly strong at the Oakley precinct in east Asheville.

In other Election Day news:

• Go to the Buncombe County Board of Elections Web site for information about polling locations, sample ballots and more.

• If you want to watch election returns in Asheville, there are several viewing parties. Local Democrats plan to gather at the Crowne Plaza Resort Hotel in West Asheville, while Republicans are gathering at the Grove Park Inn. And there’s always a crowd at the elections board offices on College Street in downtown Asheville.

— Jason Sandford, multimedia editor