The confirmation process for federal appointments can be a long row to hoe, as we are now seeing with the Supreme Court nomination hearings for Sonia Sotomayor. But the agriculture metaphor is even more relevant for Cass Sunstein, the Harvard Law School professor and constitutional scholar who is President Obama’s pick to be regulatory czar, or more technically the Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA).

Vice President-elect Joe Biden announced yesterday on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” that he would soon get a second dog—this time, a shelter dog to share space with him and Jill Biden at the vice president’s residence, the Naval Observatory, which thankfully has a big fenced yard.

There’s no doubt it was a rough Election Day for the National Rifle Association. The gun group spent millions of dollars supporting John McCain for President and trying to tarnish the image of Barack Obama—with little to show for it, given that Obama won Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and other swing states where the NRA was most active.

Readers joined us in celebrating the Election Day victories for animal protection, and looking toward the challenges ahead. I want to express my thanks to all of you who supported humane candidates for office, contacted your friends about the animal protection ballot measures, and helped to put animal issues on the political map this election season. Here are some of your comments.

On Tuesday, voters from coast to coast sent a strong message that animals deserve to be protected from cruelty and abuse, and the humane movement won resounding victories in the presidential race, congressional races, and ballot issue contests. These new public policies and new and reelected policymakers will have a meaningful impact on the lives of animals for years to come.

There are many races still too close to call, but I want to give you a broad look at how the HSLF-backed candidates are doing tonight in the House and Senate contests. So far, 248 candidates endorsed by HSLF have won tonight, and ten have been defeated. We have lost some good friends in Congress, but we've gained some new allies as well.

The returns continue to come in, and HSLF-endorsed candidates in the House and Senate races now stand at 279 wins and 13 losses. We've lost some great friends of animals in Congress, such as Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-N.C.) and Reps. Nancy Boyda (D-Kan.), Don Cazayoux (D-La.), Phil English (R-Pa.), Ric Keller (R-Fla.), Jon Porter (R-Nev.), and Chris Shays (R-Conn.). We were not against their opponents so much as we were for these incumbents who had been strong supporters and leaders for animal welfare.

The first candidate endorsed by the Humane Society Legislative Fund has been declared a winner this evening. CNN has called the race for Virginia's open U.S. Senate seat, and Democrat Mark Warner is the winner. Warner was a supporter of animal protection when he served as governor, and we congratulate him on the victory and look forward to working with him next year in the Senate.

Here's an update from Sara Amundson, executive director of the Humane Society Legislative Fund, who is on the ground in Michigan's 9th Congressional District:

FOX News has called the U.S. Senate race in New Hampshire for Democratic challenger Jeanne Shaheen over Republican incumbent John Sununu. The race was one of the top targets for the Humane Society Legislative Fund, which had backed Shaheen and sent mail to more than 37,000 voters in the state.