So let’s review the positive aspects of yesterday:
1.) In every almost every high-profile race with a teahadist lunatic, the teahadist lost. O’Donnell, Angle, Miller- all gone.
2.) Apparently, dressing up as Nazi is still over the line, as Iott lost.
3.) Puppies win:
Nearly 1 million Missouri voters sent a powerful message through the ballot box to shed the stigma of being the puppy mill capital of the country by approving Proposition B, a statewide ballot initiative to establish basic standards for the care of dogs in large-scale commercial breeding facilities. Missouri is home to an estimated 3,000 puppy mills breeding hundreds of thousands of puppies, far more than any other state in the country.
Any other positive things yesterday?
*** Update ***
I forgot about Rand Paul, but when you consider he is replacing that lunatic Jim Bunning, is it really going to shift things to the right?
Bnut
Paladino’s amazing speech.
Ron
It looks like another of the crazies might be held off. Denver Post calling CO-Sen for Bennet.
Llelldorin
Meg Whitman gave the California economy a $163 million dollar personally-funded stimulus package, and elected Jerry Brown.
Kered (formerly Derek)
Nope.
jacy
Um, no zombie apocalypse yet? Although that may actually be up for debate.
cleek
yesterday + positive…. hmmm….
well, yesterday, my wife was operating under the impression that she wasn’t going to be laid-off.
today, not so much.
i blame the Boehner economy.
Bulworth
So can we add Joe the Plummer’s name to the list of teabagging losers? He campaigned against this (Freedom!!). Wasn’t Sarah (Freedom!!) against this, too?
ed
I didn’t
fall into an open manholestub my toe.Oscar Leroy
@Llelldorin:
Haha )
R-Jud
@cleek:
Fuuuuuuuuuck. I am so sorry.
david mizner
Calm down, people. World hasn’t come to an end. Country’s fucked up, but it was yesterday too.
Plus, this, showing that voters are smarter than you think.
http://money.cnn.com/2010/11/02/news/economy/ballot_measures/
Ron
Also, in CO the “personhood” amendment failed. No idea if it was supposed to be close, but that’s still nice to see. (OTOH, Oklahoma now can no longer consider Sharia law in the courts)
mistermix
NY-23, where teabagger Hoffman once again gave the Democrats the seat by acting as a spoiler.
david mizner
@david mizner:
I can’t do block quotes here, for some reason.
Angry Black Lady
prop 19 didn’t pass which means more maryjewwanna for me.
Strandedvandal
Walt Minnick is gone baby gone.
JGabriel
John Cole:
Not every, more like 4/7. Buck lost too, so that makes four losses, but Paul, Rubio, and Toomey won — all with significant Tea Party support.
(Sorry to be a buzzkill.)
.
Linkmeister
Hawai’i. One teeny-tiny minnow swam upstream.
John - A Motley Moose
The only bright spot in Michigan is that Gary Peters won his re-election bid in a red-leaning district. The GOP won the governorship, the lower house, expanded their majority in the upper house, and now holds the edge in the U.S. House by 9-6. That was 8-7 in favor of the Dems. It wasn’t a bloodbath in the whole country, but MI really took a beating. Thankfully, our senators weren’t up for re-election.
There is some hope the new governor is a moderate Republican in the mold of the old-time MI GOP. I’ll believe it when I see it.
Alex S.
Because of a sudden illness and work, I feel strangely unmoved by these results. Maybe it’ll sink in when Darrell Issa subpoenas Bo Obama.
jwb
Goopers won huge at the state level, so they are going to own the wretched state economies. Of course, they will also control redistricting and they are going to eviscerate welfare and education funding, which will be damaging beyond belief. But it’s going to be hard for them not to own those decisions. I’m sure the Koch brothers will spend $100 millions to ensure that everyone knows it’s still the Dems’ fault.
brettvk
I live in SW MO and went to bed last night sure that Prop B would be swept away in the red tide, on the grounds that the greedy old assholes voting GOP would oppose it as an unwarranted restraint on entrepreneurs. The fact it passed is a small comfort today (FSM knows the pro-B forces had plenty of horrifying puppy mill photos for the ads). But I lost my good moderate Dem state rep to a shitty teabagger, damnit.
I have to add a defense of my fellow Boomers, who are being confused on too many blogs with teabaggers by more recent generational cohorts. We aren’t all batshit.
me
Also, Scott Brown can start fearing for his reelection chances.
JGabriel
Llelldorin:
Yeah, that’s a toss-up for best news of the night with Reid beating Angle.
.
ChrisS
Maffei won (voted for HCR), Valesky kept his state senate seat, and uh, well that’s about it. Unfortunately we won’t have Paladino to kick around anymore.
And hey, Obama says it’s time to compromise! When the democrats win a shitload of seats, it’s time to compromise and when they lose it’s time to compromise. At least they’re consistent unlike the GOPers.
Violet
Colorado decided that fetusus are not people.
Roger Moore
California decided to pass its budget on a majority vote, and to leave Congressional redistricting to an independent commission. They also rejected an attempt by two Texas oil companies to overturn our green energy law.
jeffreyw
Well, it looks like there is gonna be a bumper crop of crab apples. Unless this tree rat brings his family along next time he has lunch.
Ash Can
It looks like Pat Quinn is going to hang on as IL governor. He ain’t perfect, but Bill Brady is a disaster.
dj spellchecka
rasmussen had a good night
nate:
The last Hawaii poll had the incumbent, Daniel Inoyue, defeating Cam Cavasso by just 13 points. Mr. Inouye is ahead by 55 points right now. If Mr. Inouye’s margin holds, the 42-point error would be by far the worst general election poll in FiveThirtyEight’s database, which includes all polls since 1998; the previous record was 29 points.
Of the roughly 100 polls released by Rasmussen or its subsidiary Pulse Opinion Research in the final 21 days of the campaign, roughly 70 to 75 percent overestimated the performance of Republican candidates, and on average they were biased against Democrats by 3 to 4 points.
jl
Thanks for that first point. We should all send the Teabagger Lunatic Senate Candidate Corps thank you notes. (With no return addresses, since those nutcases might go apeshit and harass us. Especially the Paladin).
Good news, as I pointed out in thread below: could be a clean Democratic sweep of statewide offices in California. Even the anti death penalty, lady of color, progressive Kamala Harris for state AG.
Looks like we elected a hippy dippy let the kids have sports art music and a humanistic education guy (Torlakson) over a sourpuss grump education as punishment its all them teachers fault (they’s too big fer ther britches anyhoo) lamer.
California propositions were a mixed bag: a few small steps forward, and two big steps back. Not including the hemp thing, which is now basically parking ticket anyway.
California is like the rest of the country in one big way: everyone wants the goodies and no one wants to pay for them. People want fantastic state park system, and squaked like hell when Arnold proposed closing most of them, but wont pay a small fee to support them. State fell for a miserable dishonest two thirds vote for any fee hike (cause they are all taxes, you know).
Edit: and science! SCIENCE! Torlakson is an ex science teach.
Alex
The Giants are still world champions after their vicious beat down of the Texas Rangers.
The Dangerman
Biggest news in CA wasn’t Brown or Boxer; it was having the 2/3rds approval of the budget go down. Now, Republicans can’t hold the process hostage (“give me what I want or the State burns to the ground”). Also, we will have some quality leadership for a change (not only Arnold going away, but Abel Maldonaldo is a fuck of the first order; his career is derailed).
beltane
Teabagger Paul LePage won a three-way race for governor of Maine with under 40% of the vote. This should make it easier to get rid of fake-moderate Olympia Snowe in 2012.
Jim C.
@Strandedvandal:
Walt Minnick being gone brings a warm glow of happiness to me even now.
I went and voted for that tardbot yesterday and rationalized it to myself as voting to retain Pelosi as Speaker, but I’ve felt dirty and in need of some sort of medieval style, Mel Gibsonesque Torture Clensing ever since.
licensed to kill time
@david mizner:
cleek
@ChrisS:
and the GOP says it’s time to stand firm.
Dems are so fucking stupid
me
@ChrisS: Naw, they’re consistent, every win is a mandate, every loss means they haven’t been conservative enough.
shortstop
Oh, man, cleek, sorry to hear that.
Looks like we escaped a batshit crazy winger governor here in Illinois. Won’t know for sure for a bit yet, but fuck Brady’s “We estimate this could take 30 days or more” nonsense.
Wag
And Colorado elected a brew master as governor, too. Lots of good news out of Colorado.
suzanne
Ummm, nope.
Here in Arizona, everything went to shit. Everything.
And I still don’t know if I can smoke dope yet. Since the “opt out if Obamacare!” proposition passed, weed might be the only anti-seizure med I’ll be able to afford.
djheru
Hickenlooper won with no negative ads, and thanks to Tom Tancredo, it’s possible that the Republicans may be relegated to “minor party” status for 2012 (as they should be)
jwb
@cleek: It appears so. On the other hand, I would think that Obama and his team are smart enough to figure out how this opening gambit was going to play. Let’s see if they have a plan from here.
cmorenc
If you want a downside, Obama spoke today of being willing to work with the GOP (well…ok as a posturing gesture even Reagan understood how to do when the GOOpers took an ass-whipping in the 1982 midterms amid an extended economic downturn), but unfortunately Obama gave the specific example of taxes as an area of potential compromise. This is a HUGE mistake, as he was positioned BEFORE the election to extend tax cuts to families making less than 250K per year, and extending tax cuts for folks with higher incomes than that is NOT a popular issue, despite the GOP gains yesterday.
He’s going to get NOTHING from this gesture, even if he delivers. He’s learned NOTHING from the past two years, if this is any indication (see: health care reform).
mikefromArlington
Jane Hamsher just unleashed her predictable rant that this was Obama and the DNC’s fault.
http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2010/11/03/top-10-surprise-losers-of-election-night/
shortstop
@Alex: It can’t be emphasized enough.
Violet
I actually think it’s good politics for Obama to say he’s ready to compromise. The voters are angry, they elected the other party, and it’s good to look conciliatory on the day after while the other side is gleeful. Don’t give them ammunition while people are still paying attention and gloating. Looking chastened actually works. It looks like he’s “listening to the people.”
It’s what he does and how he does it that matters. Tossing a bone to the other side is irrelevant. If he continues the bipartisan/compromise stuff and won’t stand for anything, then yeah it’s a problem. Otherwise, meh. Political theater.
shortstop
@djheru: Looks like Maes got 11 percent, so probably not.
Belvoir
My Democratic Representative Tim Bishop narrowly won agains his R opponent, 51-49, NY District 1 (eastern LI). That’s something positive.
New Yorker
It was nice to see Jimmy McMillan, nutty as he might be, get nearly twice as many votes as racist demagogue Charles Barron in the NY Governor’s vote.
shortstop
@Violet: This.
Steve
@John – A Motley Moose: Do you mean old-time GOP like Bill Milliken? Yeah, ok, but I think that breed is extinct nationally.
jwb
@cmorenc: Ah, bargaining with himself again. Man, I would have thought he would have learned by now… I stand by my contention that the administration has to have predicted the reaction so far, so it’s really a question of if they have a plan.
Nellcote
The Dems swept all state offices in California.
The SF Giants had a hell of a parade this morning.
GregB
Damn anti-business Democrats.
In these tough economic times and they want to close down puppy mills!
freelancer
@jacy:
Funny that, I did start listening to the audiobook of World War Z today at work.
Roger Moore
@The Dangerman:
Unfortunately, though, it’s still a 2/3 vote to raise taxes, and now a 2/3 vote to raise fees. So the Republicans can’t hold the process captive by denying a vote on the budget, but they can still define the budgeting process in terms of which programs the Democrats have to cut to keep the budget balanced. So it’s a victory, but only a small victory.
Yankee Buzzard
Prop. 23 – the attempt by fossil fuel interests to roll back California’s landmark renewable and greenhouse gas regulation – went down. That’s a huge relief.
jl
@JGabriel: I tend to agree. Except that the current approach to redistricting in CA is a mess.
The previous redistricting was a gerrymandered incumbent protection racket.
I’ve read, and people I know who followed it, said it was basically a cowardly weak ass Democratic move to guarantee them a majority, supposedly with understanding that protected GOPers would play nice. Which the CA state GOP, which is insane, promptly forgot about.
Sound familiar?
The CA GOP will be extinct soon. I noticed over last two years they often don’t even return calls to news stations to explain their BS on the state budget. When they do come on, they just rave and shout.
I do hope that California is the future of the country in one particular: the fate of the GOP. They have really gone around the bend, sanitywise. I think they will be permanent minority here.
cmorenc
It’s simultaneously an upside and a downside that we have to be extremely grateful that Harry Reid defeated Sharon Angle, thus helping insure the dems retain a Senate majority as a brake against the GOP house (and given that Benet and Murray appear likely winners in two more razor-close contests, have enough of a majority to inhibit the temptation for Lieberman to jump ship). Six months ago, Reid would have been an easy pick for “democratic senator we can easiest live without, should I have to pick one to lose”.
About the ONLY reason to keep Lieberman in the democratic coalition is for his marginal worth as an extra warm body in the Dem coalition to keep control of the Senate out of GOOPER hands by a wider margin. And I guess that’s upside #2 – that Lieberman is stuck merely being an untrustworthy jackass inside the dem tent for the remainder of his term (he’s up for reelection in 2012, with extremely dubious prospects)…rather than being in a position to be a poisonous snake and jump parties.
KG
The one positive that I take from the election at the national level is that the GOP is going to have to get serious about governing now that they will have control of the House. Not saying they will, but that’s what logic would dictate.
Also, other than Prop 19, can’t say I’m terribly disappointed by the California ballot props.
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
@jeffreyw:
When life gives you crab apples, brew hard cider.
Mark S.
I haven’t read many pundits, but I think the big loser was Sarah Palin and the Tea Party. The GOP might have the Senate if some of these teabaggers didn’t knock out more viable candidates in the primaries.
Politico had an article the other day saying GOP bigwigs are now working to make sure Palin doesn’t get the nomination. Granted, it was all anonymous sources, but I wouldn’t be surprised if most gooper bigwigs see Palin as electoral poison.
Brian J
It’s not really related to yesterday’s election, but it’s still something to be grateful for: Larry Kudlow’s ratings are tanking, and quickly.
Perhaps an economic recovery is going to come quicker than we think.
Llelldorin
I’m actively curious as to what Carly Fiorina will attempt next. She’s gone from a failed HP CEO to the head of McCain’s presidential bid to a failed US Senate candidacy.
Following the usual “failing up” tendencies of the GOP, I suppose we should next expect her to fail in a bid for the Presidency, then to lose confirmation to the US Supreme Court, then to challenge God for his throne?
Ash Can
Also, my putz of an alderman lost his bid for the state senate to his Dem opponent. We’re still stuck with him as alderman, but at least he’s not the rest of the district’s problem on top of it.
KG
@jl: the GOP will survive in California until a relevant third party can force them out of the second spot. The redistricting stuff may actually result in more competitive seats, meaning a possible come back for the GOP in the legislature.
jl
@Roger Moore: but won’t this make it easier for the majority in CA leg (by definition now, the Democrats) to put the screws on the minority (by definition, now, the insane and apeshit GOP) for some votes on taxes and fees when they write the budget?
If so, that why I said the propostions were a number of small steps forward and two big steps back. I am hoping the small steps forward will be bigger than the two steps back.
Beej
John, you forgot Rand Paul in Kentucky. Or maybe he doesn’t quite qualify as a Teahadist, just as a lunatic.
Nied
It wasn’t yesterday. But the Feds quantitative easing attempt seems to be having the desired effects on inflation expectations, well in excess of it’s small size. That is a very very good thing for the economy. It’ll deliver dividends in the 2012 election as well.
The Dangerman
I think this is true; I don’t see how one can come up with shittier candidates than Whitman and Fiorina without trying really hard. Whitman, at least, had some level of success at Ebay; Fiorina’s only claim to fame was fucking over HP and getting run off McCain’s team for speaking too much truth.
I wonder if they were the designated victims of the CA GOP to go out and take one for the team (i.e. go spend a shitload of your own money and still have the elections called at about 8:05pm instead of 8:00 and 1 second PM).
KG
@Llelldorin: if gambling were legal, I’d say head of the RNC
EZSmirkzz
I didn’t post any comments on your blog.
John - A Motley Moose
@Steve: I think there are still some around. They’ve been marginalized, so you don’t hear anything from them. Unfortunately, I think Snyder is more likely to turn out to be another Pawlenty instead of a Milliken.
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
It looks like Russ Carnahan, who was burned in effigy by the Teahadists for his HCR vote and was recipient of BJ funds, squeaked by in a VERY tight race. There will be a recount. We did help make that victory happen.
JGabriel
Ron:
What happens when Sharia law is identical to the Bible? Does that mean the courts can no longer consider Judaic or Christian law either?
.
Maude
@cmorenc:
Obama was going to lose that one. Better to get something out of the tax bill than nothing.
Someone suggested that the tax rate be raised for 1 million instead of 250.
Power doesn’t give way quickly or easily. Obama said that during the general election.
Wall Street and Big Corpoations have a lot of money and power.
The finreg bill is hated by both groups. And Obama is despised for getting it passed.
There are 3 equal branches of government. For Obama to fight with Congress now would be very stupid. We’d all lose that one.
The inequality of income has been widening for over 30 years.
This is a long struggle. The Bush tax cuts are minor compared to getting the UI extension passed.
Also impotant is the nuke treaty and the defense spending bill.
Reagan had to raise taxes to the highest level ever in 1982 after the tax cuts of 1981.
Let the Republicans be responsible for the Bush tax cuts and let’s see where we’re at 6 months after the Repubs are running the House.
NonyNony
@KG:
Bwahahahahahahahahaha!
That’s not quite “Peak Wingnut” hilarity, but it’s up there.
The GOP doesn’t have to get serious about anything but issuing subpoenas and catapulting the propaganda. Anything that goes wrong over the next two years they will attempt to blame on Obama. Anything that goes right over the next two years they will take credit for or, if it is good for the country but counter to their ideology, they will ignore it.
I expect the next two years to be non-stop wingnut bills from the House that the Senate chooses to mostly ignore. The House isn’t going to do anything remotely close to actual governance – they’re going to be performing political puppet theater for their voters and doing whatever they can to make Obama a one term president. That is the entirety of their agenda for the next two years. Mudslinging, crazy bills passed to the Senate, and investigations into everything from who paid for the Obamas’ dog food to how Obama is connected to George Soros.
And when the do-nothing Congress ends up with an economy that is no better in 2012 than it is now, they’ll be sure to point out that it’s all Obama’s fault. Somehow.
cmorenc
@jwb:
But that requires still believing in the “Obama is playing 11-dimensional chess while his opponents are playing checkers, under the momentary delusion that they have the upper hand” paradigm. Which I no longer do.
jl
@KG: I checked your blog, to see if you lived in CA. You do, so you can tell me you think the GOP has a chance here. (edit: seriously, what is your southern California perspective on it?)
they are effing nuts, and no longer even trying to hide it.
As for the public face of the GOP, did I mention also they like to insult everyone? Seriously. I’ve heard interview after interview of GOP officials where they just start insulting Democrats, the interviewer, making snotty comments.
They have become total maxed out Aholes. Now they lost their little gimmick, total 100 percent bad faith obstructionism on the budget, Wonder what they will try next?
The CA GOP is toxic. I don’t see how the current version can win a majority any time soon.
Michael
@Alex S.:
Nah – the subpoena be for Malia Obama, and he’ll be asking about private conversations she’s overheard her dad having with her mother. He’ll also be looking to ask questions about what she recollects of her dad’s relationship with Jeremiah Wright.
When he gets upset at her for stumbling over answers and having troubles recalling, he’ll seek a Contempt of Congress citation. MSNBC will devote at least two weeks coverage to the propriety of White House stonewalling of Issa’s investigative authority. David Brooks and George Will columns alone will take up newsprint space at least 5 times a month, Cal Thomas will invoke the sanctity of his personal Lord and Savior Jesus Christ at least 8 times in each of his pieces sanctimoniously demanding Malia to comply with Issa’s request, and Charles Krauthammer will use up at least 15 hours of air time to scold the Obama family.
That won’t be the worst of it, as Jonah Goldberg and Ross Douthat will jointly right a piece titled “Children and Moral Imperatives”, taking Malia to task. Thomas Sowell will take it a step further, blaming the whole thing on the pernicious behavior of blacks, and Walter Williams will guest scold on the Limbaugh show.
Alex S.
@cmorenc:
Oh yes, and the potential of a “centrist caucus” is next to zero now, with king of concerned centrists, Evan Bayh, out of the picture. Lieberman will feel very lonely (or not, if some of the new Republicans (Ayotte, Kirk, Toomey, lol) are willing to compromise, but their base won’t allow it… and the grand peak-wingnut campaign season of 2012 begins today.). And Blanche Lincoln, well, she was simply not a very skilled politician. Why did she pull all the spotlights during HCR? Her colleague Mark Pryor quietly voted in favor of it, noone noticed and his approval ratings are decent.
tamied
I’m from Pennsylvania. Everything sucks.
jwb
@Nied: Once the states start cutting their budgets, what marginal effect QE has will completely disappear.
JGabriel
Mark S.:
Which plays into Palin’s martyred hands: “The bigwigs don’t want me, because I represent real Americans!”
.
trollhattan
@The Dangerman:
True, dat. The only really bad news in Calif is Prop 26 passing, My paranoid self suspects Prop 23 was a straw man floated in order to distract voters from 26. Funding for both was similar, but 26 was more complex to figure out, from a voter’s perspective.
Having Carly and Megs disappear from my mailbox and the airwaves (and these very BJ pages) is the single best lifestyle enhancement I could have asked for.
Cermet
@Ron: That is very good – a smart lawyer can use that to remove all crazy religions from the State – especially the so-called christians with their bizzaro ideas.
Bedbugsandballyhoo
Maryland. Maryland was positive yesterday. Ehrlich was soundly defeated by O’Malley. Four more years of that hair was just too much for most people to stomach. Although “the wig” does say some pretty funny things on twitter.
Plus, Van Hollen and Mikulski won in landslide victories. I think maybe I live amongst (mostly) sane people, so that’s also a positive.
donnah
Locally a levy for the Health and Human Services agencies passed in our county. For all the hate and selfishness being tossed around by the Republicans this election, the levy still managed to pass with a 70-30 margin. Those bastards can’t take everything.
change
There’s good news for Jimmy Carter: he’s no longer the weakest, most ineffective, sorriest President since World War II. BO has surpassed even him.
Dennis SGMM
@Violet:
It’s possible that Obama’s centrist tendencies will lead him to go down the same road as Bill Clinton. At this point, it wouldn’t surprise me to see him sign off on retaining the Bush tax cuts in toto and signing on to austerity measures that cripple education and social services.
Anya
@Alex S.: Maybe he’ll investigate Malia Obama for wearing a T-Shirt with peace symbol at G8 Summit in Italy.
Cole, it’s hard find a silver lining in last night’s blood bath, and the discovery that a lot of your fellow citizens are either insane, racists or uninformed, but results in California and Massachusetts were good.
shortstop
@Ash Can: I had not seen that Doherty lost. Good news.
Trinity
@Bedbugsandballyhoo: I live in MD too. Thank the FSM. Although, I live in the red end (Frederick County) but that’s okay. I do what I can.
Poopyman
Let’s see, positive things? Well, Michael Steele is still head of the RNC. For now.
If it were up to my county, Steny Hoyer would have lost to a Republican, and he didn’t.
If it were up to my county, Babs Mikulski would have lost to a Republican, and she didn’t.
Hooray for the Puppies!
On the downside, 5 republicans will fill all 5 county commission slots, including one prominent Teapartier, 2 centrists, and 2 unknowns (to me). I think we’re screwed.
Kerry Reid
They may have sent Rand Paul to the Senate, but at least some people in KY are sane and progressive.
wasabi gasp
Obama concedes his contempt of bipartisanship a failure.
Dennis SGMM
I was wondering whether America was scared shitless or actually scared batshit, knee-crawling, insane.
Now I know. Good thing that WWII was fought in other times.
shortstop
No, but ‘bagger favorite Ron Johnson replacing Russ Feingold will.
Michael
@JGabriel:
It isn’t so much that, but it might be the most blatantly unconstitutional measure I’ve ever seen, insofar as it impacts contractually arbitrated Marital Settlement Agreements and specifically knocks out confirmed treaty obligations.
Put another way, there are some treaties that the US is signatory to regarding child custody, and the OK legislature has basically said they can’t be considered.
jwb
@cmorenc: No, this isn’t 11-dimensional chess, this is having a functional brain. I mean, if I can figure out how the Goopers are going to respond, then certainly the administration can do so. But it’s also clearly an opening gambit, and so you hope this is the place from which they’ve mapped out their game plan. And we do think that they have some sort of game plan, don’t we? The alternative is that the administration is simply incompetent, in which case they don’t deserve to govern. But let’s do hope that the strategy for this session is more effective than last time: deciding that they were going to say whatever stimulus they got was just what the economy needed was definitely an unforced error, and I think it cost the Dems at least as much in this election as the teatard crazy cost the Goopers.
PattyP
In Florida, the state and federal redistricting standards amendments passed. :-) Redistricting is now out of the hands of the Legislature.
Elie
@KG:
The GOP has never been serious about governing at any time in the last 30 years. Why should they start now?
Their shtick is how to pretend to do anything that with negative results can somehow be blamed on the Democrats
4jkb4ia
John forgets that he has the Congressman he really wanted, although this person will be only a rubber stamp for Boehner.
In an act of therapy, I deleted all political emails from this cycle that were not from Chris Bowers. Not that this will bring Russ Feingold back or anything.
(The puppies won by the skin of their teeth! They needed every vote in St. Louis County.)
Nied
@jwb:
They already have cut their budgets. The point of QE is to get the type of spending going that will get taxed and flow back in to the states.
arguingwithsignposts
@change:
you’re not even trying, dude.
eemom
my very own blue doggie Gerry Connolly eeked out an 821-vote victory, so now I get to cackle with insane glee every time I pass a yard sign for his two-time loser teatard challenger, “In yer face, sucka!”
C Nelson Reilly
@NonyNony:
funny you should mention the dog food:
twitter.com/DarrellIssaGOP
Dennis SGMM
@PattyP:
Redistricting; “Slowly I turned. Step by step, inch by inch..”
Because of the Dem losses in state legislatures the R’s will be drawing district boundaries. Although these aren’t sacrosanct, there is a tendency to leave them in place until the next census and even so they only have to last long enough to affect the next election.
As Frank Zappa once said, “And the day after that and the day after that…”
Punchy
@cleek: Sorry to hear about that, buddy. Maybe John can establish a CleekBlue and we can send ya a few bux if needed…
cleek
David Price beat Lawson (he of the Morgan Freeman-like voiceover)
Elie
@Violet:
Agree..
He definitely needs another level on which to communicate with the average Joe however.
But entrenched interests are and have been hard to overcome so it will continue to be a huge battle…
cleek
@Punchy:
thanks.
i think we’ll be OK, but… it’s gonna take some COBRA action to do it. which sucks cause it’s so fucking expensive.
New Yorker
I expressed a similar sentiment to a friend from Kentucky who was mourning his victory last night: can he possibly be worse than Bunning? However much of a nutcase he may be in other areas, he appears to be skeptical of military adventures abroad, which makes him better than 99% of the GOP who are itching to “liberate” Iran right now.
Edward G. Talbot
Others have mentioned most of my positives – the CA budget measure, MA initiatives to gut affordable housing and slash slash sales taxes went down, the CO tax and personhood stuff going down.
One that has gone under the radar is Florida passing the redistricting initiatives. With all their electoral votes (and 1 or 2 more probably coming), this will have a big impact on the state legislature and congressional makeup.
JPL
OMG…The President said he would work with the Republicans. Before everyone jumps on the band wagon, listen to what he said. He will work with the Republicans except for cuts to Education, Health Care Reform, Financial Regulations and matters that affect the deficit. ( tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires) He also stated that DADT is a popular issue that the Republicans should want to work towards righting the wrongs to the gay community.
The Republicans have no choice but continue their obstructionist ways and continue to tank the economy but that
is what they do best.
New Yorker
@Kerry Reid:
I work in Lexington a lot. Considering all the stereotypes about Kentucky, it’s really a pretty normal place. I see more “Obama ’08” bumper stickers than I do “Rand Paul” ones.
jwb
@Nied: No, the states haven’t already cut their budgets. The stimulus is expiring, and so we’re in for a whole new round of budget cutting when the new budgets are adopted for next year. Texas, for instance, is staring at about a $24 billion hole right now and it will probably be $30 billion by the time everything is done and over.
jwb
@New Yorker: But Lexington isn’t “real” Kentucky in the same way that urban areas aren’t “real” America.
FlipYrWhig
@cmorenc:
Did Obama _say_ that the way he would conduct such a compromise–and, for that matter, did he say “compromise” or “work together” or something else?–is to extend the tax cuts on higher incomes? Because in my opinion, extending the tax cuts on the first $250K _is already an area on which both parties agree_, and he has already talked about it as such.
The Other Chuck
@jwb:
You do not get how this works. Nothing is ever a Republican’s fault. Nothing. Ever.
FlipYrWhig
@JPL:
Hey, cool, I didn’t expect that to come up.
It always seems like some of the same people who disparage Obama’s reputation for 11-dimensional chess nonetheless persist in believing in his 11-dimensional homophobia. I find that quite unfair.
Arclite
@ John Cole
Here’s something positive. I awoke this morning to this newspaper headline:
DEMOCRATS DOMINATE
That cheered me up. In my state, Dems won the governorship, the senate seat, and both house seats (kicking out a couple of Repubs in the process). Even though Hawaii is a blue state, this domination wasn’t a foregone conclusion. The governership and one of the house seats were neck-and-neck in the polls.
So, a ray of sunshine on an otherwise cloudy day.
JPL
@FlipYrWhig: I’m not quoting him but the was the jest of his statement….
He also said the the defense department is studying it now and they will work to repeal it.
4jkb4ia
Bowers: Half of Blue Dogs lost and they have no right to tell the Democratic Party how to win ever again.
4jkb4ia: This election showed that it does not work to oppose Obama from the center-right because the base will blame YOU for Obama not getting the things done that he wanted to and view you with a distinct lack of enthusiasm.
Julie
Yay puppies!!!
As for the so called tea partiers who won in the senate; who actually qualifies as a tea partier? Rubio is an ultra conservative who jumped on the bandwagon, and was elected in what is becoming an increasingly conservative state. Paul is, and always was a crazy-ass libertarian who filled in the slot of a crazy-ass old man. Obviously KY is comfortable with the crazy in office. Toomey is a club for growther corporatist, disguised as a tea partier. I think the guy in WI is just a typical wealthy conservative catholic. Even the ones who lost are just what used to be called fringe wackos, but managed to jump on the bandwagon. If they are tea partiers now, they used to have other names along the way. I think it started with the “Know Nothings”. In any case, just think back to 1982, and remember, the Republicans don’t have a candidate who can beat Obama, as far as I can tell.
As for good news, Alario P something lost, so NC isn’t quite as crazy as I thought.
Nied
@jwb:
Actually they have. They may be looking at further cuts but thanks the Presidents Snowe and Collins, they’ve been cutting their budgets since 2008, and in most cases the stimulus help ran out long ago.
The Other Chuck
@jl:
It’s also worth noting that earlier this year, California switched to “jungle primaries”. There’s a very good chance there won’t even be any republicans on the ballot for some offices in 2012.
Brian J
@Nied:
Elaborate.
gogol's wife
Linda MacMahon lost, despite all her pink ads on this blog. She wasn’t Tea Party endorsed but tried to position herself as a “mama grizzly.”
FlipYrWhig
@4jkb4ia: Kind of clever. I do like the idea of the Blue Dogs getting their noses rubbed in their own messes. At the same time, I have a feeling that Blue Dogs _do_ tend to be in sync with their district-level partisan bases. But I’ve never been represented by one.
The Other Chuck
@The Dangerman:
That’s hardly an accurate assessment of Ms Fiorina’s record. She also fucked Lucent.
4jkb4ia
@4jkb4ia:
John Cole: I already made this point. Read down more posts.
dj spellchecka
@Dennis SGMM:
what did you decide? both?
Roger Moore
@jl:
No. The constitution says the state budget must be balanced. If the Republicans can hold the line on taxes- and a no tax increases pledge is a de facto litmus test for Republican nomination in California- they can still put a lid on the total amount the Legislature has to budget. The Democrats now have control over how the money is spent (within the rules set by previous constitutional amendments, at least), but the Republicans can still block attempts to increase the amount.
4jkb4ia
@FlipYrWhig:
That’s the point. The Blue Dogs represent the swing districts. If the swing districts are in a Democratic mood for reasons having nothing to do with the Blue Dogs, they can win. If the swing districts are in a Republican mood for reasons that did have something to do with the Blue Dogs, they lose. If the Blue Dogs were doing such a sterling job representing their districts they would have held on, especially when it is not true that voting for their voting records is the same as voting for Pelosi.
jake the snake
Rand Paul: We Kentuckians replaced a man with senile dementia with a man who is just demented.
I suppose it is a wash.
Roger Moore
@jl:
And they still manage to win elections by disturbingly large margins in a bunch of districts. The Republicans may be crazy, but that appears to apply to the Republican voters as much as the Republican candidates.
Ozymandias, King of Ants
Well, I know it’s not much, but I see that my rep, Jerry McNerney, has finally pulled ahead in CA-11. It’s a very narrow lead and not yet final, but he was behind by significant margins all last night. It’ll be a huge relief if that holds, because we would otherwise be stuck with the aptly-named Harmer for the next two years.
R. Johnston
Well, Frank Padavan lost his New York State Senate seat, and I got the chance to vote against him. He’s been in the Senate for 38 years, and flipping his seat was key to Democratic chances to keep control of the State Senate. Control of the State Senate means control over redistricting and will mean that the current gerrymander that kept Republicans in power in the Senate for half a century until the last two years, despite the overwhelmingly blue nature of the state, will finally die.
Brian J
@Roger Moore:
At the risk of starting up a discussion of the stimulus and its impact and the politics behind it, I’ll simply say that one of the talking heads on MSNBC last night said that a voter in Wisconsin told him that they’d vote for pretty much anybody that could get them a job. That probably explains a lot of what happened last night.
Smurfhole
Vermont did pretty well by itself…
JGabriel
jl: It looks the comment you responded to got sent to spam after I edited it, but thank you for the clarifying response.
.
General Stuck
The fact that yesterday is yesterday will have to do for positive things until further notice./
Just Some Fuckhead
If ya gotta have a Republican, having one without clear dementia is prolly a good thing.
Que Sera Sera
Smurfhole: Even with that, we’re smurfed.
JGabriel
@Michael:
Interesting. So that will probably get thrown out by a higher court at some point. And here I figured it would just sit on the books like an old blue law, never actually used because who would actually reference Sharia law anyway? Guess I wrong wrong in that assumption.
.
dww44
@Violet:
After the presser, on CNN was some Republican poltical advisor who noted that Obama kept open the willingness to compromise, but that noted that Obama was strangely silent on accepting any responsibility for yesterday’s outcome. Hey, I just listened Obama’s conference call with Tim Kaine of the DNC and the OFA guy, and he was just the same. Congratulating everybody on their good work, lauding Kaine repeatedly, and not once accepting any blame, personally or organizationally, for our losses.
In fact the losses were pretty much glossed over and only the bright spots were mentioned. Talking about donning blinders, that conference call was the poster child for it. It actually did nothing to inspire and a lot to demoralize.
morzer
The best news of the night for Democrats was the Hispanic turnout in the western states. That augurs well for the future at every level. We held the line in Nevada and Colorado. That’s a really good sign.
We’ve got back the governorship in Cali and the 2/3 budget law is toast, so we might just be able to get the magic back. Even Orange County seems to be moving towards a measure of sanity thanks to immigrants.
Also good – we cleaned out the skunks a little more in New England, and good old Massachusetts held the line with impressive fortitude.
Considering the economy and the Blue Dogs, we got a lot done in the last two years. Imperfect, yes – but a win. Thank you, Speaker Pelosi.
I still think this is the GOP’s last dying big effort as demographics and reality start to slowly push them backwards.
We still have the Senate and the veto. In 2012 we can boot Cosmo Brown and finally put a stake in Joe the Ho Lieberman.
Gus
The glass is 7/8 empty here in MN. We will have another recount, this time for governor. If the Democrat wins, the sweet sound of teatard heads exploding will be heard all over. If the Republican wins we’re stuck with a 10ther. My Muslim Representative returns to Congress with a margin of almost 50 points. The loons of the 6th district saw fit to send that batshit loon Michelle Bachmann back to Congress. The shitheads of the 8th sent an 18 term (I think) Congressman packing after he spend most of the past 4 decades securing government money for the high-unemployment district. The GOP won both the state house and senate. All in all pretty fucking ugly here.
stannate
@brettvk: @Bulworth:
One problem in Missouri, apart from electing Roy Blunt, is that Proposition A passed overwhelmingly throughout the state. This proposition, for the out-of-MO crowd, prohibits other cities from imposing an earnings tax like what Kansas City and Saint Louis now have, and also allows the continuance of the earnings tax to be decided by popular vote. If there’s a big teabagging push to get this tax overturned, both cities will be screwed heavily by this loss of income, along with the lowering of the city’s bond ratings to finance any future large-scale projects (like, say, renovations of the Edward Jones Dome to keep the Rams from bolting back to Los Angeles).
kommrade reproductive vigor
Maryland saying “Oh no buddy, not again,” to Erlich.
Pangloss
Looks like Bill Brady will very narrowly lose his bid for Illinois Governor, perhaps because a bill he introduced to KILL PUPPIES became a campaign issue.
Puppies win again!!
FlipYrWhig
@dww44: You have to be kidding me. You’re demoralized by an attempt to keep up morale. You do know that that’s the root of the word “demoralized,” right?
Republican political advisors always have the best intentions, don’t they?
Fuzz
I’m glad that in NJ a lot of the local dems won (like Holt, Pallone), it was way closer than it should have been though. The TPers made the Dems spend money here they usually don’t have to, they won in the end but it was tough.
jl
@Roger Moore: If I were majority leader in the legislature, why would I not balance the budget out of their districts unless they agree to raise taxes?
shortstop
@Julie:
Since he refused to reveal his positions on issues until his elevation to the Senate, I guess we’ll find out. He certainly spent a lot of time and money courting teabagger voters.
Jules
Ugh…Arkansas.
More and more R’s holding state office, I can’t even discuss my new Rep without wanting to vomit.
The only good thing was our Dem Gov. wiped the pavement with the R running against him.
Oh and a couple more counties voted themselves wet and moved into the 20th century.
Hunting and fishing is now a “right” gar-un-teed under our state constitution…yeehaw and git er done.
jl
I heard the turnout of crucial Democratic constituencies, such as African Americans, women, youth, was about 30 percent down this election. I heard this on radio so early in the evening it must have been an estimate, but if it is near the truth, that drop had a lot to do with the election, in addition to teabagger craziness.
And I had to deal with a number of these people last night.
Paris
@Llelldorin: She could be denied ambassador to the U.N. or completely screw up as the anti-christ.
Polish the Guillotines
Friendly advice to Hawaii’s Secretary of State:
Start looking for that D.C. apartment now. You’ll be testifying in Congress a lot over the next two years.
Tom Q
The HI gubernatorial win might turn out a two-fer, as the two sitting Senators are not youngsters, and I always cringed at the idea of Linda Lingle being able to replace them at any point.
CA and the Eastern corridor — NY/CT/MA — were utterly impervious to the wave. Deval Patrick won by far more than it seemed he might. And all of you who were crowing about how much money Meg Whitman wasted should add Linda McMahon to the discussion. My New Milford father’s mailman said she might have single-handedly given the postal service enough revenue to maintain Saturday mail delivery.
Obviously it’s mostly a bummer beyond that, except for holding the Senate with respectable numbers, and the next two years are going to be so much wasted time. But I, like some others here, view this as the last belch of the white conservative movement. They won’t get the demographic tilt in ’12 they had last night (younger voters will be a higher percentage and older voters substantially less), and the ticking ethnic bomb will get louder literally every year. Anyone wants to bet against Barack in ’12, I’ll take the wager right now.
Binzinerator
@morzer:
One of the largest private employers in Dane county, Epic Systems, a health care tech company, asked Scott Walker and Tom Barrett to come and speak to Epic’s 4,000+ employees. Walker blew them off, Barrett came. Apparently Walker saw no upside to speaking to 4,000 highly educated potential voters whose average age is 28. Educated and under 30 is not the GOP demographic.
I like to think in 10 or surely 20 years the teabagger demographic will die off enough to let real change happen. But it’s gonna be an ugly next few years here in Wisconsin.
KDP
@Ozymandias, King of Ants: Oh good, when I checked this morning, he was a hair behind Harmer. I hope is lead is maintained.
Roger Moore
@jl:
I’m not sure if that’s practical. Most of the budget goes to things that can’t easily be redirected. K-12 education spending is tightly controlled by the constitution, so you can’t just cut off the school districts of intransigent legislators. Similarly, you can’t selectively cut off MediCal or SCHIP funding, or selectively close prisons or public universities. About the only big ticket item that you might plausibly use as a club that way is transportation funding, and with that there’s always the risk that you’ll wind up cutting off your nose to spite your face.
themann1086
My state (PA) may have failed miserably, but my town made me proud. Upper Darby had some of the best Democratic turnout in the state, and we actually won the state representative seat that’s been held by Republicans for the entirety of its existence! We’ll be gunning for town council next year, hoping to get our first ever Democrats elected*!
*Ok, technically we’ve had Dems elected to town council before, but they were
bribedconvinced to change partieswith jobs for unemployed friends and family. We’ll have better candidates this time around.Roger Moore
@Binzinerator:
I suppose it would be unethical to suggest methods for speeding up the process. Maybe the lame duck legislature could propose death panels.
morzer
@Roger Moore:
Actually, all we need do is grant their wish and keep the government out of their Medicare. We could call it… deficit reduction, as urged by John Boehner. Everyone’s a winner.
horseDave
@kommrade reproductive vigor:
I was worried about the race as there were so many Erlich signs. Thankfully Maryland has maintained her sanity and stayed strongly Democrat.
Munira
@JPL: Yes, I was amazed at how conciliatory he managed to sound and howl little he actually gave away.
Bruce (formerly Steve S.)
Glad to see you’re seeing the silver lining in this, John. This is by no means a good development, but it isn’t awful either.
Remember how in the old days Pelosi had a huge House majority, passed a bunch of decent to good legislation, and most of it either died or was watered down? Remember those old days? Well, this House won’t be able to do anything without Obama and three or four “centrist” senators (or 12-13 if the rest of the caucus is willing to filibuster). They can refuse to fund the government, and they can impeach the President for having a funny name and dark skin, but other than that, bupkis. If they do those two things and the Dems can’t turn it into an advantage then we deserve a permanent Republican majority. So just remember, if anything truly awful gets passed into law the next couple of years, who is to blame.
trollhattan
“Write in” pulling away in Alaska. Somehow this is the lamestream mediur’s fault, donchano?
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/04/us/politics/04alaska.html?hp
Does that make the rent-a-thug set one for two this year, or am I missing some?
Notes for the future. Handcuffing: out; curbkicking: IN
abscam
@jeffreyw: Great pic, but now my margins are effed up. Damn you!
ETA, and my posting didn’t fix it. Double damn you!
Nied
@Brian J:
I’m afraid you’ll have to be more specific. Would you like me to expand on the effect QE is having, whether or not states have cut back on spending, or the effect Snowe and Collins had on the state aid portion of the stimulus?
kyrol
Hey guys, I just got off the phone with Grover Norquist. I reminded him about our deal for passing the public option in the new congress. I heard some laughter, then the phone went dead. Do you think Obama and Rahm cut the line?
Tsulagi
They don’t stop there, time to look forward now, not backward.
It’s going to be full of win. Like the first budget coming out of the House under Spray Tan’s really smart and competent leadership. Maybe that hummer from the R-braintrust will be all of 25 pages this time. And with Bachmann looking for a leadership role, can a Prosperity bill be far behind? I think not. Look for it right after her investigation of Dems for un-American activities concludes.
jl
@Roger Moore: Reduce road funding in Orange County? Hell, I would propose that to them in negotiations. I would look for every little thing in their district to cut. I would write write a huge zero on a piece of paper and show it to the GOPer in negotiations and ask him if he effing knew how to count that high. I would tell the GOPers, that my constituents are willing to raise taxes for services they want, why should they suffer because of your political stunts? Hell, I would go into their districts, hold town halls, and explain why I was doing it, and maybe they should contact their GOP fink to see whether they could obtain an attitude adjustment.
frosty
@themann1086: My state (PA) failed miserably, my County (York) failed miserably, my borough and the boroughs and townships all around me failed miserably.
The only bright note: The state Wine and Spirits Shop was open on my way back from poll-watching.
John Bird
Is Rand Paul to the right of Jim Bunning? Very much so.
Is his presence in the Senate going to cause more trouble than Jim Bunning’s? Unknown, but it’s perfectly possible.
SBJules
@Llelldorin:
I was proud of California yesterday although I wouldn’t have been prouder if we’d legalized marijuana. We elected Jerry Brown; I think this is the third time I’ve voted for him for Governor. Carly Fiorena was a bad sport & wouldn’t concede for way too long last night, but Boxer won!! And my local Congresswoman, Lois Capps (D) won.
Just Some Fuckhead
@kyrol: I don’t get it.
brantl
“I forgot about Rand Paul, but when you consider he is replacing that lunatic Jim Bunning, is it really going to shift things to the right?”
Yes, as much as one person can. Paul’s crazier than Bunning, and that’s saying a lot.
brantl
@change: Oh, shut UP!
Do you know that the Senate hasn’t passed very much, and what they did pass was pretty damned good, for the circumstances? Read up on what “cloture” means in the Senate, and that it currently takes 60 votes AND THE DEMS DON’T HAVE THEM. NOT WITH LOSERMAN AND THE BLUE DOGS. PERIOD.