Tuesday, Bloody Tuesday

The belief in the political world right now is that yesterdays elections were some sort of teaser of the 2010 election cycle, as well as 2012’s. This is a dangerous perceptive primarily because these elections--an off-year--typically have a low voter turnout. That, in itself, should lessen the actual results impact on the national scale, but thanks to a sharp divide across this nation, democrats and republicans are willing to take the slightest win(such as minor house shifts, and somewhat benign Gubernatorial races) as a sign that a part of the “other” side is weakening. The arbitrary signs become beacons to energize the base voters for each party, and the end result is a further divide. But to that end, I would have to browbeat, and I’m not in the mood; what I will do is look over the numbers and see if we extract a little more then divisible rhetoric.

One “major” race was the Governors race in New Jersey-typically seen as a Democrat stronghold, where the Democratic incumbent, Jon Corzine lost by a fairly large margin. Republican Chris Christie will now have “-elect” attached to his name. The final numbers in the race are 50% for Christie, 44% for Corzine. Now this matched up with exit polling, as well as polling results just prior to the vote, but it should be noted that this might not be a sign for Obama, it could very well be that Corzine was the face in power when the financial crisis struck, and unemployment began to rise. This was simply a vote on whether or not the people of Jersey thought Corzine was doing good--in fact, NBC polling shows that 60% of the voters in New Jersey said that the President played no role in their vote.

Over in Virginia, a typically Republican stronghold, but which Obama managed to win last November--results were expected, but still a bit shocking. The final tally was 59% for Bob McDonnell, making him the first Republican to hold that seat since 1997. McDonnell defeated Democrat Creigh Deeds, who only took home a mere 41%

Now in true Republican fashion, Michael Steele-Republican National Committee chairman-quickly took to the Virginia election results, and added his own twist, saying in a statement that, “The Republican Party’s overwhelming victory in Virginia is a blow to President Obama and the Democrat Party…It sends a clear signal that voters have had enough of the president’s liberal agenda.” Now, that this is strictly opinion, and baseless--roughly 58% of voters in Virginia exit polls said that the president played no role in their decision--only 2% less then voters in New Jersey--seems lost on Republicans grasping at straws.
But it does energize the Republican base. Oddly enough, the Republican party, which is currently dying--only 20% identify themselves as republicans according to Washington post poll--it can’t be denied that that twenty percent is really quite loud.

Now, how much does the Mayors office cost in New York? Well, if the reports are correct, just over one hundred million dollars. That much money though should have given the incumbent Mayor Bloomberg a large margin, but he won with only 51% Sadly, for the Republicans at least, the incumbent is technically an Independent.


Now for some even sadder news, over in Maine, the belief in equal rights and equal protection under the law, has been defeated. This is terrible since New England has for a longtime been considered the most progressive region in the U.S.. Unfortunately, and for obvious reason, gay marriage is consistently defeated when placed to a popular vote, but this is a civil right, which should not be up for a popular vote. I’ve got an idea, put to a popular vote the no bid contracts with Blackwater, Halliburton, and all the other psychopathic private pseudo-military contractors. If we can vote on a civil right, we can vote on defense spending, right? Let’s just hope that the Supreme Court can overturn this idiotic proposition.

As it stands, another somewhat important election(to the 23rd congressional district at least) was decided just after midnight when Doug Hoffman, the independent by virtue of republican leaders having ignored him, conceded the election to Democrat Bill Owens. The Republican candidate, Deirdre Scozzafava, had pulled out from the race over the weekend, but still managed to steal 6% of the votes. At last count, it was 49% to 45%.

Essentially, liberals had a bad day, even the 23rd’s congressional district win will be short lived--the district will be lost in redistricting after the 2010 census--which makes this off-year election a bloody loss for those who believe this to be a referendum on President Obama. I just hope this energizes the left, I know it mobilized, and reinvigorated the right.