Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Post Election Thoughts

Alright, everyone take a deep breath. A few quick thoughts on last night (written at 2 AM so try to stay with me):
  • An absolute ass kicking at the presidential level. As of now, Mitt Romney has one swing state total.
  • Major sea change victories on state propositions: Gay Marriage in MD, ME and WA as well as Marijuana legalization in CO and WA. The first time these issues have ever won on a ballot, and I think it is a sign of things to come. Sanity on both gay rights and the drug war are major, major progressive wins.
  • The Senate: Holy crap. North Dakota!!! Both Rape twins losing! I'm usually one who argues that we shouldn't be too quick to celebrate how right wing republicans have become, but this is the second straight election cycle where their embrace of unelectable crazy people has cost them a shot at controlling the senate. Amazing.
  • The quality of people elected matters, especially in the senate where it's much more important to have strong advocates than back bencher Ds. Elizabeth Warren and Tammy Baldwin (The first openly gay, female senator) both fit that bill. And especially Warren. A senator who has made her career fighting the banks? Yes please.
  • World's worst human Allen West loses.
  • California: Pass prop 30 (increase in tax on rich, sales tax, to fund education) and defeat prop 32 (anti union bill that stops political contributions). The push back on the 2010 anti-union wave continues.
  • I'm sure more will be written about this, but Obama (and Brown's) win in Ohio I think are still the after effects of SB5. That push may have burned Republicans in that state for a generation.
This strikes me as a broad victory for progressives in many ways, much more than the presidential race that got all the attention. Onward!

1 comment:

  1. I know I'm a bit late here, but I just thought that this post was sorely lacking the obligatory schadenfreude. So here it is:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owzhYNcd4OM

    Mmmmmm... wingnut tears...

    ReplyDelete