Election 2010 Thoughts

Ken AshfordElection 2010Leave a Comment

You'll get fuller analysis — and better analysis — from, well, just about anywhere else.  These are a couple of things that I thought were noteworthy, and shouldn't be overlooked:

(1)  Blue Dog Democrats, a coalition of moderate to conservative Democrats in the House, did VERY badly.  Essentially, they were cut in half.  Of the 39 Dems who voted against Health Care Reform, 12 are going to be returning in the next Congress.  Conversely, 95% of the members of the “Progressive Caucus” won re-election.  The lesson to be learned there is that if you think you're a Democrat, then playing conservative isn't going to help you.  You might as well become a progressive, because they're going to call you a dirty hippie socialist anyway.

(2)  Three Supreme Court judges in Iowa who ruled in favor of same-sex marriage there, were ousted.  This is why judges should never ever ever be subject to popular vote.  Because the last thing you want a judge to do is to make legal decisions based on what will be well-received.  If that were the case, we'd still have segregation.  Folks, if judges make a constitutional ruling that you don't like, you change the constitution, not the judges.

(3)  Most of the focus is on the national races and governorships, but state legislatures really reflect the GOP wave.  The North Carolina state legislature, for example, has a Republican majority for the first time since 1870. But they also gained control of chambers in the states of Alabama, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Minnesota, Michigan, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

(4)  Rand Paul is going to be fun for the next few years.  Especially if he's going to say things like this:

There are no rich. There are no middle class. There are no poor. We all are interconnected in the economy. You remember a few years ago, when they tried to tax the yachts, that didn’t work. You know who lost their jobs? The people making the boats, the guys making 50,000 and 60,000 dollars a year lost their jobs. We all either work for rich people or we sell stuff to rich people. So just punishing rich people is as bad for the economy as punishing anyone.

(5)  Speaking of Kentucky, the city of Lexington just elected an openly gay mayor, which is pretty amazing, considering it's Kentucky and all.

(6)  Sharon Angle seems to be a sore loser.

(7)  The Tea Party helped Republicans in some races, but didn't deliver the goods in others.  The same could be said of Palin endorsements.  What does that mean?  It means that the Tea Party still gets to play.  They'll become a double-edged sword for the GOP.

(8)  Evan Bayh is right about where Dems go from here:

First, we have more than a communications problem — the public heard us but disagreed with our approach. Democrats need not reassess our goals for America, but we need to seriously rethink how to reach them.

Second, don’t blame the voters. They aren’t stupid or addled by fear. They are skeptical about government efficacy, worried about the deficit and angry that Democrats placed other priorities above their main concern: economic growth.

… although I'm not sure I agree on the specifics.

(9)  Apparently, dressing up as Nazi is still over the line, as Iott lost.

(10)  And finally…. WHY WE LOST

Blog_election_2010_turnout

Youth didn't turn out this time; seniors did.