Nov 04 2009
To the victors…
There were a number of races and issues that were voted on yesterday. Let’s take a look at some of the more intriguing races and results.
NY-23 Special Election - Despite the best efforts of conservative star-power like Tim Pawlenty, Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck, voters in this district (A Republican lock since the Civil War) chose Democrat Bill Owens over the Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman. Still, it would be wrong to label this a defeat for the hard-right Tea Party movement. They had enough influence to knock G.O.P. candidate Dede Scozzafava out of the race and brought some much needed national attention to their movement.
New York Mayor - After running the most expensive self-financed campaign ever, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg won an unexpectedly tight race Tuesday night with long-shot challenger City Comptroller William Thompson Jr.
Virginia - Republican Bob McDonnell, in a replay of Virginia’s Attorney General race four years earlier, cruised to an easy victory over Democrat Creigh Deeds in the Virginia governor’s race. “One of the reasons we were so successful is we had independents and Democrats come over to our side,” said McDonnell, in a quote that sounds eerily similar to our president. “For those of you who did not support me, I say give me a chance to earn your trust.”
New Jersey - Chris Christie became the first Republican to win statewide in New Jersey in more than a decade by ousting the Democrat incumbent Jon Corzine. Christie was aided by a poor showing from independent candidate Chris Daggett. Despite polling as high as 20 percent in October, Daggett, a former Republican and EPA official, was unable to break double digits at the polls.
Maine - Voters in this state chose to repeal a state law granting same-sex couples the right to marry, marking a defeat for gay rights activists who were hoping the state would become the first to approve gay marriage at the polls. Currently Iowa, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Connecticut are the only states to allow same-sex marriage.
Ohio - Cincinnati, Columbus, Cleveland and Toledo will be building Las Vegas-style casinos after voters in the buckeye state passed Issue 3. This was the fifth statewide vote on the issue since 1990, but with state unemployment hovering around 10% voters said yes to the promise of 34,000 new jobs, $1 billion in capital investment, and $651 million a year in tax revenues for local governments and school districts.
Sources:
http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/election/ohioans-approve-casinos-for-4-cities-382796.html
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1109/29119.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/04/AR2009110402115.html?hpid=topnews
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1109/29103.html
http://www.theweek.com/article/index/102397/Tea_Party_backlash_in_NY
The label “hard-right” is also wrong when describing the T.E.A. Party protesters. There are a lot of Independent, Democrats and even Libertarians who attended these rallies.
Hoffman would have won had it not been for his short campaign. I think he had a little over 30 days. If the idiot republican heads would have gotten behind Hoffman, it would have been a win. Instead they selected a RINO and pretty much doomed Hoffman.
I’m glad to see Virginia and New Jersey end up the way they did. I was pulling against Bloomberg. Can’t stand politicians who change laws to extend their terms and spends almost 90 million to get elected.
The Maine vote was decided by the public. Iowa, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Connecticut have gay marriage that was approved via legislation. When it goes up for a vote the same results will happen.
I think the Tea Party protests started with a wide range of voters and political ideologies. At some point though (Roughly when Sarah Palin jumped in and Fox News started broadcasting live at the protests) it got highjacked by the hard right. Perhaps it has been reclaimed though by the wide range of grassroots activists that originally began the protests…
I think you’re right with Hoffman and it’s a pretty big mistake for the G.O.P. (the way they handled this whole situation).
I was hoping to see a better showing from Daggett in New Jersey, and I was also hoping to see Bloomberg go down (for the same reason you listed).
As for Ohio??? You’ll be able to catch me at the slots once these things get up and running!