American mid term elections
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mhendo
Aussie in San Francisco
Well, while the Democrats are far from perfect, and are far too conservative for my liking, America is a slightly better place today than it was yesterday.
The Democrats have taken reasonably comfortable control of the House, with current figures showing 227 Dems to 195 Republicans, and a small bunch of independents and undecided.
The Democrats are also in a position to at least split the Senate, and possibly take outright control. The current count is 49 Senate seats apiece (that's counting independent Joe Lieberman of Connecticut as a Dem, because he has said he will caucus with the Democrats). There are two very close undecided races, in Montana and Virginia. In Montana, with 99.9% of precincts reporting, the Democrat is up 49.1% to 48.3%. In Virginia, with 99.8% reporting, the Democratic challenger is up 49.6% to 49.3%. I'm pretty sure there will be recounts in both elections, and we may not know the final composition of the Senate for a few weeks.
Also, six states, including my own state of Maryland, have replaced their Republican governors with Democrats.
You can follow all the races at this New York Times page.
I'm not under any illusion that things are suddenly perfect. The bigots in various states continue to pass amendments banning same sex marriage. And despite the dishonesty, incompetence and malfeasance of the Republicans, the Democrats are still far from being an ideal alternative. Despite the rhetorical bickering between the two parties, they unfortunately still agree on far too many things for my liking.
But, given the limited choices, it's still a pretty good day. Even with a Republican majority in both houses, Bush's presidency was already spiraling towards oblivion; now he might get some real opposition.
You want an indication of how low Bush's stocks have fallen? Many Republicans were distancing themselves from him in the run-up to the election. At a time when having the President come to your state and campaign for you is usually seen as a dramatic boost, many Republicans were letting Bush know that they'd be happier if he went elsewhere.
Here in Maryland, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee ran an advertisement showing how closely Michael Steele (the Republican candidate) identifies with George Bush. The fact that they were willing to run an ad showing the opposition candidate arm-in-arm with the President shows what a liability Bush is for the Republicans right now.
You can watch the ad . It's actually pretty funny, i think.
Edit to add:
I should say that the swing to the Democrats might not seem really large, especially given how fucking awful the Republicans have been over the past few years. But, even more than other ostensibly democratic countries, the US has an electoral system that gives an unbelievable advantage to incumbents. The rate of re-election for incumbents is huge, averaging well into the 90+ percent range, a product of name recognition and the concomitant ability to raise funds for campaigning. So the gains made by Democrats this year, like those made by the Republicans back in 1994, really are pretty big.
The Democrats have taken reasonably comfortable control of the House, with current figures showing 227 Dems to 195 Republicans, and a small bunch of independents and undecided.
The Democrats are also in a position to at least split the Senate, and possibly take outright control. The current count is 49 Senate seats apiece (that's counting independent Joe Lieberman of Connecticut as a Dem, because he has said he will caucus with the Democrats). There are two very close undecided races, in Montana and Virginia. In Montana, with 99.9% of precincts reporting, the Democrat is up 49.1% to 48.3%. In Virginia, with 99.8% reporting, the Democratic challenger is up 49.6% to 49.3%. I'm pretty sure there will be recounts in both elections, and we may not know the final composition of the Senate for a few weeks.
Also, six states, including my own state of Maryland, have replaced their Republican governors with Democrats.
You can follow all the races at this New York Times page.
I'm not under any illusion that things are suddenly perfect. The bigots in various states continue to pass amendments banning same sex marriage. And despite the dishonesty, incompetence and malfeasance of the Republicans, the Democrats are still far from being an ideal alternative. Despite the rhetorical bickering between the two parties, they unfortunately still agree on far too many things for my liking.
But, given the limited choices, it's still a pretty good day. Even with a Republican majority in both houses, Bush's presidency was already spiraling towards oblivion; now he might get some real opposition.
You want an indication of how low Bush's stocks have fallen? Many Republicans were distancing themselves from him in the run-up to the election. At a time when having the President come to your state and campaign for you is usually seen as a dramatic boost, many Republicans were letting Bush know that they'd be happier if he went elsewhere.
Here in Maryland, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee ran an advertisement showing how closely Michael Steele (the Republican candidate) identifies with George Bush. The fact that they were willing to run an ad showing the opposition candidate arm-in-arm with the President shows what a liability Bush is for the Republicans right now.
You can watch the ad . It's actually pretty funny, i think.
Edit to add:
I should say that the swing to the Democrats might not seem really large, especially given how fucking awful the Republicans have been over the past few years. But, even more than other ostensibly democratic countries, the US has an electoral system that gives an unbelievable advantage to incumbents. The rate of re-election for incumbents is huge, averaging well into the 90+ percent range, a product of name recognition and the concomitant ability to raise funds for campaigning. So the gains made by Democrats this year, like those made by the Republicans back in 1994, really are pretty big.
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