Monthly Archives: November 2006

The Democrats’ Stunning Win — What Does It Mean?

Posted on November 8, 2006 by Michael Froomkin

By any measure — except the inflated spin of Republican commentators who tried to move the goalposts — this is an historic victory for the Democratic party, even if they don't end up with a Senate majority. They have a real margin in the House, and picked up several governorships.

More importantly, the candidates elected to the House and Senate are by and large much smarter and more progressive than any entering class since 1994.

What does it mean? I think it means three things:

  • Voters gave Democrats a mandate for change and accountability. Or to put it more bluntly, the people decided that an intervention was needed for this administration.
  • The pocketbook is back as an issue: just talking about tax cuts is no longer a winning strategy. America looked in its wallet and purses, saw that the tax cuts weren’t there – and neither were any raises.
  • And, post-Katrina and Iraq, people are warming to the idea that incompetent government is a bad thing – and that good government might just be worth paying for.
Posted in Politics: US | 1 Comment

Recounts in Virginia

Posted on November 8, 2006 by Michael Froomkin

The Agonist is thinking ahead, and offers a short primmer, How do Recounts Work in Virginia?.

At of this writing 99.26% of the precincts are reporting in Virginia, and Webb has a minuscule lead. It’s likely that these numbers do not include provisional ballots (which one guesses will favor Webb).

This easily could be the Florida of 2006.

Update: The Post says,

The race may be decided by absentee ballots. More than 130,000 absentee ballots were requested in the state and those votes were still being counted early this morning.

Webb’s people claim to be confident that the absentee ballots will break their way. I’m unsure, myself.

Posted in Law: Elections | Comments Off on Recounts in Virginia

A Fun Fact

Posted on November 8, 2006 by Michael Froomkin

In 2008 there are 33 Senators up for election: 21 are Republicans, 12 are Democrats.

Dems:

Jack Reed (D-RI)
Max Baucus (D-MT)
Tom Harkin (D-IA)
Carl Levin (D-MI)
Tim Johnson (D-SD)
John Kerry (D-MA)
Mark Pryor (D-AR)
Richard Durbin (D-IL)
Mary Landrieu (D-LA)
Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Joe Biden (D-DE)
John Rockefeller (D-WV)

Republicans:

Lamar Alexander (R-TN)
Wayne Allart (R-CO)
Saxby Chambliss (R-GA)
Thad Cochran (R-MS)
Norm Coleman (R-MN)
Susan Collins (R-ME)
John Cornyn (R-TX)
Larry Craid (R-ID)
Elizabeth Dole (R-NC)
Pete Domenici (R-NM)
Michael Enzi (R-WY)
Lindsey Graham (R-SC)
Chuck Hagel (R-NE)
James Inhofe (R-OK)
Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
Pat Roberts (R-KS)
Jeff Sessions (R-AL)
Gordon Smith (R-OR)
Ted Stevens (R-AK)
John Sunun (R-NH)
John Warner (R-VA)

Warner is going to retire, and be replaced by former governor Mark Warner (D-Va)

Stevens may be vulnerable. Dole should be. Who else?

Posted in Politics: US: 2008 Elections | 6 Comments

The Local S. Florida Angle

Posted on November 7, 2006 by Michael Froomkin

Democrats will control the House, with help from South Florida.

Republican Charlie Crist Christ won the state, but lost this region. It looks as if state turnout wasn’t all that high, which hurt Davis, as did Christ’s huge financial advantage, which allowed an incessant barrage of TV ads depicting Davis as pro-terrorist. [Update: I hear Crist ran 21,000 commercials — more than any other candidate in the nation.]

Democrat Alex Sink will be the first elected state CFO — and looks to have a great future in state politics.

Nelon beat Harris — without my vote. I didn’t want to vote for a supporter of the torture bill. And they both voted for it. So for the first time in my life, I voted for neither candidate in a contested election.

Ron Klein beat Clay Shaw in the much-watched Boca Raton congressional election. Mahoney narrowly beat “Mark Foley” (Joe Negron) in Palm Beach, but it was close.

Where I live, Democrat Dave Patlak was beaten by incumbent Republican Ileana Ros-Lehtinen by almost 2:1, pretty much tracking party registration in Florida’s 18th district. The Patlak campaign had a few tens of thousands of dollars; the incumbent had well over a million on hand before the campaign even began.

Broward voted down a mass transit tax by a 2:1 ratio.

But the local news is dominated by the shooting of a UM student, Bryan Pata, a football player with a possible NFL career, in the parking lot of his off-campus apartment building.

Posted in Florida | 2 Comments

Virginia

Posted on November 7, 2006 by Michael Froomkin

At present, the Virginia election is a nailbiter, but one in which Allen has retained a lead for some time. There’s now 4.3% of the precincts remaining to be counted, and Allen has a lead of some thirteen thousand votes. That’s almost, but not quite, too much for Webb to overcome given that the missing votes seem to be in Arlington, Craig, and Fairfax counties.

The incredible thing is that the Green candidate (who?) has gotten over 1% of the vote — almost twice the margin now separating Webb and Allen. Shades of Ralph Nader all over again.

In addition, the margin of victory will be well within the margin of theft and voter suppression.

Posted in Politics: US: 2006 Election | 3 Comments

More Sleaze

Posted on November 7, 2006 by Michael Froomkin

Item: right-wing radio host Laura Ingraham today urged her listeners to obstruct efforts to protect voting rights by jamming a free voter protection hotline.

Item: Michael Steele and Bob Ehrlich hit an all time low in American politics. They distributed misleading sample ballots that pretend Ehrlich-Steele are Democrats and that Jack Johnson and Kweisi Mfume endorsed both of them. It’s very clear that the party establishment is behind this — the Governor’s wife was part of the welcoming committee for the folks involved in this.

Posted in Politics: The Party of Sleaze | Comments Off on More Sleaze