2010 Election Results

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No really big surprises on the night. It was certainly good news for Republicans. As predicted by just about everyone, the Republicans took back control of the House, so Pelosi is no longer the Speaker. The Republicans will pick the Speaker now, and the most likely choice will be their previous Minority Leader, Boehner. In total, the Republicans probably exceeded expectations in the House. Most predictions placed their gains around +55 net, and it looks like, depending on how the last few races play out, that they are going to be somewhere in the +63 to +65 range. So certainly a very good night there.

The news wasn't as good for Republicans in the Senate (although they certainly had overall good results there as well). They have yet to call a winner in the Washington and Colorado Senate races, although it looks like both Democratic candidates will pull of the victory. That will leave the Democrats with 52 seats, so the Republicans came up three seats short of taking control of the Senate as well. That said, the Democrats entered the night controlling 59 Senate seats, so it's not like you can say it's a bad night for Republicans that they gained a net 7 in the Senate.

Taking control of the Senate was never a terribly likely outcome for Republicans anyway - they basically had to hold onto all of their seats while winning every single competitive contest, which is a tall order. So no real shame in just picking up 7 seats.

 

I think they could have taken the Senate if they had a few better candidates. But I think the Rs had an excellent night. They managed to win back the more libertarian conservatives in the midwest, particularly around the Great Lakes, where the social conservative, religious right stuff, doesn't play very well. That stuff may work in the South but not in those areas of the country. I guess Republicans don't have to pass the pro-life, pro-traditional marriage "test" any longer. Good for them. It's much smarter politics.

It's all about "less government" now. The BIG debate will be about what "less" government really means. Good luck with that.

 

I liked the comment by a "high ranking republican" -- I can't remember who it was and I'll paraphrase...

The tea party helped us in the house but probably cost us in the senate.

He was right, they lost two senate races simply because the tea party candidate was not taken seriously by the front runner in the republican primary. It was one of many cases where the party shot itself in the foot by putting a far right leaning candidate who scared the moderates.

 

And here I thought this thread was about last week's civic election in Winnipeg.

 

T2B - I think it's inarguable that the Christine O'Donnell cost them the race in Delaware (replacing Biden's vacated seat). I forget the name of the traditional Republican in the primary, but he was considered the heavy favorite in the general election. By nominating O'Donnell, the R's gave away that Senate seat.

I assume the other Tea Partier you're talking about is Sharon Angle, who attempted, and ultimately failed, to defeat Harry Reid in Nevada. I think Reid's victory was a bit of an upset there, as most polls leading up the election showed Angle leading that race.

 

I think this was one of the first campaigns in a long time, where I did not hear anything about Pat Robertson, or one of those other religious right jokers. I'm not trying to be offensive to anyone here who is a social consevative, but only pointing out that those "values" issues had far less presence than usual on the Republican side of things this cycle.

 

I am pleased by what happened. The Tea Party is composed of frustrated, disillusioned, unhappy Republican, Democrats and Independents. It was IMO a minor revolution where the People of these United States of America spoke out and let incumbents of both Parties. I think the Republican Party would have done better if they had listened to and supported the grass roots movement.

On another site I belong to they are crying doom and gloom on us because we have tied the President's Hands. Which is just what a lot of people in this country wanted. If the two parties pay attention to what happened maybe they will remember who they work for and who pays their salaries and start working together to solve things.

I do tend to be pessimistic about politicians though. But hope springs eternal.

 

Well, yes. of course some people wanted that - the people who DID NOT vote for him.

The Tea candidate Sharron Angle made one of the stupidest remarks I have ever heard a politicain make, and there have been a lot of them over the years - saying that she will say where she stands on a major policy issue (the war), "once she is elected Senator." That's just arrogantly stupid.

http://www.colbertnation.com/the-co...term-senate-races---nevada--alaska---delaware

 

Ironically, it often seems like the least gets done when one party controls both houses of congress and the presidency ... it's like they feel at liberty to retire to infighting at that point.

 

Yeah, I guess we will see... Although by the way so many hopefuls built their campaigns on opposing the president, I'm not so sure they'd get much done.

 

The US government will now be able to do next to nothing. There will be brutal deadlock, and some of the crazies they elected will oppose everything that Obama sends their way just because he sent it, not because opposing it is what is best for the people.

I don't know for sure what the solution to the American economic woes is. But I am damn sure that the solution isn't "do nothing".

I'm a hard right small "c" conservative, but I don't think this is an auspicious day for the American people.

 

My take on last night.

The Good.
The Democrats had a bad night. Got their asses handed to them in the house, as expected. I'm sorry, but I think this is a good thing, because they deserved it. They spent the last 2 years pissing away a golden opportunity every chance they got. 2 years of incompetence, and half-measures, and political cowardice. I will never reward incompetence, even in a party a tend to support.

The Tea Party also had a worse night than expected. Though some of the more moderate Tea Partiers did indeed win the day (like Rubio, which I have to admit surprised me), I'm relieved that the total f*cking raisin cakes like Sharon Angle and Christine O'Donnell didn't fare as well. In fact, they cost the GOP the Senate. Hopefully this is a sign that the crazier elements of the Tea Party will be reigned in, since it's clear they overplayed their hand. But I'm not holding my breath.

Also good, no more Nancy Pelosi as Speaker. Preferable to Boehner, sure - but I think it's good that she's no longer the plastic, overly-botoxed face of the party.

The Bad.
The next 2 years will be excruciating. Not because conservatives are back in power. I'm honestly fine with that in general. But because nothing - nothing - will get done.

The GOP have made it clear that their top agenda item that trumps all others is defeating Obama in 2012. Nothing else matters to them. That means they will not put forward any kind of agenda of their own. Their "better plan" they've been hinting at for the last 2 years that no one has seen? You're not going to see it (if it exists at all). They're going to spend 2 years insisting that "the President sets the agenda," so that when they oppose anything and everything he proposes, they can point all the blame on him for not addressing the myriad crises our government is facing right now. They could give 2 sh*ts about the debt (have they proposed a single spending cut or tax increase?), the wars (did any of them even mention them the last month?), the jobs issue, or any of it. They will double down on the strategy that worked beautifully for them the last 2 years: propose nothing, obstruct everything. From a purely cynical/political perspective, they'd be crazy not to play that winning hand. They saw what happened to Newt Gingrich and they won't give Obama anything to campaign on. It's cynical, and about as anti-democratic as anything. But it'll work.

Another bad thing, in my view, is that the fact-free, lunatic rhetoric that flowed freely from all corners of the conservative movement the last 2 years has now been validated and given legitimacy. If you're a conservative, call your Democrat opponents every vile, ridiculous thing you can think of - socialists, fascists, Marxists, Nazis, muslims, traitors, whatever...hell, call them all those at once. Nobody will bat an eye. Shout at the top of your lungs that a solidly and obviously centrist administration is the most frighteningly-liberal thing the world has ever seen, hell-bent on destroying the country from within (all facts to the contrary). There is really no downside to any of it anymore. In fact, it is now what is expected. Calm, serious policy discussions are for RINO's.

Worst of all is that the entire previous administration has been erased from existence. The Bush years flat out didn't happen. No one remembers those 8 years of unprecedented power grabs, pissing away of our moral authority, running up our enormous debt (for which Obama now unfairly receives ALL the blame), war crimes committed in the name of "democracy" and "freedom"...and no one will EVER be held to account for any of it. Obama blinked, and hesitated, and seemed to think his charm, mandate and shiny new supermajority were enough to erase the stain of 8 years of torture, unjust wars and rapid decline of our standing in the world. So he blew his wad on the healthcare legislation that nobody thought was as important as a host of other burning issues. Issues he's now powerless to do anything about, and all the problems he inherited when he came into office will now be hung around his neck. Awesome.

Typing that reminded me why I hate politics so much. I hope I'm wrong about all of it. But I'm not.

 

I personally felt that nearly anyone was preferable to Pelosi. The idea of her as president after a national disaster (such as the death of the president and VP) was simply scary.

 

To all those saying nothing will get done in the next two years...

How is that really any different from the last two years?

Think about it. Yes, we had the landmark health care reform bill that half the country now hates, but that's not exactly a long list of accomplishments for two years. For a President who claimed you can do more than one thing at a time, he hasn't shown it.

As for the Republicans being obstructionists, how is that really different than the last two years either? The Republicans were already filibustering everything they didn't like in the Senate. Saying that now those problems are in the House as well doesn't really make the situation much worse, as you have to pass both chambers of Congress to get any law passed.

So I don't see that much room for optimism either. However, I will point out that Clinton had a very productive presidency, even though the Republicans controlled both chambers of Congress for much of his eight years in office. I don't think the partizanship is that much worse now than it was then.

 

I hope you're right. So far, Obama's presidency has followed a trajectory eerily similar to Reagan's. He may turn this all around to his advantage and kick lots of ass the next 2 years. The economic recovery accelerates, the GOP nominates a Sarah Palin / Marco Rubio ticket (as is the most likely right now), and he glides to a second term, hopefully to kick yet more ass. But at this point, I'm pretty pessimistic. I think Obama faces a far more partisan environment than either Reagan or even Clinton faced. But we'll see.

 

Dems did not focus on the economy and jobs -- Probably a mistake. What they did pass:

1. Workers can get equal pay more easily, particularly women.
2. New credit card laws
3. New Regulations on the tobacco industry
4. Children's insurance, about 4 million covered
5. College student loans paid directly. No more welfare to the banks
6. Middle-class tax cuts (despite Tea Party lies that he raised taxes)
7. Rebates on new cars - trading in the old junkers.
8. New financial reform laws
9. Veterans got new benefits
10. Clean energy agenda
11. The Natinal Recovery Act

And of course the big one, health care, for better or worse. I really felt it should have been an extension of Medicare. Everyone would have at least understood what it actually does and how it works.

And Sarah Palin wasn't?????????

Hell, they tried to impeach him.

 

Every day for 7 years. Obama's only been in the game for 2. You think it'll take that long, with this congress? And with Fox News as an ally?

 

I think they [Republicans] got the message this time, DR. I think all of them did. It's the economy.

Also, they tried Whitewater for the longest time before they discovered Paula Jones, and could not even get their trumped up charges on that one to stick.

 

I think the fact that redistricting goes on this year may matter a lot. People may get tired of a GOP House and GOP state legislatures over the next decade. But if the GOP pushes hard enough with how they draw lines on a map then it may not matter.