Wednesday, November 4, 2009

GOP Has a Good Night

Republicans win governorships in "purple" Virginia and "blue" New Jersey. Independents who voted for Obama last year are disappointed in his presidency so far. Proposed higher taxes, huge deficits and an explosion of government spending and power, have them peeling away from Democrats in droves.

Obama has three years to right his own ship. But last night's election returns do not bode well for the party as a whole next year.

Suddenly, millions of voters don't think the country's in the very best of hands.

UPDATE: In New Jersey, in particular, where Obama appeared three times to bolster support for Jon Conzine, voters were not swayed.

"Get a mop," was one of Obama's big campaign lines. In New Jersey, the voters did.

UPDATE II: And that's bad for Obama and other big-government progressives.

25 Comments:

Blogger steve mcdonald said...

I honestly didn't see Christie winning the race, I thought Daggett's campaign would take enough votes away where Corzine would win with between 45-47% of the vote. Don't really know what it means in NJ.

Biggest disappointment of the night was in Philadelphia, they re-elected a democratic ward leader in Butkovitz (Sp?) as Controller. Philadelphians had an opportunity to elect Al Schmidt, a qualified Republican who would have kept the city on their feet and by simply not being a part of the dems machone, would have been exactly what the controller's office needs - independence. I never want to hear about the city's woes again...

November 4, 2009 at 8:18 AM 
Blogger A Nonymous said...

You guys left out the race for congress in NY's 23rd.

Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, and the other far right conservatives took a stand by backing the Conservative Party candidate, Doug Hoffman, over the Republican, because she was too moderate. They were trashing Newt Gingrich as a RINO for supporting the actual Republican.

Democrat Bill Owens won the district, despite it being mostly Republican.

In Virginia, McDonnell didn't want Palin campaigning for him. This proved the smartest move in his campaign.

The economy will improve in 2010 and jobs will start coming back. If it's strong and fast enough, the Democrats will do well.

November 4, 2009 at 10:24 AM 
Blogger steve mcdonald said...

i was leaving that race to cable news and the unnecessary hype. personally, i thought the entire story was a joke of hype, and I think we all knew the democrat was going to win due to the split, GOP candidate withdrawing or not.

November 4, 2009 at 12:25 PM 
Blogger jake said...

New Jersey and Virginia are significant victories in large, critical states. No one can credibly spin these elections as anything less than a powerful rebuke of the current administration.
Looks like the astroturf is growing roots.

November 4, 2009 at 12:55 PM 
Blogger whynotus said...

imho, Corzine lost because he spent too much time talking about christie being fat and not enough time explaining the economy.
NJ, like the federal govt, is saddled with debt left from years of irresponsible tax cuts by republicans that were not accompanied by spending cuts. doesn't look like the nj legislature changed much so I would nto read too much into it.
Deeds was just a bad candidiate...mcauliffe should have been the d canidiate.
biggest disappointment of yesterday is that more democats do not come out and vote...if they did you would not have career republican politicians serving as a judge and members of county council in this county.

November 4, 2009 at 1:58 PM 
Blogger A Nonymous said...

Stevie-
That NY race was supposed to be a big deal for the conservative movement in it's internal war for the soul of the Republican party. The Democrats reached out to the moderate Republican to expand.

Virginia tends to go Republican, so that race was business as usual, not a seismic shift. The NJ race shows what a bad campaign Corzine ran and how stupid the NJ voters are to pick Christie. Christie will plunge them deeper into debt.

Jakey-
Sorry to burst your bubble, but where was your tea-party crowd in NY? Out buying more astro-turf?
This election was not referendum on Obama, but keep on dreaming that. The Democrats got complacent after last year's BIG win, and the GOP got a little stirred up.

If the economy comes roaring back by the 2010 elections, the Dems will get the credit and the rewards.

November 4, 2009 at 4:10 PM 
Blogger Bob Bohne said...

All this talk about the election, and nobody mentions our own C. Scott Shields! What's wrong with you guys? Congratulations Scott.

November 4, 2009 at 6:30 PM 
Blogger Spencerblog said...

Bingo, Bob.
Here's the story on Scott's big win

November 4, 2009 at 6:52 PM 
Blogger jake said...

Anon-dianoey is bringing us all together with cute little nicknames. Isn't that special?

November 4, 2009 at 7:19 PM 
Blogger steve mcdonald said...

scott's our man, love him or not. happy to see the mayor win - he's a character!

A non - you're clearly falling into the hype machine, may I suggest you stay away from the talking points on this one (Wait, who do I say that to all the time???)

November 4, 2009 at 7:30 PM 
Blogger A Nonymous said...

What did he win? Mayor of a one-horse town with a population under 900? They've got a mayor and 7 council members and a large group of committees and officers.

They've got 2% of the population of a township like Haverford, which has a 9-member council.

What the heck do they manage? They could probably replace the entire sewer system with a dozen port-a-potties.

An 8 year old kid works harder managing his hotels on Boardwalk and Park Place.

November 4, 2009 at 8:48 PM 
Blogger jake said...

Congrats Scott.
Thank God the lunatic fringe wants to diminish your election victory. Their perception of your lack of accomplishment should keep you eligible to win the Nobel Prize.

November 5, 2009 at 9:34 AM 
Blogger /mr said...

Truly a historic turn of events. The only incumbent governor facing reelection in a state that with the exception of California is the biggest economic basket case in the nation and who is the former CEO of Goldman Sachs loses a close race to a guy who led by 15% a few months ago. Virginia goes the opposite way of the White House as they have consistently done since the Civil War. Meanwhile, in NY 23, the surviving rump of the GOP rallies their teabag might and loses a seat that has been held by a Republican since the administration of Ulysses Grant.

Clearly Obama and Biden should immediately resign and Crazy John and Caribou Bambi should be placed in office.

November 5, 2009 at 10:22 AM 
Blogger A Nonymous said...

Jakey-
Exactly what are the duties of the Mayor of Rutledge? Planning parades? What was his campaign slogan? Mustard on every hot dog?


Oh, wait, they've got a party planning committee for that:
"4th of July Committee meetings are held on the 3rd Monday of every month at 8 pm in the Borough Hall. The Rutledge 4th of July Committee organizes annual community events, to include the Annual Halloween Parade, The Christmas Tree Lighting, The Luminary Lighting, a Winter Potluck, and the 4th of July Parade and accompanying games and activities."

On the Rutledge Borough page, they posted the vote counts of the winners, but not the votes of their opponents. Isn't that odd?

The auditor, constable, judge of elections and one of the council members got more votes than Scott The Mayor.

Maybe Scott can run as Sarah Palin's running mate in 2012, because it would tough to find someone else that wouldn't overshadow her.

November 5, 2009 at 3:31 PM 
Blogger jake said...

If we could harness the energy from the Democrat spin machine, as they offer smug rationalizations to the obvious beating they suffered this past Tuesday, we could significantly reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

November 5, 2009 at 3:51 PM 
Blogger A Nonymous said...

Jakey-
You seem to be ignoring the rationalizations by the conservatives about their loss in NY-23. They are somehow trying to spin it as a victory.

In Delaware county, the Dems pay more attention to Federal elections than off-year local races. Casey, Clinton, Gore, Kerry and Obama all won by huge margins and with the support of moderate Republicans. We still need to make that connection to the state and local races, but it just a matter of time.

By my count, the Dems not only picked up a congressional seat, but it was from a traditionally Republican district. If the Republicans are proud to have someone like Christie on their side, that's their problem.

The Dems got a bit complacent and the GOP got a bit energized.

Jakey, you should get a job on a farm, because you seem really good at counting chickens before they hatch.

November 5, 2009 at 5:27 PM 
Blogger Spencerblog said...

Jake, I think this 29 year-old Skank-A-Nonymous is obsessed with you, even though "she" disagrees with you politically.

November 5, 2009 at 7:08 PM 
Blogger jake said...

Gil,
I just love the way she-anon coos my little pet name.
Who needs match.com when you get a female Aries who puts out for a burger right here?

November 5, 2009 at 7:28 PM 
Blogger A Nonymous said...

Spank-A-Spencer-Mouse-

Little boys get little boy nicknames.
Bob behaves like an adult, and gets treated with respect.

November 5, 2009 at 10:35 PM 
Blogger Pro Christ Pro Gun said...

Thank you Steve, Bob, Gil and Jake. I think I shocked a few people with winning, and the paper got the vote count wrong. It was 183-121. To A Nonymous, that would be a mandate. Could A Nonymous be Dopey Diano?

Diano should run for something one day. He may even find that one horse town and that horse may even like him back. If he ever comes to Rutledge and bad mouths the residents to their faces like he does from the safety of his closet, he might find something radically different.

Diano, if you are listening, please be my guest at the next Fourth of July parade. You can ride in the back of the parade with me.

C. Scott Shields, Esquire
www.cscottshields.com

November 6, 2009 at 6:39 AM 
Blogger Pro Christ Pro Gun said...

A Nonymous:

If you join us for the Fourth of July parade I will even have my kids decorate your tricycle for you.

C. Scott Shields, Esquire
www.cscottshields.com

November 6, 2009 at 10:10 AM 
Blogger A Nonymous said...

Scott-
You say you got 183 votes?
But the Rutledge home page http://www.rutledgepa.org/
says you got 182 votes. I hope you are better with you budget numbers.

So, is your next 4th of July parade on the 3rd or the 5th?

Thanks for the offer of child labor, but tricycles with the big giant front wheel from the 19th century are probably a little too high-tech for your little parade.

November 6, 2009 at 12:05 PM 
Blogger Pro Christ Pro Gun said...

A Nonymous:

My kids decorating your little tricycle is not child labor - it is a labor of love for them. They love their country and look forward to the BEST Fourth of July parade their is. I think that our parade is the oldest in the county. Show up and you will see for yourself. Last year we even had a dunk tank and yours truly was the first one on it. If they do that again, I will sit there for you. And if you throw like a girl, you can run up and push the target with your hands.

I aim to please!

C. Scott Shields, Esquire
www.cscottshields.com

November 7, 2009 at 8:22 AM 
Blogger Bob Bohne said...

Scott - the only reason you were the first one on the dunk tank last year was because they had it filled with beer.

November 7, 2009 at 12:47 PM 
Blogger A Nonymous said...

Scott,
You sitting on a dunk tank would certainly be a highlight. Should we bring our own Piranhas?

November 7, 2009 at 1:09 PM 

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