Election results
Nov. 8th, 2006 01:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
magidDeval Patrick is the next governor of MA, and the usual local suspects won their races.
Nationally, however, what a huge sea change! Huzzah! The Democrats are now the majority in the House (may they be a power for good, not hot air or single-party putsches; I hope the lame-duck losers don't landmine the legislative field before they go). And it's down to the wire whether they'll get the Senate as well (showing the power of everyone's vote in the races as tight as Montana and Virginia). It might end up deadlocked, 49-49-2, with the two independents getting much more power. Vermont's Socialist Senator Sanders is likely to vote with the Democrats, but Connecticut's Lieberman is a wild card. He lost the Democratic primary, so switched to independent to run in the November election, and has always been to the right of his party. Which way he will swing may make a huge difference, depending on the other races (which some have already called for the Democrats).
So, presumably this is a clear enough message to the White House that people are not happy with things as they are. (Yay, Santorum's out! And there's more fallout: Rumsfeld is leaving, too! Yay!)
The other part of the election was the state-wide ballot initiatives. All three of the ones in MA were defeated, some easily, some not, so there not be more stores selling wine, candidates for office will not be able to be listed by multiple parties, and there won't be a union/collective bargaining for child care workers.
The four hot-button issues around the country are limiting using eminent domain to take land for private use (all states that had this question voted for it), linking the minimum wage to inflation (ditto), tobacco issues (where it's legal to smoke, extra taxes on cigarettes, and so on; mixed results), and whether marriage is a union only between a man and a woman. There were seven states voting on whether marriage must be between one man and one woman. Arizona was the only one to defeat it, with a very tight race (51% to 49%). All the others (Idaho, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia, and Wisconsin) voted to define marriage this way, and Colorado went the extra step of denying the establishment of domestic partnerships as well. Some of the races were tighter than others, but in the end, it's all defeats. I still think that this will change, but it's discouraging.
On a lighter note, Arizona's Proposition 200 (After each general election, award $1 million to a randomly chosen voter.) was defeated (66% to 34%). I'm just amused it made it on the ballot. And I discovered that handling reptiles as part of religious services is illegal in Kentucky.
Nationally, however, what a huge sea change! Huzzah! The Democrats are now the majority in the House (may they be a power for good, not hot air or single-party putsches; I hope the lame-duck losers don't landmine the legislative field before they go). And it's down to the wire whether they'll get the Senate as well (showing the power of everyone's vote in the races as tight as Montana and Virginia). It might end up deadlocked, 49-49-2, with the two independents getting much more power. Vermont's Socialist Senator Sanders is likely to vote with the Democrats, but Connecticut's Lieberman is a wild card. He lost the Democratic primary, so switched to independent to run in the November election, and has always been to the right of his party. Which way he will swing may make a huge difference, depending on the other races (which some have already called for the Democrats).
So, presumably this is a clear enough message to the White House that people are not happy with things as they are. (Yay, Santorum's out! And there's more fallout: Rumsfeld is leaving, too! Yay!)
The other part of the election was the state-wide ballot initiatives. All three of the ones in MA were defeated, some easily, some not, so there not be more stores selling wine, candidates for office will not be able to be listed by multiple parties, and there won't be a union/collective bargaining for child care workers.
The four hot-button issues around the country are limiting using eminent domain to take land for private use (all states that had this question voted for it), linking the minimum wage to inflation (ditto), tobacco issues (where it's legal to smoke, extra taxes on cigarettes, and so on; mixed results), and whether marriage is a union only between a man and a woman. There were seven states voting on whether marriage must be between one man and one woman. Arizona was the only one to defeat it, with a very tight race (51% to 49%). All the others (Idaho, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia, and Wisconsin) voted to define marriage this way, and Colorado went the extra step of denying the establishment of domestic partnerships as well. Some of the races were tighter than others, but in the end, it's all defeats. I still think that this will change, but it's discouraging.
On a lighter note, Arizona's Proposition 200 (After each general election, award $1 million to a randomly chosen voter.) was defeated (66% to 34%). I'm just amused it made it on the ballot. And I discovered that handling reptiles as part of religious services is illegal in Kentucky.