US Election Returns 2010

[karlhenning]

So, the Tea Party did not topple Reid, it seems.  (Was anyone really banking on Republican seizure of the Senate?)

Barney Frank in Massachusetts was actually forced to campaign, and his challenger (Bielat) captured a respectable 43% of the vote.

In polls leading to the election, incumbent Massachusetts Governor Patrick's lead was thin enough to fall into statistical margin of error; but in the event he was returned to office by a cushion well greater than nail-biting dimension.

By what margin did Californians just say no to legalized pot?

[karlhenning]

In polls leading to the election, incumbent Massachusetts Governor Patrick's lead was thin enough to fall into statistical margin of error; but in the event he was returned to office by a cushion well greater than nail-biting dimension.

The headline in The Boston Globe reads: Patrick roars to a 2d term

[karlhenning]

A ballot question to repeal the state sales tax on alcoholic beverages passed by a narrow margin last night, but voters soundly rejected a more sweeping measure to slash the general sales tax rate by more than half.

With more than 90 percent of vote tallied, 52 percent of voters backed Question 1, the repeal of the alcohol sales tax, with 48 percent voting against, a margin of 67,000 votes, according to unofficial tallies. Its approval removed the 6.25 percent tax placed on liquor, beer, and wine last year, a surcharge that store owners said was causing them to lose customers to tax-free New Hampshire.

The result went against us in both cases.  We fail to see the sales tax on beer as particularly onerous.  And while personally I did not expect that the roll-back of the sales tax to 3% would succeed, casting the vote that way felt agreeably defiant.

[karlhenning]

We fail to see the sales tax on beer as particularly onerous.

And here's a figure for you:

Exempting alcohol from the sales tax will cost the state about $110 million in revenue, finance officials have said.

[karlhenning]

By 5 a.m., Republican gains hit at least 60 seats. That wiped out all the gains that Democrats made in 2006 and 2008 and slid past the 54 seats the GOP achieved in its 1994 landslide. Republicans picked up at least three seats in Florida, Illinois, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

[karlhenning]

In Connecticut, Republican Linda McMahon, the former head of World Wrestling Entertainment, lost her Senate race against state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal (D), despite spending about $50 million of her own money.

[karlhenning]

Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski appears to be winning a write-in campaign to keep her seat, according to unofficial election returns posted Wednesday morning. If victorious, she would be the first U.S. senator elected by write-in vote in more than half a century.

Murkowski had been defeated in a contentious primary by a Tea Partier.

[karlhenning]

Hello, "Fair & Balanced"!

This cheerleading on the final day of the 2010 election cycle was to be expected. Murdoch and News Corp. took the unusual step of donating $1.25 million to the Republican Governors Association and another $1 million to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which led the effort to defeat Democrats. According to a report by the liberal watchdog Media Matters, no fewer than 30 Fox News personalities have endorsed, done fundraisers, or campaigned for Republican candidates or groups in more than 600 cases across 47 states.

(Surprised?)

[Josquin des Prez]

Well, liberals already own Hollywood. Might as well throw a bone at the conservatives and give them a (fake) right-wing news outlet which is actually an arm for neo-con propaganda, you know, that right wing movement created by left-wing defectives (?!?) who's primary concern has been to rally American patriots behind global military ventures.

[karlhenning]

I can only hope that we get to see Glenn Beck in his Ché Guevara outfit!

[Josquin des Prez]

If he had any inkling of an idea of the real motives of his superiors he wouldn't make such a good useful idiot.

[snyprrr]

A quite quiet, typical election day in Maryland. The Lifers here are really Lifers, apparently, no matter their stripe. You want a life long job in the government? Come to Maryland! Little Tel Aviv!

I fondled the testes of Maryland, who simply said, "I feel nothing."

[Daverz]

By what margin did Californians just say no to legalized pot?

Almost 8%.  Bummer.   I don't think they could have all been Humboldt growers protecting their crop prices.

http://vote.sos.ca.gov/returns/ballot-measures/

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

I like James Howard Kunstler's take on the election:

"I hope everybody enjoyed the election. Since it was devoid of useful ideas, we can surely look forward to a couple of years of mindless partisan scrimmaging. In the meantime, entropy will work its magic in our economy and our social relations. The net result, I'm guessing, will be even more political disaffection. I'm not confident that these clowns can hold the country together. I only hope that they don't serve it up on a platter to some political maniac. The period ahead will surely be chock full of thrills and laughs."

[DavidW]

Boy that guy has it right, here is another quote:

It's really too late for both parties. They're unreformable. They've squandered their legitimacy just as the US enters the fat heart of the long emergency. Neither of them have a plan, or even a single idea that isn't a dodge or a grift. ...

[Josquin des Prez]

You guys don't understand. The only way to fix all our problems, is to reduce whites to a minority:

http://principles-of-progressive-politics.blogspot.com/2009/07/principle-of-progressive-politics-white.html

Its the progressive way. Once whites are out of the picture, people of color will be free to create political entities based on justice and fairness for all!

[Todd]

(Was anyone really banking on Republican seizure of the Senate?)

No. 

I now eagerly await the meaningless investigations and the gridlock that will lead up to 2012.

[karlhenning]

[Not] even a single idea that isn't a dodge or a grift . . . expert analysis!

[Philoctetes]

You guys don't understand. The only way to fix all our problems, is to reduce whites to a minority:

http://principles-of-progressive-politics.blogspot.com/2009/07/principle-of-progressive-politics-white.html

Its the progressive way. Once whites are out of the picture, people of color will be free to create political entities based on justice and fairness for all!

Definitely a noble aim.

[karlhenning]

It is curious that JdP feels that whites in society are uninterested in (or incapable of) political entities based on justice and fairness for all . . . .