pegkerr: (HP Politics)
pegkerr ([personal profile] pegkerr) wrote2006-11-08 06:28 am

Election

Okay, I should be in a good mood. Democrats have taken the house, Minnesota is finally FINALLY sending a woman to the Senate, we've just elected a strong progressive to the House in my district, the State House has changed hands to the Democrats. And Santorum has been defeated! I am truly happy about that. Dan Savage, have fun gloating.

But I'm feeling pissy. We lost the governorship by One. Lousy. Point. Hutchinson supporters, I hope you're bloody satisfied. Thanks for voting your consciences; now we're stuck with another four years of Pawlenty gutting the state.

And my state is sending an utter BIGOT to Congress.

I'm also pissed about all the states that outlawed even civil unions, never mind passing marriage amendments.

(Maybe I'll feel better after I've had breakfast.)

[identity profile] eal.livejournal.com 2006-11-08 03:29 pm (UTC)(link)
More than a million people voted for Katherine Harris. That alone scares me more than it should. I mean the woman has redefined the word crazy and yet over a million of my fellow citizens (rumor has it, including my mother) think she would be a good senator for the state of Florida. She didn't win, but hell, a million people thought she should.

I'm still having problems with that this morning.

[identity profile] jbru.livejournal.com 2006-11-08 03:48 pm (UTC)(link)
Remember that some significant portion of those folks would vote for any Republican. Likely on the rationalization that no matter how bad the Republican, the Democrat would be so much worse.

[identity profile] eal.livejournal.com 2006-11-08 04:46 pm (UTC)(link)
I know. I discovered, to my horror, that Alabama has the option to mark all Republicans on the top of the ballot and then you turn it in.

That was the only time I've ever made a political speech in my classrooms. I taught college students many of whom were voting for the first time. I told them they needed to vote and I really didn't care how they voted EXCEPT I felt it was an abdication of responsibility to check the Republican or Democrat box at the top of the ballot and turn it in. The least we can do is actually mark each person's name or position that we're voting for.

[identity profile] peacockharpy.livejournal.com 2006-11-08 03:54 pm (UTC)(link)
I know the feeling; I'm pretty sure my parents voted for her too. I remember hearing one woman interviewed on NPR talking about what a good Christian woman KH was and how she stood up for things the voter believed in. It's a good thing I wasn't drinking or eating anything at the time, as I might have died from the gagging and choking.

Some people buy into that mindset, I guess. Thankfully, the majority of voters didn't.

[identity profile] eal.livejournal.com 2006-11-08 04:49 pm (UTC)(link)
What I loved most about this particular race was the fact that Bill Nelson never even mentioned her name in an ad. He explained who he was, what he would do, and so on.

I wish we could hold a school for all future candidates and show them what he did. It would be a kind of campaign season I wouldn't mind watching.