Just noting some races that were in the news for various reasons:
Democrats took every scandal seat: those once held by Tom DeLay, Mark Foley and Bob Ney. They'll probably have to work hard to keep those seats, but for now they've got them.
GOP Rep. Don Sherwood of Pennsylvania, he of the "I didn't strangle my mistress" defense, lost. So did GOP Rep. Curt Weldon, who was the subject of a corruption probe. Rep. John Sweeney (R-N.Y.) lost after reports that he roughed up his wife in 2005.
Partisan secretaries of state fared poorly, too. Katherine Harris got obliterated in her quest for a Senate seat in Florida, and Ken Blackwell never came close to getting the keys to the Ohio governor's mansion.
On the other side, both Dennis Hastert and Tom Reynolds survived their links to the Foley affair.
Update: Hastert may have kept his seat, but he won't try to keep his leadership post.
politics, midtopia
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Roll call
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4 comments:
A very satisfying election, not because Democrats have power again but because the Republican leadership is out and the Bush cabal no longer has a rubber stamp. The people have finally woken up and we seem to be going more centrist. I sincerely hope the Democrats use this opportunity to usher in a real era of bipartisanship and cooperation. I hope we can pursue real solutions to problems like energy, where we need a Manhattan project of alternatives/efficiency.
On that note, a great thing happened in California. Anti-environment Republican Richard Pombo was ousted by a Democrat who has run a business in renewable energy. May this be a great omen for the future.
- Caracarn
Sean,
Great week. I don't see you at Centerfield. Some great comments about the Centrist victories. Do the Democrats understand that the center pulled this off? Lieberman won, Webb etc..etc.. Now the Democrats will be in the hot seat too and we can put a brake on some things that were out of control.
There are some concerns. Already some are demanding impeachment, withdrawal......
It does show the Republicans abandoned the center and the Democrats actually made a final effort to reach them. Blogs like this MADE A DIFFERENCE. Still Huffington said the biggest loser was Hillary. We shall see if the center can hold...
Good work buddy.
Max NYC
Caracarn: Missed the detail on Pombo. Thanks for that.
Max: Thanks for the kind words. I haven't made it over to Centerfield in a while, being busy here and at Donklephant, but Marc drops in to check on me now and then. :)
I agree with your points: Democrats won by moving to the center, while Republicans lost by abandoning the center. And now our job becomes a little more complicated: keeping an eye on both the Republicans and Democrats.
But we've got a couple of months to celebrate before leaping back into the crucible.
You are exactly right. We must keep on eye on both. I don't think we could have gotten to this place any other way. Democrats remember the twelve years in the cold. Maybe their centrist candidates can explain it to them now. The Republicans must realize that it was more than big government and foreign policy that ruined their party. There may be a chance for the first real centrist government in a long time. While Code Pink is calling for impeachment and Fox is scrambling for bogus explanations for defeat, a new middle is taking shape. I would like to think our leaders read the center's blogs. After all, it is the center that rescued the country for a moment with Dean and Murtha making some unusual statements on video for reply in 2008.
150,000 dead Iraqis is not so much a responsibility of America's as it is a testament to the profound sectarian hatred in Iraq. This was identified at the start. Define the criteria for self-defense and the responsibilites of action. Give Sunnis a piece of the oil like many suggested in 2003 and work a partial division of the country. Seal the borders and add our new look to negotiations. An attack on America will now be an attack on a centrist, Democratic government and Republican President. It will give the Left a chance to return to sanity while taking away the terrorism issue from Republicans, unless the Democrats blow it.
I hope for the best. Good bye Rummy. Good bye Santorum, Delay, Frist, and other losers. America was not served by your partisanship and arrogance. Kosworld did not win. Congrats to Lieberman and Webb.
Only an eye over the Democrat's shoulders will keep them focused on reality. Keep true to issues and ignore the ideologies. We may all avert the coming storm. If not, wmd and terrorists, economic failure and the spread of tyranny will be at our doorstep.
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