Yesterday saw US voters going to the polls for several state elections and ballot measures. For weeks, the media and Republicans have been touting any Republican victories as indicators of voters rejecting Obama and his policies…spinning the results as some sort of a gauge of voters’ support for Obama’s first 9 months in Office.
What a crock.
Below, you will find some of my (not exactly well-informed) observations of yesterday’s day at the polls.
The votes we heard the most about leading up to yesterday were the Virginia and New Jersey gubernatorial races, the NY-23 race, and the vote for marriage equality in Maine.
I am in Virginia, so I have closely followed the race between McDonnell and Deeds. Despite all the malarkey spewed by both the media and Republicans, these results have naught to do with Obama or Virginian’s perception of his time in Office thus far. First of all, for the past 30 or so years Virginia has elected a Governor from the Party NOT occupying the White House at the time of voting. Secondly, Creigh Deeds was, quite frankly, a dud. He is boring and he is a piss poor campaigner…there has been zero enthusiasm about him throughout this campaign. To top it all off, Deeds did not court the Democratic base (you know, the ones that might actually head out to vote in an off year election?)…instead he held tight the middle (if not right of middle) and avoided associating himself with Obama till the last minute (he even said he would ‘opt out’ of the Public option if given the choice to do so). Despite the crowing of the media and Repubs…the Republican’s win in VA yesterday had naught to do with Virginians ‘rejecting’ Obama..and everything to do with Virginians rejecting Creigh Deeds. Do you think Republican’s took Democrat Mark Warner’s election 2 months after 9/11 as a repudiation of Bush? Of course not. Hypocrites.
I know less about the race in NJ. What I do know is that Corzine had not polled above 50% in a very long time and that does not bode well for any incumbent. New Jersey is a reliably blue state, and, like the redder Virginia, I think that the results yesterday had more to do with ‘local’ politics than with any sort of indication as to how voters feel about Obama’s first 9 months in Office.
It has been an absolute joy watching the Republicans turn on each other and tear each other to bits in the NY-23 race. Winning the race was just the icing on the cake. The Teabaggers handed Democrats a win in a district that had been held by Republicans since….wait for it….1871. Hah! I don’t expect to hear how that proves that the voters of NY-23 all completely support everything Obama has done and that is why the Democrat won (because that would be equally as ridiculous as attributing the Dem losses to a repudiation of Obama).
Sadly, as I type this…it appears as though voters have rejected marriage equality in Maine. With 87% of the precincts having reported, those opposed are at 53%. Shameful.
Another race that was not as widely discussed, but is interesting nonetheless, is the CA-10. The special election to fill the seat vacated by the resignation of a conservative (and not always reliable) Democrat is noteworthy because of the hard veer leftward of the Progressive Democratic candidate. My guess is that it will not be looked at as ‘proof’ of support of Obama and Progressive ideals in general or touted as evidence of Obama’s popularity.
Meh. A pox on both the media and Republicans.
Obama is just fine. His popularity ratings in both VA and NJ are within a couple points of where they were the day he won their vote (in both states) for President. The media wants a ‘horse race’. They NEED the Republicans appear to be viable and a threat to Democrats and Obama in order to keep their ratings up. So, to keep up the horse race…they spread horseshit. In other words, even though we are gonna have to listen to it non-stop for the foreseeable future….don’t believe the hype.
Your thoughts?
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