Election Returns: National Edition

The surprises on the national level are relatively muted. The big news, of course, is that Dems held onto NJ & VA. New Jersey, I could really care less about. It's just about the most corrupt state government, and that says something coming from a Texan who's enumerated many of our own shortcomings in this area. The conventional wisdom is that Corzine overcame a ton of spending by the GOP with something more than a ton of spending out of his own bank account ... and that he had to deal with a cranky ex-wife on the tube trying to take him down in the closing days of the campaign. The more meaningful story, however, is that Corzine sold out for this race. After winning a Senate seat while keeping his independence from the political bosses in Jersey, no such feat was to be seen this time. It's enough to make one wonder who besides Bill Bradley, Chrisine Todd Whitman, and Tom Keane can get elected in Jersey with any dignity left in the end.

Virginia, on the other hand, is a sweet win. The other side will look to the fact that it's a hold and discount it. Some, go to a comical length to describe a superstition-based view of political outcomes while totally forgetting how eagerly the national GOP wanted to undo Governor Warner's success. That the race was going to be close was rarerly in doubt. In fact, the GOP won the AG and Lite Gov spots in this same election. But Kaine ran better than Warner in several areas (I'm still waiting for Wythe County to go Dem at least once) and President Bush was all-too-insistent to "help" Kilgore as much as he could. Mark Murray has one worthwhile read on the Kaine campaign's success (and it was written before the outcome was known). On the whole, it's a tad too cynical for my taste. Somehow, I see too many Dem candidates looking at Kaine's success and thinking all they need to do is hold a Bible over their heads to get a few more votes. Yet, the more accurate picture to take from Kaine's success is that authenticity sells. Of course, for some folks, authenticity is like a dagger through their political fortunes (ref: Howard Dean's split from church after a disagreement over a bike path).

Outside of the big elections, the big losers for the night were redistricting reform in Ohio and California. Of the two, Ohio is clearly the more disappointing, but I'll repeat this to no end: the only way to sell bi/nonpartisan redistricting reform is to make the sales team bipartisan. Here in Texas, this ought to be super-easy with San Antonio GOP State Sen. Jeff Wentworth authoring the longest running bill on the matter in the Lone Star State. But in Ohio, the move was likely seen as too much of a power grab by resurgent state Dems. In California, the loss will be shared. Yes, the idea was Arnold's. But the manner in which state Dems stonewalled on the idea was a huge disservice to themselves. California Dems are one cycle away from minority status if they cling to their ways. Only question is ... which cycle?

One blown call here in Greg-land: Detroit's mayor hung on. I'll be damned. Not a biggie for my taste, although I'm no fan. Still, the win in St. Paul, MN more than makes up for it. Is anyone keeping a tab on the re-election rates of "Democrats for Bush?"