Wednesday, November 3, 2010

November 3, 2010


I think it was sort of a "sort of" election. The Republicans sort of won, gaining control of the House. Nancy Pelosi won't be Speaker anymore, which is too bad because she was good at it, but the putative new guy, John Boehner, probably will be too.
You could argue that the Dems sort of hung on in the Senate and the GOP sort of won some there. Neither side will really have control in the new Senate; either will be able to filibuster the other. Sort of winning filibuster power may mean that good governing sort of lost the most.
As usual, there were some odd results. Senate majority leader Harry Reid squeaked to victory in Nevada over a woman, Sharron Angle, who wanted to abolish both Medicare and Social Security. Really? Are there many Nevadans who feel that way?
In Delaware, Christine O'Donnell (the Republican whose TV ad began "I am not a witch"), lost to Democrat Chris Coons in a battle for Vice President Joe Biden's old seat, leaving us only to wonder, but what if she were, and she's won? Oh well.
President Obama's old seat in Illinois went Republican when Mark Kirk beat Democrat Alexi Giannoulias, the state treasurer. The Tea Party won some. Its founder, Rand Paul, won as did Republican Marco Rubio in Florida, though Tea Partier O'Donnell, as noted above, lost in Delaware. Oh, and Alvin Greene, the drifter who somehow won the Democratic Senate nomination, lost. Well, I guess we all expected that.
Curiouser and curiouser, said Alice. Maybe curiouser still, two years from now.

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