Election Day 2010

[scarlett09]

What are everyone's thoughts on today's overall results? How do you feel about your local races??

There were only two races here. One of them was an incumbent vs. a witch, the other was for our lone Congressional representative. Both of those races had the outcome I wanted, which was pro-Dems. I wouldn't have minded a Republican Senator, but the only option scared me to death.

Voting here was pretty sweet, my first time besides the primary a couple of months back. There is a lot more "interaction" here between the voters and campaign workers at the polling places versus my home state. A Republican candidate for state auditor was at my polling place - got to shake his hand and wish him good luck (he really needed help in the fashion department though, he was wearing UGLY yellow & blue pants). On my way out, I participated in an AP exit poll asking who I voted for and what I thought about the state of the country. I'm stoked to think that my answers will appear in an AP poll!

Nationally, I'm not surprised that Congress will be Republican controlled. I think a lot of people are frustrated with how things are going right now. And hello Tea Party? (Except in my state, thank goodness!)

Happy returns!

[DCJenn]

Well, here in my little bastion of Democrats it's a night of researching my grandmother's Canadian citizenship, again. But we passed the School Bond initiative which is awesome because SAISD desperately needs to close some schools but can't until the schools they'll move the kids to are fixed up. You know, so the ceiling stops falling in on the kids. And in other good news we've elected a rational thoughtful man to the state Board of Education. The governor's race was a long shot and that now scares me as education and social services are about to be cut BIG time- we've already been laying off staff. As for Republican control of the House - this is going to be one seriously unruly group. I'm not sure that the Republican Seniority is going to know what to do with this group. It'll be like managing a group of Democrats!

J.

[HouseofWool]

There were was an upset in the US Senate here, which is a good thing (16 years is too long to serve) and the current incumbent in the US House is leading which is a BAD thing. He appears to be a callow ass - at the last debate, he wouldn't even shake hands with his opponent, just swatted his hand out the way. Hopefully, there are a few more rural precincts left to go. I can't believe I voted republican. It is hard to be a fiscal conservative and a social liberal - not too many candidates meet those criteria.

[Deebs]

We're going to end up with recount central. Two races are still too close to call, including governor. Crazy.

[GrayMatterWife]

I really, really liked Boehner's remarks. I hope he means it. THAT is the right tone. This is not a night for Repubs to celebrate. Despite the fact that the President labels anyone who doesn't support him to be "an enemy," that is not the case. The Repub wins were not a defeat of an enemy. It was a message: we are unhappy and we are tentatively trusting you to help---but that trust is thin and can be revoked in two years. Very few Repub victories were votes affirmatively FOR the Repub. Many were specific rejections of the Obama agenda and the Dem incumbent's support of it. That is much different than voting FOR the Repub. The Repubs should not be so arrogant or impressed with themselves as to believe they should be flattered. They are being trial-tested.

I think this election will serve to make the Democratic party more liberal (given the loss of the Blue Dogs) and the Republicans perplexed about how to react, long term, to the Tea Party. So, basically, nothing will get done for the next two years. Which is OK with me, if the only other option was to continuing pushing through ObamaInsanity. I would rather have complete gridlock than to see Obama succeed in his domestic policy plans. But, if there is some middle ground, it sure would be nice if the politicians could find it and act upon it. Stop deficit spending, minimize wealth redistribution through the tax code, and get ready to f**king deal with Iran (remember: the scary guys with nukes? I'm pretty sure the Administration's pussy "sit down and talk" approach hasn't exactly panned out. Geez, makes me want to vote for Hillary. At least she has balls. People are actually scared of her.)

I suppose that is too much to ask.

[SoonerTexan]

A Republican candidate for state auditor was at my polling place

Really? There were signs forbidding candidates from being there unless they were voting at my polling place--which happened to be a nursing home. This adorable old lady in a wheel chair behind me told her daughter, "Remember when Dad and I used to go cancel each other's vote out every election?"

There were SOOO many races (20+) I couldn't even research all the candidates--the ones I did look up didn't impress me either. My beliefs are political beliefs are pretty much in line with my Catholic faith which ironically puts me square in between the two parties, though the pro-life issue usually wins out. I feel like most politicians are dingbats.

I only voted for 2 things that I felt good about:

1. A proposition to sell Dallas City Park land, which seemed bad at first, until I came to discover that Dallas had let the parks go to hell beyond any use and neighboring cities wanted to buy the land and redevelop it.

2. Two propositions that get rid of some of the restrictions on alcohol sales. The whole Unicard system and no-liquor-on-Sunday laws piss me off bigtime. The vote went in my favor, even though the wording on the ballot was so off I actually voted against what I really wanted.

Elections are scary--I feel like I put more effort into research than most people and I still couldn't figure out 85% of what I was voting for. Is everyone else voting completely blind?

[SuzySunshine]

Recount here too, the Governor race is close enough that its an automatic thing. We had an ugly recount here in 2008 so I'm hopeful this one isn't as long or as nasty. We'll see. Otherwise our school bond failed which is really going to hurt this district, I'm glad we're leaving but even if we were coming back our kids would probably be going to the private schools. We have great schools but they can't sustain millions of dollars in cuts every year.

[Michele]

Hee hee...I heard Palm Beach County Florida had another election related blunder. How embarrassing! Especially in such tight races again!

[Tenacious_D]

Very happy with the gubernatorial race here in Massachusetts. We had a tax on alcohol that resided over $110 million per year and it was voted down...everyone wants more money in the economy for schools etc. But they don't want pay for it. Seems silly to me. I was hoping the tax would stay but other than that, I am pretty pleased locally.

On the national level, I'm pleased, despite being one of the dozen or so voters left in the country who supports Obama wholeheartedly. I am very anxious to see what the GOP will do with control of the House. Perhaps it's naive, but my hope is that some degree of responsibility for governing will stop the obstructionism and the whining. I'm also just really curious how the rhetoric of this batch of candidates will translate into actual policies and votes. HOW do we create jobs AND reduce the deficit? I'd love to see some new concrete suggestions. Bring it on.

I am however frustrated with the outcomes in our local races. We lost some really good judges. And with our new slate of tea-partying local officials, the much needed public transit planning initiative we've been working towards for years appears dead as a doornail.

[scarlett09]

Really? There were signs forbidding candidates from being there unless they were voting at my polling place--which happened to be a nursing home. This adorable old lady in a wheel chair behind me told her daughter, "Remember when Dad and I used to go cancel each other's vote out every election?"

Yes, apparently candidates and campaign workers are allowed within 50 feet of the actual polls. Since the polls were 40 feet inside the front door of the elementary school, they can be within 10 feet of the door. There is a ton of stick-in-the-ground signs in the front yard of the school too. All of this was a huge culture shock to me when I voted in the primary, as I never saw this in my home state. I was actually mad and asked a whole bunch of people about the legality of it. For some people, all of the campaign stuff near the polls can be very intimidating.

[poky]

We're apparently in a "not big on propositions" area now (as compared to Seattle and Portland, this is weird, to me); all we voted on was about 4 partisan positions, and a ton of judges (many of whom ran unopposed). Kinda boring, for us. I haven't even looked up the results yet.

[oceanchild]

I need more results! I'm trying to bone up on the state legislature (before I start working there... gulp), and there are still 4 races that are too close to call!

The thing I am probably happiest about is that all the stupid ballot initiatives here in Colorado failed. The thing I am probably saddest about is Russ Feingold (even though I haven't spent more than 4 hours in Wisconsin ever). I liked him a lot.

[MDPhDWife]

NM just elected the first Hispanic female governor and although I'm excited about that, I'm disappointed because she's not who I voted for. The good news is we were able to keep our Democrat congressman in office.

At this point I'm just grateful all the ad's and phone calls are over. It was ridiculous this past month!

[v-girl]

Dallas-ites re-elected a corrupt Congresswoman. Umm...http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcont...s.2c049bb.html