Posted on 11/05/2004 10:47:58 AM PST by .cnI redruM
In honor of a close and exciting Election 2K4 I'm handing out my inaugural edition KOTM Best and Worst Awards.
Best GOP Performance: GWB! He won a tough fight and his coattails were long and abundant. He broke Ronald W. Reagan's record for highest vote total ever received by a GOP candidate. There couldn't have been a better way to memorialize Reagan's passing.
Honorable Mention: John Thune, South Dakota Senate. He took down Terrible Tom Daschele. America became a better-governed nation when Senator Daschele conceeded defeat.
Best Dem Performance: Ken Salazar, Colorado Senate. He was the second highest profile victory for the Dems, but unlike Barak Obama, he went out and won against the varsity.
Honorable Mention: Dr. Dan Mongiardo, Kentucky Senate. Senator Jim Bunning should never have compared this man to one Saddam Hussein's sons. Even if he meant to compare him to the one who was smarter and better looking. Bunning conduct was pathetic, and by making a shoe-string race go down to the wire, Mongiardo hopefully cured Jim Bunning's delusional behavior.
Worst GOP Performance: Alan Keyes, Illinois Senate. He's been Buchannanized. Unfortunately, the Libertarians are probably more competitive in Illinois now than the GOP. I'll bet you all those lesbian jokes he told about Mary Cheney are no longer funny right now.
Honorable Mention: Colorado GOP, Colorado Senate. Pete Coors did his utmost to hang on to Ben Nighthorse Campbell's old seat. The fault here lies with the state party. They (a) relied heavily on evangelical christians to turn out to the polls, and (b) hired a guy who brews beer for a living to be there candidates. Maybe Madison Avenue liberals aren't the only ones who are somewhat out of touch with Middle America.
Worst Democratic Performance: John Edwards, VEEP and Litigator. At 10am John F. Kerry sat down, sipped his coffee and looked at what had happened. He decided he had done his utmost, Bush had one, and it was time to rejoin the US Senate. John Edwards argued against this course of action until Senator kerry, the adult portion of the ticket, gave the Yup-Start from the Tarheel State a lesson in basic civics.
When John Kerry looked at the numbers and saw a 95% chance that he had lost, he felt honor bound to concede and let the country get back to business. When John Edwards saw the numbers, he saw a 5% that he could successfully litigate. That, right there, is the difference between old and new Democrats.
Honorable Mention: Lousiana Democratic Party, Louisiana Senate. Every time the Dems force a Senate race into a run-off, they win it. The last two iterations of this were big-time Democratic wins. By allowing John Vitter to escape with 51%, they sabotaged their opportunity to put Moon Landrieu's machine to work. They blew it. They can now congratulate Senator Vitter.
So there they are, my humble attempt at a best and worst of election 2K4. Enjoy.
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