Free Republic

Republican storm created too much headwind for most Dems From the moment the "Bill White for Texas" campaign moved from a U.S. Senate race to a governor's race, the Democratic candidate knew he was facing a long, hard, low-gear climb. Bill White, an inveterate bicyclist, needed every gear to mesh perfectly. He needed a clear path, however challenging. He got neither. A red-state race that all along was going to be daunting proved an impossible slog in a state full of restive Republicans determined to reverse their 2006 and 2008 losses and in an anti-Washington season that grew ever bleaker...

LOS ANGELES — California Democrats have increased their legislative clout despite a Republican backlash that prevented their capturing the supermajority they have long sought in the state Senate. Jerry Brown's elevation to governor and voters' approval of Proposition 25 Tuesday will further erode Republicans' influence. The ballot measure lowers the vote needed to pass a budget to a simple majority, down from the current two-thirds supermajority. . . . Sen. Jenny Oropeza, D-Long Beach, won re-election in the heavily Democratic 28th Senate District despite her death Oct. 20, setting up a special election...

Democrats lost control of the House because health care reform was badly sold and the party has a "chronic serious problem" of talking over the heads of the American people, Rutgers University political scientist Ross Baker said this morning. "It was a calamity for the Democrats, but perhaps it wasn't an apocalypse," because the party held onto control of the Senate, Baker said at a post-election analysis session at Rutgers Eagleton Institute of Politics. Unofficial results showed Republicans would hold at least 239 seats in the House next year. Democrats currently hold 255 seats. In the Senate, the Democrats' 59-seat...

Off the top of my (very groggy) head, I cannot think of too many cases where a Democrat lost a winnable race because of too many left-of-center votes drifting to a liberal third party, other than Ralph Nader’s role in the 2000 presidential election. Last night, a withdrawn third-party bid ended up costing Republicans at least one key victory. I’m starting to think the New York 23rd district is cursed. Doug Hoffman, Conservative-party candidate, inspiring figure of 2009′s special election, made a remarkably mature decision to drop his Conservative bid this year and back the Republican, Matt Doheny. Last night,...

With only a half of a percentage point separating DFL candidate Mark Dayton and Republican candidate Tom Emmer, Minnesota Republican leaders say they will pursue the recount until every single vote is counted. "We believe that we owe it not just to the Republican party and Tom Emmer, we owe it to the state to make sure this is done correctly," State Chair Tony Sutton told reporters Wednesday. "What I'd like to make sure is that the votes are counted and that everything is done correctly to make sure people aren't being disenfranchised." Sutton says the party wants assurances that...

The Republican wave produced groundbreaking results for minority candidates, from Latina and Indian-American governors to a pair of black congressmen from the Deep South. In New Mexico, Susana Martinez was elected as the nation's first female Hispanic governor. Nikki Haley, whose parents were born in India, will be the first woman governor in South Carolina, and Brian Sandoval became Nevada's first Hispanic governor. Insurance company owner Tim Scott will be the first black Republican congressman from South Carolina since Reconstruction, after easily winning in his conservative district. Scott, a 45-year-old state representative, earned a primary victory over the son of...

Saying "the outcome is clear," GOP Senate candidate Carly Fiorina conceded defeat this morning to Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer. Addressing reporters, Fiorina said she had called Boxer to express her congratulations. And she said it was time for Democrats and Republicans to set aside partisanship. "I hope all will come together," she said, adding that members of Congress should "redouble their efforts to make sure that all people have a chance to live the American Dream.

All three Iowa Supreme Court justices up for retention election have been ousted from the bench. Around 54 percent of Iowans voted not to retain each of the three judges: Supreme Court Chief Justice Marsha Ternus and associate justices Michael J. Streit and David L. Baker. The campaign for the judges ouster was based on the court’s unanimous 2009 ruling that legalized same-sex marriage in Iowa. There were 74 judges, including three Supreme Court justices, on the ballot Tuesday. Only the Supreme Court justices, however, came anywhere close to being removed from the bench. The highly charged campaign featured more...

Obama is speaking right now, and he is either clueless still or insane. The first question asked was not answered. When it was asked again, his reponse was, "that was the first questions; we will have others." WTF?He is either insane or lobotomized.Does he believe we will stop asking, or allow him to keep changing the subject? He is going on and on, filibustering the question-answer period to limit having to hear the HARD QUESTIONS HE REFUSES TO ANSWER.Thoughts?

With 100 percent of the precincts reporting, deceased candidate, Democrat Jenny Oropeza, defeated Republican John Stammreich in the race for State Senate in the 28th district. Oropeza, 53, died on Oct. 20. Because her death was within 10 days of the election, her name remained on the ballot. The governor now has two weeks to declare her seat empty, and schedule a special election within three to four months. This allows Democrats a chance to find a new candidate to run for Oropeza's seat. A week after her death, Democrats sent out mailers to residents, calling for voters to still...

There is one African-American in the current Senate: Illinois Sen. Roland Burris, who was appointed to fill out the rest of Barack Obama's term after he was elected president... All three African-American candidates are projected to lose their races: Florida's Kendrick Meek to Marco Rubio, Georgia's Michael Thurmond to Johnny Isakson and South Carolina's Alvin Greene to Jim DeMint. (All three are Democrats.)... African-Americans are better represented in the House, where there are currently 41 black members.

The cause of immigration enforcement and numerical reductions was a huge winner in Tuesday's elections, promising that immigration issues will finally be addressed as job issues in the next Congress. I'm not sure there has been a Congress since 1924 -- and certainly not in the last 50 years -- that had a membership more interested in reductions in overall illegal and legal immigration than will be the one that was elected yesterday. I know that these are big claims. Many observers may have missed this dramatic shift because of the one massively publicized counter-example of amnesty-champion Sen. Harry Reid...

California voters have spoken -- and for the most part, they decided to stop the wave of anti-Democratic voting that swept the nation at the Sierras. Now California will have a Democratic governor, Democratic Legislature and with the passage of Prop. 25, Democratic budgeting process. For years now, the Dems have been blaming the Republican minority for the state's budget woes. That's over for the next two years. Whatever happens next with California -- it will be on Jerry Brown and his party. I sure hope Brown will prove to be the maverick he hinted he would be. Talk to...

Republicans catapulted back into relevance and power Tuesday, taking majority control of the House and winning governorships all over the country. Democrats fell in dozens of House races as voters registered their unhappiness with the recession-wracked economy and the direction of the country. In a pendulum swing of historic proportions, Republicans picked up at least nine governorships in states now led by Democrats, including many that will be key to the 2012 presidential election, and held on to Florida. They also took Democratic Senate seats in Pennsylvania, Indiana, Arkansas, Wisconsin, North Dakota and Illinois. Republicans needed 39 new House seats...

“I want to prove the pundits wrong. My job is not to bring down the president. My job is to make the president a success,” Issa said

Republicans are likely to urge the Obama administration not to shred documents as they transition to the House majority. 

 Before the election, GOP officials on Capitol Hill privately discussed the issue but refrained from publicly tackling it, not wanting to assume what would happen on Election Day.

 Now that Republicans will control the House, the shredding matter will move front and center. 



Governor - General Total 699/751 Malloy (D) 531,567 49% Foley (R) 533,197 49% Marsh (I) 16,686 2%

Expects Republicans to work with him... boiler plate, boiler plate... blah, blah, blah... eager for proposes from both sides ... wants to engage in serious conversations... Americans don't want the next two years to rival the past two... all must work harder... a month ago we have town hall in VA from small business owners... he asked is there hope for returning to civility (queue Twilight Zone music) ... I hope so... for our nation that has been made more perfect through painful progress... for the country... we all must remember we are Americans... now questions...

President Obama allowed Republicans to define the terms of the nation's political argument for the past two years and permitted them to draw battle lines the way they wanted. Neither he nor his party can let that happen again. Democrats would be foolish to turn in on themselves in a fruitless battle over whether their troubles owe to a failure to mobilize and excite their base or to win support from the political center. In fact, Democrats held onto moderate voters while losing independents. What hurt them most was this brute fact: Voters younger than 30 made up 18 percent...

Dr Ben "Kevorkian" Bernanke Helping U.S. Economy Commit Suicide Economics / Great Depression II Nov 02, 2010 - 10:04 AM By: James Quinn Everyone has watched one of the best TV series of all-time - M*A*S*H. You also know the tune that played during the opening credits as helicopters delivered wounded soldiers to the 4077 Mobile Army Surgical Unit. Most people have never heard the lyrics that go with the music. The song is Suicide is Painless and the lyrics were sung during the M*A*S*H Movie. As I watched the movie a few weeks ago, the lyrics struck home. Our...