Yeah, sure, hilarious… Pfft.

Norman Blitzer on November 3, 2010 at 1:50 am

60 plus seats… the largest House majority since 1946. And the GOP took over legislatures in WI, MN, IN, OH, NH, TN, NC and AL and strengthened their grip on others.

Dozens of entrenched Democrat House incumbents went down to defeat.

It was a referendum on America and conservatism was on the ballot last night. Voters said “NO” to the President, his policies and tossed his party out of office in the House, slashed its margins in the Senate and turned out of office almost all over the country.

Will the President and the Democrats learn from their rout? They won’t.

America is not Europe. That is the long and the short of the massive GOP win last night.

NormanF on November 3, 2010 at 7:48 am

Now let’s see what the GOP does in the next two years. Will they do what they promised or will they just go back to the status quo? This was not so much a referendum against the Dems, but also this is a wake-up call for the GOP and they are now on probation. They better not screw this up!

Ivan on November 3, 2010 at 9:34 am

Don’t overrate this election for the GOP. 1994 was much bigger. In that year, they won the House and the Senate, and winning the House for the first time in 50 years was a much bigger accomplishment than simply winning it back after holding it from 1994-2006.

I am sorry, but with unemployment the worst in 25 years, the highest foreclosure rate ever, and a president from bizarro world with horrible approval ratings, the win should have been a lot bigger. For instance, most of the gains were in the south and midwest, and mostly constituted the GOP winning back in those areas what 8 years of Bush cost them.

But the GOP’s failure in the northeast and far west really hurt, and point to real problems in the future. Despite California being a complete and total mess, Jerry Brown, Barbara Boxer and Gavin Newsome (horrible candidates that no one likes) still swept the state by huge margins. Reid beat Angle in Nevada, a far cry from Tom Foley losing in 1994 and Tom Daschle losing in 2002. Wyden won in Oregon, and it looks like Murray is going to hang on in Washington.

The east coast? More of the same. Democrats won in West Virginia (a state whose blue dominance cannot be blamed on black or Hispanic voters). The Democrats won the Delaware and Connecticut Senate races, weren’t even challenged in the New York, Maryland and Vermont senate races, and also held onto the crucial New York governorship. Seriously, look at New York. Where in the 1990s Pataki and Guiliani so dominated the state that people had begun to think that it was a permanent shift, now the city and state is being governed by people who are to the left of Ed Koch (yes, Bloomberg is more liberal than Koch, start with the fact that Al Sharpton loves the former and hates the latter) and Mario Cuomo. And even in “the heartland”, Colorado was a disaster, as Democrats were elected governor, appear to be leading in the Senate race, and won 2 of the 5 House races.

Beyond getting rid of Russell Feingold and electing some strong libertarian/conservative types like Rand Paul and Marco Rubio, it is hard to consider last night much of a victory. If unemployment was at 8% instead of 10%, things would have gone completely different last night, and if it was as low as it was during the better years of the Bush administration (let alone the record employment of the Clinton ones) the Democrats may have actually gained seats. Even this year, the Democrats could have severely cut their losses by not passing ObamaCare. If I am a Democrat right now, I am thinking that ObamaCare was probably worth it, especially since the Democrats can block any attempt to repeal or eviscerate it in the Senate, and are obviously going to be willing to resort to another government shutdown in order to force the House to fund it.

And I don’t even know about how the House is going to go about refusing to fund ObamaCare. Last time, the GOP controlled the House AND the Senate. This time, Boehner will have to negotiate with Harry Reid in order to get a budget through Congress to begin with. So, it will be impossible to blame the failure to come to a budget agreement squarely on the president, as Gingrich tried (and failed) to do with Clinton in the 1990s. (It getting out that Gingrich shut down the government in part because Clinton made him ride on the back of Air Force One played a huge role in that fiasco.)

So sure, celebrate, but please realize that A) this is nowhere near 1994, B) the Democrats’ win in 2006 was much bigger C) the GOP has no shot in 2012 if the economy improves and D) the GOP is even more irrelevant in the far west and northeast than the Democrats are in the midwest and southeast. A good Democratic candidate for Congress or governor can still beat a bad GOP candidate in Florida or Mississippi. But a great GOP candidate has very little shot against even an atrocious Democratic candidate in California and Connecticut.

Gerald on November 3, 2010 at 9:51 am

Here’s something really hilarious, Joe Miller is probably going to lose in Alaska!

Norman Blitzer on November 3, 2010 at 10:07 am

Why West Virginians keep electing Democrats is beyond me, especially one who is for Cap and Trade legislation. The only thing I can guess is because of the poverty rate the Dems trot out that tired old horse about Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid going away if you vote GOP.

Ken Blazek on November 3, 2010 at 11:05 am

As for those state legislatures NormaF cites as being won for the GOP, there is a simple explanation – hardworking, conservative Americans exiting CA and taking up residence in those states. From the SF Bay Area I personally know 2 such families that moved to NC in the last year, and 1 family which closed their Marin Chiropractic business and opened a yogurt shop in TN. This exodus partially accounts for the GOP wave ending at CA border.

Mz Brown on November 3, 2010 at 12:02 pm

Why must I relive the 60’s again???
I need a stiff drink….
Mz. Brown, I am immersed in the Marin conscienceless and know exactly what you speak of.

esther on November 3, 2010 at 12:17 pm

excellent overview by Gerald above. The election was a disappointment for most of us.

Noah David Simon on November 3, 2010 at 12:49 pm

In my opinion, this is a win for Obama. I predict highly publicized media reports that Obama can’t do anything because of “partisanship” in the House, and how we should vote for him because of his past, and new intentions.

Kirk on November 3, 2010 at 1:06 pm

I’ll get you my pretty…AND YOUR LITTLE DOG TOO!

#1 Vato on November 3, 2010 at 1:51 pm