Real Kato Blog: More on the 2006 Elections

The good news keeps on coming, and one thing makes it all worthwhile.

Jon Tester and James Webb are now expected to win both Montana and Virginia, giving Democrats control of the Senate, 51-49. That means things like confirmation hearings for judges and executive officials will now be much harder for Bush.

Bush is sounding conciliatory these days, almost meek. But I don't buy it. In a few months, I am certain he will start a campaign to pin every failure of his presidency on the Democratic Congress, and claim success for every Democratic initiative like minimum wage hikes and improvements to health care. So, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, don't be soft. Bush may be giving you a handshake with one hand, but in his other hand, Karl Rove has slipped him a knife.

In the wake of the Democratic victory, Donald Rumsfeld has resigned. And not only that, but there's something very peculiar about the resignation. Just a week ago, Bush insisted that Rumsfeld would be the defense secretary for the remainder of his presidency. But right after the election, Rumsfeld resigns and Bush is all ready to go with a successor? I'd say the GOP read the polls a month ago and had made plans to make Rummy the election scapegoat.

In local elections, most things went well for Democrats, as I mentioned yesterday. All four of the candidates I endorsed for the state Supreme Court won. In the Court of Appeals, Bob Hunter won, but Linda Stephens appears to have lost to Donna Stroud... the margin is less than 4000 votes (with 6 precincts yet to report).

In a notable District Court election, Paul Gessner defeated Daniel "Let's Talk About Terry Schiavo" Garner.

Democrats posted gains in the state legislature, including a win by Ty "Bow Tie" Harrell against Republican incumbent J. Russell Capps. But in a race of significance to some of my readers (Charlie), Greer Beatty lost to Republican incumbent Nelson Dollar, by 383 votes.

The three Triangle-area Democrats running for U.S. Congress all won: David Price, Bob Etheridge, and Brad Miller.

Now, one final note. Politics is really what got this blog going; the run-up to the 2004 election was a catalyst for many early blog entries. I know that my poli-blogs are not my readers' favorite entries, and many people skip them altogether. But my friend Anna sent me an email the afternoon of election day, and she said: "I voted this morning all because of you." That, my friends, has made all my political blogging worthwhile.

Permalink 2 Comment

Posted by Ken in: politics

Comments

Comment #1 from Jen (Guest)
2006 Nov 9 - 1:07 pm : #

Well, I can't say that I find your political blog entries particularly riveting (due to my disinterest in politics in general), but they are a hell of a lot more interesting than your Mac/Apple posts. :-}

I like the posts about your personal life, myself.

I am pleased about the Democratic victories.

Comment #2 from Crouching Hamster (Guest)
2006 Nov 12 - 9:59 pm : #

I like the Mac posts!

Comments are closed for this post.

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