It was a good night to be a Democrat. If you're getting your news from SP, you're in trouble, but a quick recap nonetheless: Dems won the governorships of Virginia and New Jersey, defeated Schwarzenegger's ballot initiatives in California, and took a number of mayoral elections around the nation. Republicans only had a couple of bright spots: Mayor Bloomberg was reelected in New York City, and electoral reforms were defeated in Ohio.
Mrs Pastor and I are quite happy. Our sour, bloated mayor was defeated. More than defeated, actually: he got spanked, 58-42. Dems swept the City Council by solid margins, as they did the Dover School Board. And unbelievably, a State Supreme Court justice was not retained for office in a protest vote against legislative pay raises. (Legislators weren't on the ballot this year, so voters took it out on who they could.)
More.
The only spot of bad news for us was that a Democratic candidate for a judgeship was
defeated by his Republican opponent. Big deal, you say? Well, this particular Republican has been tainted with allegations of corruption, was rated "not recommended" by the Bar Association, and had many in the Republican leadership endorsing
the Democrat. But in good old rock-ribbed Lancaster County, the Republicans have a 2-1 partisan advantage. The regional story outside the cities was much the same: Republicans stuck together, and the results showed.
We should put in a word of caution about those Dover School Board results, as well. The new slate does not oppose the teaching of intelligent design:
We support the teaching of intelligent design and other diverse religious concepts related to the origins of life in order to enhance student understanding and critical thinking. Science class is not the proper curriculum for these concepts. This can only be done in a proper forum, such as an elective comparative religion course, so our students have the freedom to explore these concepts.
In a small town like Dover, fiscal responsibility trumps everything. I have no doubt that the local voters didn't like the negative attention the Intelligent Design controversy brought, but they voted on the expense it created for the School Board.
The work for progressives is not done. ID still needs to be pushed back, particularly in Kansas, and running an anti-corruption campaign still won't beat solid partisanship. But where Democrats can offer fresh ideas and fresh spirit, they can make significant gains against the status quo.
That's what I learned from my local elections. What did you learn?