A few random thoughts on election 2006.
I have always voted and I have always followed politics, but this is the first election I really got involved in. I canvassed for the Democratic Party for the SC House 7 race in southern Anderson County. Even though we lost, I believe I made a difference down the ballot at State Supt. of Education.
This, combined with spending WAY too much time blogging, has given me a different perspective on the political process. I present a few random notes and observations below.
2006 saw a significant blue shift, especially outside the south. NH, which was solid red as recently as 2000 is becoming very blue. Democrats made significant gains across the North in CT, NY, PA, OH, IL and even IN, and in the West in AZ, MT, CO. Even ID and WY are becoming competitive.
Despite the "blue shift", the Democratic Party in SC is in serious disrepair. I believe GA is having similar problems. Democrats can win in the South at a state level. Mark Warner, Tim Kaine, Mike Easley, Phil Bredesen, Mike Beebe, Kathleen Blanco and the legislatures of NC, AL, MS, LA, AR, and TN prove this. However, there is no real state level infrastructure in SC, which is why the Democrats came within 500 votes of getting swept in the statewide races. John Spratt, Jim Clyburn, 2008 Democratic hopefuls who want to win SC... A little help, please?
2006 was the election of the netroots as much as 1994 was the election of talk radio. Establishment candidate Tammy Duckworth was a total flop, while netroots candidates generally exceeded expectations. Paul Hodes gutted Charlie Bass like a fish. Carol Shea-Porter turned the rest of NH blue. Larry Kissell and his $88.94 have taken millionare Robin Hayes to a recount. Even if Hayes holds on, I guarantee he will never vote for anything like CAFTA ever again.
South Dakota showed that the abortion debate has nothing to do with abortion. The truth is that many of us are "Anthony Kennedys" on the issue, not completely pro-choice or pro-life, but somewhere in between. I believe the abortion issue is a litmus test to see whether a candidate believes in traditional values and traditional roles for women or whether they are more tolerant of different views and supportive of non-traditional roles for women. It is an issue that tells certain voters whether a candidate is "one of us" or not. This explains why abortion was probably a liability for Tom Daschle, yet the abortion ban was still defeated at the polls.
Gay marriage and the other "hot button" issues are similar.
John Kerry should be bound and gagged before the next election. I don't care if his Senate seat is up. It's MA, he's safe. His "bad joke" probably cost us as many as 10 close House seats.
Democrats finally remembered how to act like Democrats and talk like Democrats. When voters have a choice between a real Republican and a fake Republican, they'll choose the real one every time, unless the real Republican has a gambling problem and the fake Republican is running as an independent, but that's another issue.
For once, Democrats were united. Lieberman was an exception, but he was asking for it. It is amazing how much the media harped on the Lieberman/Lamont race compared to the Chafee/Laffee race or the Specter/Toomey race in 2004, which Toomey almost won. I guess it's only a story if Democrats are disunited. Cynthia McKinney and (hopefully) William Jefferson will go down as well, but they are in solid blue districts and will be replaced by other Democrats.
After canvassing some of the neighborhoods I had to canvass, I don't know if I could ever vote Republican again. At least not for most Republicans. There are a lot of people who are simply not getting by.
There is no shortage of scoundrels, slimeballs, and scumbags in politics. However, there are plenty of good people in public office. Yes, even some Republicans. The race I worked on had two good candidates. We lost, but we lost to someone who is a good, reasonable Republican who I believe has the best interest of that district and the state in mind. Working on a race where two really good candidates were opposing each other and fought a good, clean race has restored my faith in the democratic process.
Anyone else have any thoughts, stories, etc, to share?