Barack Obama did it. And he did it big nearly sweeping the battleground states and with the electoral vote (at last count) 303 to 206 (more to come as counting continues).
Congress retains its same divide – Democrats kept the Senate; Republicans still rule the House. Bummer, but within those confines there was a lot of good news.
Elders’ good friend, Independent Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, was re-elected and a new independent, former Maine Governor Angus King, joins him now although it is unclear which party he will caucus with.
And let’s hear it for the women: Tammy Duckworth beat back Joe Walsh. Claire McCaskell defeated Todd “legitimate rape” Akin. And Elizabeth Warren. Oh, man, Elizabeth Warren took it away from Scott Brown and then said (I’m paraphrasing but close) that she will
”…make sure seniors’ Medicare and Social Security benefits are protected and millionaires and billionaires pay their fair share.”
Plus, Indiana Democrat Joe Donnelly triumphed over Richard “God intended rape” Mourdock for the Senate seat long held by Republicans.
It was an amazing night. For all the Citizens United money, dark money, billionaire PACs, and the disgusting, undemocratic Republican attempts to limit voting to – well, their sort of people, they lost the presidency and, I believe, their legitimacy.
The faces in the crowds at the Obama and Romney headquarters late last night went a long way to explaining the Republican defeat. In Boston, it was a sea of white. In Chicago, there was every possible shade of human skin color that exists.
The Republican Party is a goner if they don’t adjust to the new America.
Two or three more items for now: History was made with the first ballot box victories, in Maryland and Maine, for marriage equality. We’re still waiting to hear if similar a item in Washington state passed or failed.
What Washington state did do, along with Colorado, is legalize recreational use of marijuana. That should get interesting since federal statutes against the weed, even for medical use, have been vigorously prosecuted during the Obama administration.
One sad item for Time Goes By readers. This blog’s Gay and Gray columnist, Jan Adams, who keeps her own blog at Can It Happen Here? has been working full speed and more than full time for the past year with the campaign in California for Proposition 34 to repeal the death penalty and replace it with life without possibility of parole.
I know Jan worked her fingers to the bone but the measure was defeated, at the last count I saw, by about six points. A terrible disappointment for Californians, for the rest of the U.S. that a win could have influenced and for Jan personally.
I’m writing this on only two or three hours of sleep so please forgive my clumsiness: for a short while I believed that the best part of the election for me was that I would never again have to look at or listen to Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan.
Then, oops. Ryan was running for two offices (should that be legal?) and was re-elected to the House of Representatives. Dear gawd, six more years of Ayn Rand budget blather.
Oh well. Otherwise, it was mostly a terrific night of election returns.
And now, I’m taking this old and creaky body back to bed for a couple of hours. Thank all of you who emailed encouraging messages during the TV extravaganza last night and do have at it here in the comments. It’s open thread on anything about the election. I’m eager to hear from all of you and I’ll check back when I’ve rested a bit.
At The Elder Storytelling Place today, Ian Bertram: The British Healthcare System
