Democrats won 2 house seats formally repub... isn't that better for HCR

[Peacetrain]

for DADT, Gitmo, Global warming, Green Jobs, 2 wars, etc etc and for our national agenda?


But in reality.. since we are talking a national agenda, our wins in the two house seats are much more important in the long run.

Gov., are usually where future Presidential canidates will come out of. I am not so worried about that right now.


I know we are hanging a lot of crepe today over the two governorships..

[rockymountaindem]

1. Plus, with everybody talking about the House in 2010, you'd think they might pay attention

to the two actual House races that went down yesterday instead of reading unrelated tea leaves from state level races decided on state level issues. But no... two Republican wins against highly flawed candidates in races based on STATE property taxes means we're screwed next year in the House, despite the fact we increased our margin by two last night.

[Peacetrain]

3. You know, this could work in our favor in a strange way

We just keep getting stronger and stronger on that national level.. push comes to shove..there are a lot more Dems to push!

[RoccoR5955]

2. It would seem to be, however on a local level

it could be a problem for Dems. I know that in my district, heck, in the whole area, Dems didn't get out the vote, and suffered for it. It could also be due to the mess in Albany, NY. My point being, ALL POLITICS IS LOCAL, which is what ALL the races were about. When locals are not doing well, the whole party, right on down the line suffers, and the Cons win.

[Peacetrain]

4. That is where the repubs work.. locally..and we have to be better at it

But big issues are dealt nationally..

[napi21]

5. I think you're right. The other thing is that at least in NJ the

voters are irate & want lower taxes & lots more jobs RIGHT NOW! That's an impossible task for anybody! I happen to think it's a good thing that a Pub is now their Gov. Let HIM take the anger of the voters!!!

[vi5]

6. No, what matters to these morons is beltway conventional wisdom...

...Yes, pure logic would say that Dems winning both national elections last night would work in our favor and be a good thing. As would the fact that both Republican wins in the Governers were with candidates who hid the crazies of their base and essentially ran as moderates.

The problem is that the idiots already in Washington only listen to themselves and to the cable news media gabfest. So what they'll hear and what they'll take to heart is "REPUBLICANS WON!!!!!! IN NJ AND VA!!!! CONSERVATIVES AND REPUBLICANS ARE ON THE RISE!!!! DEMS BETTER TACK RIGHT!!!" without giving one iota of thought as to how stupid that is or how no data supports that.

They'll see that and think that they have to be and act more conservative than they already are (which is plenty).

I'm really beginning to hate the whole bunch of them.

[Peacetrain]

8. I hear you.. you would think they would learn after being served such humble pie over iraq

But they are entrenched in loving the republicans.

[frazzled]

7. No, because they will be very conservative Dems from conservative districts

That's the Catch 22 of politics: you either expand the party and its majority by becoming a bigger tent, thus diluting your ideology .... or, you distill your ideology to such an extent that you decrease your membership.

It's a lose-lose proposition, but it's all we've got. So pour yourself a nice steaming cup of WTF and sit back and enjoy.

[Peacetrain]

9. Can I have cream in mine.. a cube of sugar

[Frances]

10. The guy who won in CA is much more progressive than

the Dem woman he replaced.

[Clio the Leo]

12. If Owens votes in favor of progressive legislation...

..... more often than Hoffman would have, I can't see how that's a "lose."

[frazzled]

13. Clearly, it's better to have more Democrats than fewer ...

But you have to take into consideration the general truth (I'm not speaking of the particular elections of last night here): if you flip a seat from a conservative district to the Democratic side, the likelihood is that you'll get a fairly conservative Democrat. That increases our majority, and, yes, we will be able to inflict some Party discipline to keep these Democrats in line on a number of votes. But I always marvel at how we clap and cheer for every Democratic election victory, and then hiss and boo at the (pick your term) "DINOs," "spineless Dems," etc. when actual votes come to the floor.

Alls I'm sayin' is that we need to be realistic about the realities of the electoral situation.

I obviously think it's still better than the direction the Republican party is taking: purging moderates so that their party is shrinking like cheap underwear. There will be nary a Republican in the entire Northeast soon.

[Clio the Leo]

14. lol, but you wont hear any hissing and booing coming from me....

... I'm about as pragmatic as they come (esp. when it comes to understanding the realities of getting ANY bill passed through Congress.)

[demwing]

16. But the REALITY is that the only other choice was a Republican

and if the voters wanted to send a message against HCR, they would have voted for the Republican. They did not. It's a mandate for change.

[uponit7771]

11. The M$M HAS to convince people that governers have more power on national policy to have a meme

...lest their viewership falls

[Peacetrain]

15. They are working overtime at it.. and that will wear out in a day or two.. maybe then they will

start talking about the reality of the gains the Democrats made

[Justitia]

17. Absolutely! State governors don't have a vote in Congress. -eom

[Dr Robert]

18. 2 more votes for Obama's Agenda

Let me know when a Governor has any effect on National Legislation.

[onenote]

19. ny 23 was a pick up for the Democrats. What was the other pickup?