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I woke up in a different country today, and found that, finally, the majority of Americans are represented in government.
In the Northeast, Massachusetts has a black governor, New Jersey has elected its first Hispanic senator, Pennsylvania has sent Santorum packing, New Hampshire has given its Republican representatives a pink slip, and Vermont has elected...a socialist?
In the Midwest, the people of Indiana and Ohio turned to Democrats to represent them. Ken Blackwell's career is over, and Ohio has a brand new Democratic senator and governor, Zack Space defeated Joy Padgett in a landslide. Corrupt Republicans are on the run.
South of the Mason-Dixon line, we find that many of our expectations about the South may have been wrong. In Maryland, the people voted for change and removed Gov. Bob Erlich from office. In West Virginia, Robert Byrd has broken records to become the longest serving senator in history. In Virginia, the racism of George Allen cost him an easy re-election, where such racism might have helped him 40 years ago. The expected "black tax" against Harold Ford never materialized. Claire McCaskill ousted Jim Talent, and Democrats have new House seats in Texas, Kentucky, North Carolina, and Florida. The political careers of Katherine Harris, Jeb Bush, Bill Frist, and Ralph Reed are over. The House races that Republicans spent so much time, money, and effort on in Georgia were shutouts. Finally, a win in Arkansas has given Democrats control of the Southern Governor's Association.
Out West, South Dakotans rejected an illegal and suspicous abortion ban, while Jon Tester (who reminds me of George Reeves) seems poised to unseat Conrad Burns and take control of the Senate away from the GOP. In every state that held a referendum on the minimum wage, the minimum wage was raised. A slew of new House Democrats exist, most notably in Arizona. California can be proud of the new leader of our government, the first female House Speaker, their own Nancy Pelosi.
In short, our government now looks a little more like our people: diverse and populist. Congratulations and thanks are in order to the American people, the activists and strategists of the Democratic Party, and the members, moderators, and administrators of Democratic Underground.
Welcome back to the United States of America. Rejoice with me!,
DB
(P.S. - I don't remember who it was, but a couple of weeks ago a DUer told me he would eat his socks if the Democrats got more than 15-25 seats.)
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