One more dawn. One more day until an election that could change not just America but the world. Is it any wonder “One Day More” has been thundering through my head tonight?
Do You Hear the People Sing?
Who will be strong and stand with me?
There is a life about to start when tomorrow comes.
¡Viva la Revolución!
(Heh. Great minds think alike. Suppose it was inevitable that someone else would have the exact same idea.)
Dear Undecideds,
Got me ballot. Got me Google. This is the brilliant thing about mail-in ballots: I can sit here and really scrutinize the bastard, make sure I’m not voting for something that’s all sizzle and no substance. Consider this Dana Hunter’s Official List of Endorsements for the 2008 Washington State Election.
Righty-o. In order of appearance:
I-985
Not no but fuck NO. On the surface, it looked decent enough: open the carpool lanes to all traffic during off-peak daytime hours (which Arizona does, and it makes it soooo much easier to get around), along with increased roadside assistance funding and other goodies. But two strikes: the Seattle P-I editors hate hate hate it, and it’s the darling of Tim Eyman. I hadn’t heard of Tim Eyman before tonight. I’ve now heard quite enough. NO.
I-1000
I wrote you two novels on this one a little while ago, so you all know where I stand on allowing terminally ill folks the right to end things with dignity and grace. Hell YES.
I-1029
Well, this one’s proving a bugger. Lot’s of noise against. However, after reviewing said noise, it appears that it’s the screaming of people who don’t want to have to undergo background checks and pay for training before they can care for the elderly. The people against are almost all home care businesses whose arguments sound like Republicon Talking Points 101. And they’re afraid of the scary union!!11!!1! SEIU was a driving force behind this, so of course it’s all about the evil unions trying to impose standards on the free market. Blah. Seriously, even if it costs a little extra, I’d rather the person caring for Grandma is certified and checked. YES.
Onward, ho.
How many fucking Charter Amendments can you stuff onto one ballot? Jeez. Eight of the thrice-bedamned things. This is when being a responsible citizen sucketh mightily.
Except… So far, ProgressiveVotersGuide.org has been with me 100%, so why not trust their judgement here? After cursory review, o’ course. So, the quick-and-dirty:
#1: Experience over popularity contest for Elections Director – sounds good to me. NO
#2: Prohibiting discrimination – duh. YES
#3: Less city council members on assorted committees. No fucking clue. I’m not a local policy wonk, so shall entrust my opinion to those who are. YES
#4: Establishing minimal qualifications – “We think our Sheriff , Assessor and Elections Director should know what they’re doing.” Me too. YES
#5: Improved economic forecasting. Hell, improved anything economic sounds good. YES
#6: More time to review a budget that has – ye gods – gone from the millions to the billions. YES
#7: Make laborious and confusing charter amendment stuff more simple. After what I’ve just been through with it? And I didn’t even have to propose one of these damned things! YES
#8: Removing party identification from some county offices – sponsored by three Republicons. Say no more. These fucktards can run, but they cannot hide. NO
Brilliant. I love that website. Too bad it’s only for Washington State, but I’m sure there’s one like it for yours. Use the power of teh Google and get informed.
Now that we’ve got that nonsense out of the way, it’s on to the super-important stuff: the first President I will ever vote for.
That’s going to be such a hard choice.
President and Vice President of the United States: I’m gonna have to plump for genius. Filling in this bubble feels so amazingly good. Barack Obama and Joe Biden. YES, WE CAN!
(BTW, you know this is a blue state when there’s not one but two Socialist parties on the Presidential portion of the ballot. Wow.)
Now on to the second most exciting part of my evening: I FINALLY GET TO VOTE FOR JAY INSLEE OMG!!11!11!1! Ahem.
United States Representative Congressional District No. 1: Jay Inslee.
Damn, that feels good. Two of my favorite politicians in the entire fucking universe, there.
Governor: No question, no doubt in my mind. Christine Gregoire. Suck it, Dino!
Lieutenant Governor: Well, Marcia McCraw gets brownie points for not being a gutless wonder and actually owning the name Republicon, but still. Brad Owen.
Secretary of State: Shit, this one’s really hard. I swore to myself I’d never vote for a single Republicon, but Sam Reed’s endorsement list is a mile bloody long, and even the ProgressiveVotersGuide.org loves him. Wingnuts hate him. And it is not my policy to punish a man for his party. Crapola. Sam Reed.
State Treasurer: Not really a contest here. When you have two solid candidates, and one of them’s a good solid Dem, and you’re a lefty, you plump for the Dem. Jim McIntire.
State Auditor: Now, I’m tempted to vote for the Dem for two reasons. 1 – he’s a Dem; 2 – I like his last name. But this is not responsible voting. We now consult the oracles. The Stranger and ProgressiveVotersGuide.org both agree: Brian Sonntag.
Attorney General: Strong record of supporting civil liberties, reproductive rights, consumer rights, AND environmental protection vs. anti-abortion Republicon climber who let Dino weasel out of calling himself a Con. No fucking contest. John Ladenburg.
Commissioner of Public Lands: (I know, when we get down into the ballot’s nether regions, it’s about as exciting as watching sheep graze. But this shit’s still important. Stick with me – we’ll get there.) Hey, a biologist! And a Dem!!1! Easy: Peter J. Goldmark.
Superintendent of Public Instruction: Hmm. Non-partisan office. Challenger does not appear to be a closet creationist and has assloads of political (former Democratic State Rep) and educational experience. Current incumbant couldn’t answer the questions on the noxious standardized test she forces all students to pass. FAIL. Randy Dorn.
Insurance Commissioner: The Stranger says we should stick it to one of the Founding Fathers. I have a harder time with this – John Adams is also one of my characters. But my John Adams is no fucking Republicon, and the Democratic challenger is an advocate of health care reform and other progressive goodness. Mike Kreidler.
Legislative District No. 45, Position No 1: This is where endorsements matter, because I’ve paid fuck-all attention to local races. I shall plump for the candidate supported by the people I believe in, and when you have one guy supported by a huge swath of organizations out to do good, and one endorsed by nothing but business interests, the choice is simple: Roger Goodman.
Position No 2: Ditto, Larry Springer.
(And yes, I peeked at the issues, too. And yes, the Republicons running are Republicons. ‘Nuff said.)
State Supreme Court Justice Position No. 3: Spoiled for choices here. We have a name and a blank line, and not even my trusty voter guides seem to have this one on the radar. However, Judgepedia gives me enough info to know I don’t need to write in Screaming Rubber Chicken as a protest vote. Mary Fairhurst.
Position No. 4: Judgepedia likes him. Charles W. Johnson.
Position No. 7: Heh. She looked like such an easy shoo-in that her challenger dropped out. Debra L. Stephens.
Court of Appeals etc. etc. No. 5: Judgepedia fails me, but Google shows the only contender was appointed by Gov. Gregoire, and there seem to have been no embarrassing incidents. Good ’nuff. Linda Lau.
No. 6: Holy shit, she’s got an assload of experience. No scandals Google could find. Ann Schindler.
Superior Court Judge Position No. 1: Finally, some competition again! I’ll take the candidate endorsed by NARAL, thanks. Sue Parisien.
No. 22: The lady described as “This badass former federal civil-rights attorney” by the Stranger so has my vote. Holly Hill.
No. 37: I’ll take the candidate who’s rated “outstanding” and “exceptionally well qualified” AND is endorsed by NARAL and Equal Rights Washington. Jean Rietschel.
And, at long last… the final vote to be cast. Prop. No. 1: Mass Transit Expansion. Hell to the YES. Or, in this case, APPROVED.
Fini. A few hours with Google, and I’ve been a responsible voter, choosing people that I think are best qualified for the positions they’re running for (don’t you fucking make me regret that one Republican vote, Sam!) and choosing the right stand on the ballot measures. In the Age o’ the Intertoobz, there is no reason on earth why you can’t do the same.
Kitteh sez: GET OUT THE VOTE! Even if you punk off the rest of the ballot, she’d like you to vote for this man:
They not only share political views, but exquisite taste in columns.
Darcy Burner has withstood a firestorm, including a hit-job by the Seattle Times, and managed a near-miracle:
Research 2000 for Daily Kos. 10/21-23. Likely voters. MoE ±5% (10/5-7 results).
Reichert (R) 46 (49)
Burner (D) 46 (41)Now that’s a sight for sore eyes, huh? The Right, on the retreat nationwide, has decided that this will be one of their “line in the sand” districts. The NRCC, the wingnut 527s, and the well-funded incumbent Reichert are dumping everything on Darcy, but she’s still somehow managed to close an eight-point gap in two weeks.
“Line in the sand,” eh? Looks like we’re about to cross right over it.
This election is shaping up to be more than a defeat for the Cons. It’s starting to look very much like a rout.
Good.
Indiana. Fucking Indiana. Seriously:
This election is going to be a landslide for Obama. There is a huge tidal wave coming. A stunning new poll today from Indiana shows: Obama ahead in Indiana by 10 points.
Yes, you read it correctly. It is not a typo: +10 Obama in Indiana! A totally republican state where the democrats have not won for decades.
Bloody fucking Indiana, where I once spent a two-week vacation bawling half my family out for their blatant racism. Blood Republicon fucking red Indiana. +10 for Obama.
Hot damn, Hoosiers! Go, you! Woot!
Here’s yet more evidence that the Dems are poised for huge gains in Congress: The Cook Report has released a new set of updated rankings on 25 House races — and all 25 are shifts in the Dems’ direction.
Most of these show that a Dem incumbent who was leaning towards a win is now more likely to win, or that a Republican once thought solid or highly likely to win is now a weaker position, albeit still favored. But a few of these show serious changes in the expectations for the Dems to pick up seats.
For example, the open seat of moderate Rep. Wayne Gilchrest (R-MD), who lost his primary for re-election, is now a toss-up in a district that voted 62%-36% for President Bush in 2004 — helped in no small part by the fact that Gilchrest has been campaigning for the Dem.
For what it’s worth, only one Democratic seat has recently been shifted towards the GOP: The seat of scandal-ridden Florida Rep. Tim Mahoney.
Savor that a moment. Districts that are overwhelmingly Republicon are now battlegrounds.
This is our opportunity. This is our year. We can sweep the neocons, theocons, and richophiles out of Washington. We have this chance to bring a progressive message to America. We can win people who wouldn’t have given us a nanosecond’s consideration before the dramatic failure of Republicon rule.
We can show them that the liberal, progressive agenda isn’t a thing to be feared, but a thing to be embraced. They’re open. They’re still uncertain, but they’re ready to listen.
They’re ready for new ideas about health care, to ensure that Americans can afford the care and treatment they need.
They’re ready for old ideas about the economy, realizing now that regulations don’t cripple business – they keep marauders from robbing Wall Street blind, prevent speculative bubbles that feel good while they’re expanding but hurt like hell when they burst, and ensure that business is conducted sensibly and sustainably.
They’re ready for intelligent foreign policy, a policy that treats our allies with respect and appreciation, approaches our enemies with strength and resolution, and relies on sensible diplomacy to resolve conflicts before they spiral out of control.
They’re ready for energy independence, and are open now as never before to the idea that you can have your environmentalism and your energy, too – as long as you do it right.
They’re ready for the restoration of the rule of law and the Constitution.
They’re ready for change. They’re ready for hope.
We can give that to them.
Nothing is going to be easy. It’s hard to change deep-seated attitudes, hard to reverse course, hard to face up to the tough facts and do what’s necessary to ensure we have a future. But we can do this together. I think Americans are ready to have that talk, the one that will identify principles the majority of us can sign on to. We’re ready to work together for a better country and a better world.
That’s what those numbers tell me.
It tells me that more Americans than ever are ready to turn to the left for solutions.
Make the pledge, here, now: We won’t let them down.
I’ve spent nearly a month now watching red bits of the map turn purple, then blue. My eyes are sore from rubbing.
Just a few short weeks ago, I was in a passion of despair. It looked like we would, at best, miss electing a McCain/Palin idiocracy by a hairsbreadth. I believed we would have to fight like furies to get a few good Dems onto Capitol Hill. We’d have to write off a good number of states and races as utterly unwinnable. I was convinced we were in for years more of the same partisan wrangling that has paralyzed this nation. No matter if Obama won – it wouldn’t be with a mandate to change this country, and it wouldn’t be with enough Dems to allow him to do anything more than hold a few flimsy pieces of ground against Republicon assaults.
And then, the numbers changed. State after state began falling to Obama. Battlegrounds shifted to states that had seemed adamantium for McCain. We suddenly were past No Man’s Land and swarming unassailable trenches. But that’s Obama, I thought. I know conservative voters who’ll vote for him, but will vote solid red downticket.
Well, my darlings. We appear to have entered the very bunkers of our enemy and are now boozing it up with the enemy’s stalwart allies. A lot can change in three weeks, but perhaps not when we have so many of our former opponents drunk on hope. Our opponents are having to furiously dig new trenches in territory they never thought they’d have to defend, and those trenches might soon be overrun by a maurading band of liberals, progressives, independents, and disillusioned conservatives intoxicated by the notion that yes, we can build a better future.
What makes me so certain? It’s the current condition of the Republicon races, which are, in a word,
Darren White and Erik Paulsen were prized Republican recruits, House candidates poised to be the new face of the GOP on Capitol Hill.
But as the two head into the homestretch of their campaigns, GOP operatives say they’ll probably have to win — or lose — on their own. The money national Republicans earmarked for White in New Mexico and for Paulsen in Minnesota will likely go instead to protect GOP incumbents who once looked like locks for reelection.
GOP Reps. John B. Shadegg of Arizona, Lee Terry of Nebraska, Henry Brown Jr. of South Carolina and Dan Lungren of California are all fighting for their political lives, a reversal of fortunes that has caught even the most astute campaign observers by surprise.
Shadegg’s AZ-03 is R+5.9.
Terry’s NE-02 is R+9.0.
Brown’s SC-01 is R+9.6
Lungren’s CA-03 is R+6.7.The least conservative of those districts, Shadegg’s Arizona one, gave Bush a 17-point victory in 2004, 58-41. Yet here are entrenched, long-time incumbents depending on their party’s broke committee to help bail them out.
“If you’re a Republican in a less-than-outstanding district, you want to have taken a poll in the last two weeks no matter who you’re running against,” said David Wasserman, an analyst on House races for the nonpartisan Cook Political Report.
“The DCCC has made advertising decisions that have forced Republicans’ hands,” he continued, mentioning Terry’s seat in Nebraska and one held by conservative Rep. Mark Souder in Indiana. “Republicans, in turn, need to spend in these districts. And $500,000 to the [National Republican Congressional Committee] is a whole lot more meaningful than $500,000 to the [Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee].”
Guys, we have something incredible shaping up — the Republican Party is broke and unable to support any of its challengers. What’s more, the map is so deep, and discontent in this country so high, that almost everything is competitive.
Former GOP consultant Allan Hoffenblum said Rep. Dana Rohrabacher and other California Republicans, including Reps. David Dreier and Brian Bilbray, are also at risk.
“The Republican base is not sufficient by itself to elect a Republican in those [California] districts; they still need the independent vote,” Hoffenblum said. “In the past decade, they have been reliably voting Republican for president and for Congress. … There are a lot of angry and scared voters out there. This is not your traditional environment.”
How to Republicans defend when almost any district can be unexpectedly competitive? They can’t. They are being forced to circle the wagons around a few of their most prized seats (like AZ-03’s conservative darling, John Shadegg).
This is a committee that began the cycle bragging about retaking the seats they lost in 2006 and challenging other endangered Democrats. Then they talked about holding their open seats. Now they’re left defending Dan Lungren? Dan Lungren?
Yes, Kos. Dan Lungren, even so. St. Ronnie himself would probably be fighting a losing battle in this political climate.
This is turning in to a rout. It’s a beautiful thing to see.
They did it. They really did it.
My parents, my conservative parents, including my “Rush Limbaugh conservative” stepmother and my McCain-admiring father, got their mail-in ballots over the weekend. My stepmother, of course, was dead-set on Obama. My father not so much. I figured they’d probably end up canceling each other out.
But my father, who has not voted for a Democrat for president ever, voted for Obama.
Then he proceeded to search the ballot for other Democrats running for national office, and voted for them. “If we’re going to do this thing, we’ve got to do it right,” he solemnly informed my stepmother. He wanted to make sure that Obama had a solid Democratic majority to back him up.
It was the war that did it. He doesn’t really agree with Obama on anything else, but quibbles over economic and domestic policy didn’t matter when set against the fact that McCain wants to keep us indefinitely in a useless war, and start other useless wars on top of it.
My dad’s a Vietnam vet. He knows a little something about the price of useless wars.
Still.
Holy shit.
The way Obama’s going, we could end up with de facto one-party rule in this country. The Cons could find themselves reduced to nothing but background noise. All of the smart conservatives are heading Obama’s way. And for the most part, it’s not a protest vote. They really like him. Even my father, who doesn’t like Obama’s liberal tendencies, seems to respect him.
If Obama manages to do with his first term what I think he’s going to do, you’re going to hear the term “Reagan Democrats” replaced with “Obamacans.” I guarantee it.
Yes. We. Can.
There was a lot of screaming and jumping up-and-down in the Hunter household last night.
He did this thing.
Judging from what he’s done in the past, I don’t doubt he’s going to go all the way.
I shall be very proud indeed to have Barack Hussein Obama as my President.
As for those of you who don’t like it, Spider Jerusalem said it best when he said:
