Election Results: My Take

Okay, the big question brewing already is, were the results of last night's elections a "referendum" on President Obama? My take? Not exactly.

What we have here is a rinky-dinky little off-year election. But we all were so invested in 2008, some of us still have a bit of the bug. Gays were also especially invested because of anti-gay ballot issues in Maine and Washington. Republicans and/or conservatives are all still a little bruised by 2008, and also energized by all the 9/12er, tea bagger, Glenn Beckian nuttiness, and desperately wanted a change in their fortunes.

So did it happen? Sorta. And also kinda not. In Virginia, a Republican took the Governor slot, something that was long predicted. Bob McDonnell, the guy who won seems like kind of a creep to me, but apparently the Democrat was a weak candidate, and Virginia has a history of putting the opposite party to the President in power. Whatever. In New Jersey, Gov. Jon Corzine, the Democratic incumbent, was fairly unpopular. There was also a third-party contestant. As I type this, the winner, Chris Christie has been getting some intense coverage on FOX "News," so they must be scoring it as a big win for their side.

Perhaps the biggest news, at least among office races, was the upset in New York's 23rd district. It's a district that has gone for a Republican for like 120 years. But the Beckians and the Palinites threw out the Republican there, and installed a "Conservative Party" carpetbagging candidate named Doug Hoffman. Dick Armey called the move the tip of the spearhead of a plan to do this around the country in 2012. But they lost. Boo-hoo.

The other big news is of course, the anti-gay measures. In Maine, after the legislature approved same-sex marriage, a ballot measure was offered up to reject it. And, by all appearances at this writing, it passed. It was tight, but it passed. In Washington, there was almost an identical situation, except there it was an "everything but marriage" measure that was to be voted on. But it looks like (again, it's not 100% yet) it passed. Again, slim margin, but to the good side!

So yeah, I'm bummed by Maine. I still think this sort of human rights issue shouldn't be up for popular vote in the first place. But at least it wasn't a constitutional amendment, and it can always be tried again. The margins get slimmer all the time.