Election day, 2010
There won't be much drama here in Iowa tonight. Some, but not much.
I voted early last Saturday, since I was downtown and don't relish that two mile walk past another polling place to get to mine. In any event, Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley is going to absolutely obliterate challenger Roxanne Conlin- a smart, if rather radical lady who deserves better of electoral politics than her career has dealt her (she lost to Terry Branstad in his first race for governor back in the 'Eighties because she had run on a platform of tax reform and didn't have to pay any taxes herself the year before a contradiction I still fail to comprehend myself, but one which my fellow Iowans felt somehow made her a hypocrite).
Branstad himself, having tired of civilian life, will crush incumbent Democratic Gov. Chet Culver (who hasn't actually been all that bad a guv, though Branstad was a better one).
The GOP will end up with control of at least one house of the legislature, and at least two of the three Iowa Supreme Court justices who are up for retention this year- and probably all three- will be sent into early retirement as a reward for that decision legalizing same-sex "marriage" here in Iowa, putting liberal noses out of joint all over America and sending up howls from those who believe that the judiciary functioning as an auxiliary legislature and standing constitutional convention is a better idea than the separation of powers.
Though nobody has pushed it, I have a hunch that the voters will surprise everyone and vote "yes" on the proposal that comes up every ten years to call a constitutional convention. That might be the fastest route to reversing that gay "marriage" decision, though even the decision's opponents profess fear of the "loose cannon" potential of a constitutional convention.
In my home state of Illinois, I'm pulling for Brady for governor and Kirk for the U.S. Senate. Both are involved in races that could go either way, though I feel good about both.
Nationally, the Republicans will pick up about twice the usual 28 seats the party out of power usually gains in off-year elections for the House, but will fall just short in their bid to re-take the Senate. The fifty-two members of the Democratic caucus will, I suspect, have to pick a new majority leader, since I suspect that Harry Reid will be looking for work in the morning.
Looking ahead two years, I'm leaning toward Mitt Romney as Obama's opponent, not only because the Republicans almost always nominate the "next in line" but because he probably has the best chance of preventing the nomination of Barack Obama's best hope, Sarah Palin.
Oh. And while their concerns won't go away, the Tea Party should enjoy their hour in the sun. By 2012 they will be yesterday's news.
I voted early last Saturday, since I was downtown and don't relish that two mile walk past another polling place to get to mine. In any event, Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley is going to absolutely obliterate challenger Roxanne Conlin- a smart, if rather radical lady who deserves better of electoral politics than her career has dealt her (she lost to Terry Branstad in his first race for governor back in the 'Eighties because she had run on a platform of tax reform and didn't have to pay any taxes herself the year before a contradiction I still fail to comprehend myself, but one which my fellow Iowans felt somehow made her a hypocrite).
Branstad himself, having tired of civilian life, will crush incumbent Democratic Gov. Chet Culver (who hasn't actually been all that bad a guv, though Branstad was a better one).
The GOP will end up with control of at least one house of the legislature, and at least two of the three Iowa Supreme Court justices who are up for retention this year- and probably all three- will be sent into early retirement as a reward for that decision legalizing same-sex "marriage" here in Iowa, putting liberal noses out of joint all over America and sending up howls from those who believe that the judiciary functioning as an auxiliary legislature and standing constitutional convention is a better idea than the separation of powers.
Though nobody has pushed it, I have a hunch that the voters will surprise everyone and vote "yes" on the proposal that comes up every ten years to call a constitutional convention. That might be the fastest route to reversing that gay "marriage" decision, though even the decision's opponents profess fear of the "loose cannon" potential of a constitutional convention.
In my home state of Illinois, I'm pulling for Brady for governor and Kirk for the U.S. Senate. Both are involved in races that could go either way, though I feel good about both.
Nationally, the Republicans will pick up about twice the usual 28 seats the party out of power usually gains in off-year elections for the House, but will fall just short in their bid to re-take the Senate. The fifty-two members of the Democratic caucus will, I suspect, have to pick a new majority leader, since I suspect that Harry Reid will be looking for work in the morning.
Looking ahead two years, I'm leaning toward Mitt Romney as Obama's opponent, not only because the Republicans almost always nominate the "next in line" but because he probably has the best chance of preventing the nomination of Barack Obama's best hope, Sarah Palin.
Oh. And while their concerns won't go away, the Tea Party should enjoy their hour in the sun. By 2012 they will be yesterday's news.
Comments