Election 2010 Post Game Wrap Up...

Republicans Stick It the Democrats in House, South Carolina ....


      No, I didn't make this picture up.... but it is nice to see someone has the same sense of humor I do!  For the most part, Election Day 2010 is over, with the exception of a few too close to call races, but even those we can pretty much guess correctly. For the most part, the Republicans gave Barack Obama a pretty strong message. I correct that - the VOTERS gave him the message. the GOP was just the beneficiary of it...


     Nationally, the Republicans picked up about 60 seats, at around 240 seats total. They weren't able to convert a few tight races in the Senate (Sharron Angle?, C'mon, guys!!), so it appears the Democrats will hold a 53-47 edge. That can mean only one thing: probable deadlocked legislation for the next 2 years.  Every issue will have 2 bills passed, and then they will need to be resolved into one bill that the House, Senate and White House will all have to agree on.  Barack Obama will need to find his inner Bill Clinton (re: bipartisan reconciliation), or he will undoubtedly be a one-term President..


    Not that everythign nationally went the GOP's way.  Meg Whitman spent $140 MILLION of her own money, and still got pummeled by Barbara Boxer by 10 points. Word is, her lost $$ will be refunded in PayPal bucks....  Also, the Alaska Senate race is being led by...... Write-In Candidate, also known as Lisa Murkowski.  The funny part is it will take weeks to confirm all the ballots with her name written in, which must be spelled correctly, or it is void.  Not great, but it sure will be nice to see 'House Minority Whip James Clyburn' on the TV again!!  Almost forgot.... We'll miss John 'Droopy Dog' Spratt, but onyl for about a minute or two.  Great to see Tim Scott go to DC.  Tim was another of my 'I knew him when' stories from 2004. I remember him and I begging the state senate candidates to shut up at a Chucktown meeting back then. At least now I can get into the Capitol....The message sent by voters to DC was clear - if you don't have enough guts to stand up for your constituents, and vote against bad bills like The Stimulus, Cap & Trade and ObamaCare, you need to come home.


    Speaking of South Carolina, it was a clean sweep for the GOP, although it looked a bit scary for a while there.. Nikki Haley stood off a challenge from Vince Sheheen. We were worried that Bobby's voting for Sheheen mean a Haley loss, but it didn't pan out... Otherwise it was a good night for Ken Ard, Alan Wilson, Richard Eckstrom, Hugh Weathers, Mark Hammond, Curtis Loftis, Bob Livingston and Mick Zais.....


    Locally, it was a mixed bag, as usual.  Very happy to see Glynn Willis get the City Council seat he should have gotten in 2008. Life will be a lot easier on Mayor Hickory Head with Glynn there... SC6 buddy Brad Richardson just texted us back to tell us he lost the Johnsonville mayor's race to Steve Dukes by 15 votes. It didn't happen today, but we have a feeling he'll be the next mayor of J'ville soon.  It was also a tough night for Rose Mary Parham, who was beaten by Solicitor Ed Clements by about 10 points.  Clements' connections to people on both sides of the aisle were just too much for Parham to overcome...


     Another bit of good news in the area is Moye Graham's hard work in Clarendon is paying off. While Tod Williams lost his Solicitor race, many of the statewide candidates did much better than they ever have in Clarendon, posting in the mid to upper 40's, expect Jim Demin, who easily beat Alvin Greene and his campaign literature and action figure...


     Lastly, we can confirm that New York IS the exact opposite of South Carolina, as all the statewide seats went to Democrats, including Governor-elect Andrew Cuomo's 28 point thumping of Tea Party kookster, Carl Paladino and his baseball bat.  Upstate, there were a few US House pickups, but our local boy Randy Altschuler lost by 2 points to incumbent Tim Bishop.  I still can't get away from my Democratic congressman...

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