DEMS WIN! DEMS WIN!

“Voter Apathy” If you look up the word in the dictionary, you might find a picture of the typical Cali voter. I know quite a few people who don’t really know who or what they’re voting for so they either vote (despite not knowing) or they just don’t vote. Perhaps they just don’t understand politics or don’t make an effort to understand.

When I was a kid and I didn’t understand something in school, my sister would rephrase (or rather, reteach) using language/ideas that I was familiar with. In the spirit of my sister and her didactic ways (lucky for all that she’s actually a teacher), I have decided to sum up some of the key points of the election in the way that I know best: college football recap style!

If you’re not a Republican, it was quite an exciting election day for you! Here’s the recap from West to East:

• For those of you keeping score at home, Dems needed to gain 15 seats in the House and 6 seats in the Senate to attain majority status.
• In Cali, Schwarzenegger easily defeated Phil Angelides, 56-39. I can’t get over the fact that the governator got re-elected. His response to his victory: “I love doing sequels.” Oh my lord.
• Also in the best state of Union, Prop 85 supporters lost to their adversaries, the anti-Prop-85s. This means that parental notification is not forced upon a minor seeking an abortion. Score one for pro-choicers!
• In my home district in Cali, Loretta Sanchez easily defeated Tan Nguyen (the anti-immigrant immigrant from Vietnam), 62-38. Hey, Tan. You’re letter scaring Latino voters from voting…guess what…it didn’t work!!!
• Oregon had a similar parental notification law on their ballot and it was also easily defeated, 46-54. Score two for pro-choicers!
• Shame on you, Arizona. The people of Arizona have decided to make English their official language, by a large margin. Way to marginalize your Latino population.
• Speaking of marginalizing populations, the following states have banned same-sex marriage: Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia, and Wisconsin. Way to discriminate through legislation.
• This just in—the Dem candidate for senator of Montana, Jon Tester, squeaked one out against Conrad Burns, the incumbent.
• Missouri, Missouri, Missouri…good for you! You have decided to ignore the pleas from Patricia Heaton and Jim Caviezel and you have approved funding for stem-cell research. Not only that, but you have also elected a female Dem to the Senate, Ms. Claire McCaskill. I’m so proud of ya’ll.
• South Dakota…way to stand up for yourselves. You easily defeated the abortion ban (score another one for the pro-choicers)!! Yet you re-elected Mike Rounds, the biggest supporter of the abortion ban. Hmmm…
• In Maryland, Ben Cardin defeated Michael Steele. Granted, Maryland tends to lean blue, but this campaign wasn’t pretty. Michael Steele tried to play the black card and it failed.
• In another victory for pro-choicers, Rick Santorum (PA) was voted out of office!!! Woo hoo!
• In a race that convinced me to register as a voter in the South, current Virginia Senator George Allen is in a virtual tie with Jim Webb. Actually, Webb has approximately 6,000 more votes than Allen, but not all ballots have been counted. Fairfax…don’t let me down. I know that not all of your votes have been counted, Fairfaxers. I know you want Webb in the Senate.
  

Current Scores:
House
Dems: 228
GOP: 196
11 still undecided

Senate
Dems 48
GOP 50
Independent 2
1 still undecided

Keeping my fingers crossed for a Webb victory…

UPDATE (11/09 6:52 pm): My source in AZ (and confirmed by many newspapers) reports that the same sex marriage ban did not pass in AZ. Also, WEBB WINS!!! WEBB WINS!!!