Melissa Hart: Defeated 52% to 48% - It was supposed to be clear sailing but Hart got swept away anyway. She raised way more money than Altmire - and still she lost. Poor Missy.
House of Representatives: Democratic Control
Senate: At this point tied but the two remaining races (Virginia and Montana) are leaning to the Democrats
State Governorships: Majority to the Democrats
Is this a great day or what?
What they're saying:
Washington Post.
The political pendulum in American politics swung away from the right yesterday, putting an end to the 12-year Republican Revolution on Capitol Hill and delivering a sharp rebuke of President Bush and the Iraq war.A sharp rebuke of Bush and the Iraq war.
The GOP reign in the House that began with Newt Gingrich in a burst of vision and confrontation in 1994 came crashing down amid voter disaffection with congressional corruption. The collapse of one-party rule in Washington will transform Bush's final two years in office and challenge Democrats to make the leap from angry opposition to partners in power.
New York Times:
Everything is different now for President Bush. The era of one-party Republican rule in Washington ended with a crash in yesterday’s midterm elections, putting a proudly unyielding president on notice that the voters want change, especially on the war in Iraq.Ended with a crash.
Mr. Bush now confronts the first Democratic majority in the House in 12 years and a significantly bigger Democratic caucus in the Senate that were largely elected on the promise to act as a strong check on his administration. Almost any major initiative in his final two years in office will now, like it or not, have to be bipartisan to some degree.
Post-Gazette.
Democratic state Treasurer Bob Casey decisively defeated U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum yesterday as the veteran conservative fell victim to his own polarizing image and a war-weary electorate's tide of reaction against President Bush and Republican control of Congress.Landslide - what a beautiful word. Rick Santorum was defeated by a landslide.
Mr. Casey, the son of the late governor, built a landslide of almost 20 percentage points with a relentless focus on the incumbent, constantly tying him to a president whose popularity in Pennsylvania had sharply eroded since the 2004 re-election in which he narrowly missed carrying the state.
Philadelphia Inquirer:
Sen. Rick Santorum, the No. 3 Senate leader who rode into office 12 years ago on an anti-incumbent swell, succumbed yesterday to a similar wave of voter discontent, losing his seat in a landslide to Democrat Bob Casey Jr.Oh there's that word again. Landslide.
So "a close ally of President Bush" and "one of his party’s fastest-rising stars" and "favorite among social conservatives" was defeated in a landslide on Tuesday.
Again, is this a great day or what?
Rick Santorum - Buh-bye.
i am beside myself with joy!
ReplyDeleteI have believed from the summer of 2005 that Jason Altmire could win this race if the winds of change were in effect.
ReplyDeleteInitially, I was in the minority of people who thought Jason could win but, eventually, things began to take hold this summer and the momentum kept bulding into the fall. I even got to meet a blogger at the Al Franken event from some website...2 political junkies--cool!
Anyway, CONGRATULATIONS TO JASON ALTMIRE!!!
I have been waiting for this day ever since I wrote that letter in 1995 to Rick Santorum telling him that I saw through him and he was nothing more than a carpetbagger who got elected on the senior vote and then high tailed it to DC to live...and he wrote back to thank me for my support. I wrote back to ask if he was illiterate. And thus it all began. It's been a long 11 years.
ReplyDeleteIt's a great day to be a Pennsylvanian, that's for sure.
Hooray, Pennsylvania has two Senators again!
ReplyDeleteA special shout out to the folks in Ohio for soundly rejecting election-rigger Ken Blackwell.
I got to get this off my chest. In fairness to Santorum (yes, fairness), when he ran against Doug Walgren for the house seat, I believe I read that Walgren had actually sold his Mt Lebanon home. And after his defeat, Walgren stayed in the DC area for a while to work as a lobbyist, although he is back in our area, having recently run for judge. If Rick stays in Virginia, it would not be without precedent. But that is only one issue Santorum lost on, and I have to say the margin he lost by was, as far as I can remember, the same margin he was behind by when Casey announced his candidacy (maybe before Casey announced). The apparently preordained has happened.
ReplyDeleteNow the question is, which earmarks are we going to miss?
Congratulations guys. As hard as it is for me to say, last night was Democracy in action.
ReplyDeleteNow, let's all see what happens and see if the Democrats deliver. Hey, I'm willing to give them a chance, reluctantly of course; but they deserve the chance.
Again, congratulations.
Well said, Braden.
ReplyDeleteAnd yeah, now comes the hard part, for BOTH sides.
Congratulations to you, Master Lie. That was the classiest thing I've seen from you.
ReplyDeleteKeep this up and you may become one of the billions of people who are better than me (:^)}