Despondent Democrats: Depressing News

54,800,000 votes! How awesome would it be if nearly 55 million people voted for me to do anything? I would feel validated if 55 million people wanted me.

But it would really suck if 58,350,000 wanted somebody else to do what I was supposed to do. 55 million is nice, but 58 million is better.

Unfortunately.

Senator John Kerry is not going to be the next President of the United States. The vote isn't neither signed, sealed nor delivered in Ohio, but I just don't see him making up the current 135,000 deficit with provision ballots and absentee ballots. It was close, as it was in 2000, but Bush seems to have pulled out a legit winner this time.

But the situation is quite dire for Democrats. Not only did we fail to win the White House, but we lost three seats in the Senate and (currently) three in the House, with seven still undecided. Tom Daschle, the one time Majority Leader of the Senate, lost his re-election bid to Tom Thune, a Christian conservative in the Christian conservative state of South Dakota. Odd how a man like Dachle managed to claw his way up the management structure of the Democrats being from such a traditionally difficult state for Democrats. The White House wanted Daschle out of office, naming him the chief obstructionist to moving the country forward with their agenda. All in all over $30,000,000 was spent in that state on the Senate campaign, making it the most expensive Senate race this year. As much as Democrats need numbers in Congress, perhaps it is a good thing that Daschle was not re-elected. Not because it is better for Thune, but because Daschle presided over a Senate that lost seats in every election where he was the leader of the party. Perhaps Daschle was just not a very good leader, but that is a discussion for another time.

More worrying still is that the ballot iniatives to constitutionally ban gay marriage in 11 states passed in all 11 states. Not only did it pass, but it wasn't even close. The amendment had, in most cases, at least 70%. That is very disturbing. It even passed in Oregon and Michigan, states that Kerry carried, although I should note than Kerry is against gay marriage (and also against an amendment to ban it). A friend of mine remarked that he no longer knew how to go about living in the United States, when it is so clear now that half the people agree that his civil rights should be abolished. I am certain that a vote on gay marriage is essentially a poll on the acceptability of homosexuals in the United States -- the results don't give me much room for doubt.

Democrats lost two gubernatorial races, only to pick off two from the Republicans, leave no net loss of states, but it is worrying that Indiana now has a GOP governor for the first time in decades. Also just found out that the Republicans look likely to take the Oregon gubernatorial race, with Dino Rossi currently leading Christine Gregoire by nearly 900 votes.

There were some bright spots, especially in my home state and Congressional district. The Illinois 9th re-elected Janice Shakowsky for another term. Cook County (excluding Chicago) also elected Barack Obama to the US Senate by a wide margin, 81% to 17% over Alan Keyes. This election was troubling for a couple of reasons. Keyes, a native of Maryland who had never lived in Illinois, ran a very nasty campaign, even when it was apparent that he would never win. He was down more than 30% in the polls with weeks left in the race. Even with these numbers, Keyes went on the attack like an infant with no control, calling Obama no less than a Nazi at one point during the final debate in Chicago. Who does that, especially when one is down in the polls by such an astounding number? I can only guess that the GOP ran him in Illinois, knowing that Obama was unbeatable and would get a lot of press, as a way of getting some cheap (both morally and monetarily) publicity: call Obama a Nazi, and you call Kerry one by association.

Keyes has vowed to stay in Illinois to help rebuild the Republican party. I can only hope that he does, because he seems to be such a lousy person, he may finally wake southern Illinois up to the fact that the Republicans are, for the most part, morally bankrupt.

Jim Bunning, the odd GOP Senator from Kentucky, beat unknown challanger Daniel Mongiardo in a race that ended up being 51%/49%. In Florida, Betty Castor lost to Mel Martinez, who cashed in on the fact that the GOP saw a surge in the Latino voting bloc. Ken Salazar beat beer heir Peter Coors, in another closely contested race.