Election 2006 Post-Mortem

Shocking…Election Day turned out about as predicted by the various pundits.

So, here are my thoughts as to winners; losers and what to watch for:

Winners:
Moderate Democrats. While Lieberman in CT is the media favorite, moderate Democrats made inroads in the Midwest and South and were able to take seats from Republicans.

Fossilized Liberals: Rangel, Conyers, Dingell are names the country will start to hear again. If VA and MT senate races go to the Democrats, we will have Reid and Kennedy in the Senate. This might be akin to waking up the next morning and finding out that the beautiful women you slept with last night…ain’t…so…beautiful.

Small Government Republicans. Pence, Shadegg and others have been pounding on Republican leadership to cut spending to no avail. I suspect you will see more of these guys in the House Minority leadership. THANK GOD!

Newt Gingrich. Architect of the 1994 Takeover, his 2008 stock just went waaaaay up. But did it go up enough to overcome the residual baggage from the Government shutdown?

Property Rights. Anti-Kelo initiatives passed overwhelmingly.

Losers:
President Bush. He has managed to piss off everyone for different reasons. And SecDef Rumsfeld is the next Iraq casualty.

Gays. I would argue that the BIGGEST loser was the gay community. Same-sex marriage bans continue to be enacted by popular vote. Other than Arizona, gays lost.

Activist Courts. Popular votes sent a strong message to the Courts: STOP IT. Kelo lost (US Supreme Court), gay rights lost (NJ and MA supreme court) and affirmative action lost in MI. The common theme is that these were reactions to activist courts imposing their will on the people. And the people struck back.

Fossilized Republicans. Hassert, Lewis, Young in the House, Stevens in the Senate. Your gravy train was good while it lasted, but it’s over.

McCain, Romney. The two 2008 Republican presidential front runners took a bit of a shot. McCain because he is clearly “part of the problem” that got the Republicans in this mess. Romney’s successor, Kerry Healey, was ROUTED in MA by Deval Patrick…some legacy.

The Iraqis. The terrorists stepped up the campaign to kill American in October and influence the elections. Despite the fact that this is a typical 6th year swing, they will take encouragement from the results and the Iraqis will bear the brunt of this.

Thew?

UPDATE: That was fast. Rumsfeld is out.