Whoo-Hoo

Yesterday’s returns certainly met my expectations. Exceeded them, in fact. I hoped but did not expect Democrats to take the Senate. I did not expect Webb to win. But the results--a Democratic sweep--was a satisfying smackdown to BushCheney and the conservative movement. I wanted more. I wanted to take out Senator Jon Kyl here in Arizona. He won. But J.D. Hayworth(less) lost. He has much company including some truly odious members: Richard Pombo, Curt Weldon and George Allen. But the Democrat's 51-49 margin puts Joe Leiberman in the catbird seat. Had we knocked off Kyl, Joe would just be another senator. As it stands, he holds the balance of power by virtue of Republican money and votes. He'll be loving the attention.

Arizona demonstrated some real moderation in its returns. Two more Democratic Representatives. Republicans lost seats in the State House and State Senate. We are the first state to reject a gay marriage amendment, established humane requirements for farm animals and enacted a smoking ban. The Libertarian in me voted against the ban but I will enjoy benefitting from it. Arizonans also enacted a draconian eminent domain law and some nasty anti-immigrant laws, so we are still contrarian. Although the propositions aimed at illegal immigrants passed, three vocal anti-immigrant candidates lost.

As always, elections leave me romantically hopeful. That wears off soon enough, but I aways look for cooperation and insight among leaders to bring us together after an election. The past six years have dashed a lot of post-election hopes. At least this time, the Democrats (aka the Forces of Light) have some institutional leverage. And even BushCheney knows this was a smackdown. He phoned Democratic leaders to offer congratulations, invited Nancy Pelosi to lunch and canned Rumsfeld. The replacement is experienced and qualified but he also has an Iran/Contra history.

The results are satisfying. Now comes the hard part of making America work. The past six years of BushCheney arrogance and abuse of power have done serious damage to this country. Pelosi and Reid sounded appropriately cooperative last night. I am enjoying the moment; it's like I'm living in America again. Reality will return but for now it seems that voters in this country have rectified 2004's terrible mistake.

[crossposted]