Well first I'd like to brag and say I picked Coleman to beat Mondale on another thread the other day. I'm not really sure if I have a big suprise. Jebs victory was bigger than I thought it would have been. I think Steve Largeant losing in Oklahoma is probably the biggest suprise. Here in Illinois the Democrats swept all the statewide races except for treasurer. That didn't suprise me though. Our current corrupt Republican governor screwed the Republican party in Illinois. So what would you guys consder the biggest suprise of election day?
Re: Re: Your election night result that suprised you? Considering the best the Dems have managed to come up with to challenge Bush the last two elections were Buddy McKay and Bill McBride, I'd say the voting machines (which worked flawlessly by the way) are the least of the problems facing the Florida Democrats. There's a hell of a lot of grass-roots work to be done in this state.
Re: Re: Your election night result that suprised you? I didn't pay too much attention to the Oklahoma governor race, so I'm not too familiar with why Largent lost, but I think that he was a good Congressman, willing to stand up for what he believed in. There's an interesting story about him in Mark Sanford's (winner of last night's SC governor's race BTW) book "The Trust Committed to Me." In 1997 Newt Gingrich proposed that committee funding be boosted by 10%. Largent and 10 other Republicans disagreed with the move, pointing out that they were there to reduce government, not expand it, and saw the move as hypocritical. Gingrich threw a fit upon hearing this since the 11 had enough power to block the move, and called everyone into a meeting designed to humiliate the 11. Threatening to cancel everyone's vacation until the issue was resolved, Gingrich called the 11 members "stupid" and "shortsighted idiots" and asked them to stand in front of a microphone and explain themselves in front of approximately 200 GOP colleagues. Largent was the first up to speak. Looking at Gingrich he said "You can't intimidate me. I've crossed a picket line in the NFL. I had 280-pound linebackers who wanted to kill me, and could have." "The people in the room identified with the 11 and completely flipped their opinion," said Sanford. "It was as inspiring as any moment during the founding in Philadelphia. It was like a movie set."
As I've said in other posts, I work as a newspaper reporter in Georgia. I work in what has traditionally been a Democratic County that's been moving toward the Republicans. Even so, we were hearing these huge margins for Perdue over barnes as they announced precinct results. There were audible gasps each time. IT was a huge shock.
Re: Re: Your election night result that suprised you? What were the polls saying in this race before the election? Was one guy heavily favored? And who is this guy thats a 3rd party candidate that pulled out 14%?
Governor 90% of precincts reporting Candidate Votes % of vote Rick Perry (REP)* 2,513,197 58 Tony Sanchez (DEM) 1,731,079 40 What happened to Snachez, 65 Million Dollars, and the "Mexican" vote? Senate 90% of precincts reporting Candidate Votes % of vote John Cornyn (REP) 2,379,522 55 Ron Kirk (DEM) 1,863,531 43 What happened to the "DREAM TEAM?"
Mexicans can't vote. Not legally, anyway. Ron Kirk is about the most talented politician in Texas today. I'm honestly amazed that he lost by such a large margin.
I thought the biggest surprise was in Maryland with Kathleen Kennedy Townsend losing the governers race...
The winner of Alabama's governor's race still hasn't been declared. Both the Democrap & the Redumblican are claiming victory. Thank goodness we don't have "hanging chad" style ballots. We've got the little circles that you fill in with a pen that a machine tabulates...so hopefully that will keep the controversy to a minimum (wishful thinking!) The Libertarian candidate got 2% of the vote, just enough to really throw things for the other two goons that pulled down 49% each
The surprise here in Colorado was the large margin that Senator Wayne Allard defeated Tom Strickland. Meet The Press had Strickland ahead as did other polls in the land. Then down by 5 points. My surprise outside of the state was Lindsey Graham being elected to the senate. What were the people thinking down there in South Carolina? I watched the debate between the two and Alex Sanders was just years ahead of the little weasel Graham. He just squirms and makes me very nervous. BTW, that Largent website is harsh, but entertaining.
No kidding. When he won the Democratic nomination several months ago, I was sure that he was going to beat Cornyn in a landslide. He was a popular and very pro-business mayor in Dallas, he's a likable guy, he's charismatic, and he had that whole "Democrats and Republicans should work together to make things work" message that Shrub milked so well in his runs for Governor and President. Ron Kirk should kick Tony Sanchez in the nuts they meet, since I'm guessing that the acrimonious Governor's race really turned off a lot of people who might've voted for Perry and Kirk, but who were so disgusted with Tony Sanchez that they weren't going to vote for any Democrat.
That’s your problem, the thinking man does not play the "guessing" game!!! Let’s see if El Jefe can synthesize Mr. Cam's observation. Sorry, the Spanish surnamed voters WILL NOT VOTE EN MASSE FOR KIRK!!! Just ask Antonio AND Corky!