Did you?
In a town full of politicos and election junkies, yesterday was game day. Our Super Bowl only comes around once every two years, but it's far more expensive and full of even more entertaining commercials than the one involving an actual ball. It's always entertaining, and last night was no exception. Since this year was without my usual pre-game predictions (which were unnecessarily pessimistic), I'll offer a few post-game analyses:
1. Webb doesn't have it locked down in Virginia yet, but at the end of the day I sure am glad I voted in the red-state-gone-blue during such a close election. Our apartment's three extra votes certainly didn't hurt his chances.
2. Finally, Massachusetts is back to having a Democratic governor. That should make the nepotistic, deep-party deals even easier to hammer out for the next few years. It should also assure that gay marriage stays off the ballot in the state.
3. VA (and six other states) passed anti-gay marriage amendments this year. Only Arizona resisted bigotry, a decision which will be in their historical favor. This just bumps me one step closer to my eventual move to Canada.
4. Sadly, and on a somewhat related note, Mark Foley (yeah, remember him?) barely AND I MEAN BARELY lost his seat to the Democratic challenger. The final totals were 48%-49%. That means nearly half of the people in his district were content with showing their support for a pedophile. That just frightens me. Really. Scandal-bound priests, I think we've found your safehaven.
5. Both Missouri and Montana are a bit of a shock to me. As I mentioned, I was a bit pessimistic about the American electorate after the 2004 debacle. It seems that the tides may really be turning, and it feels nice.
As the dust is beginning to settle and the reality of a House split from the President settles in, the city seems to be faring well. Come January, quite a few stuffy Republican staffers will be out a job. Hopefully, all I've heard about the party in power truly changing the landscape of the city will be true. We're in need of some new color. Did I mention that I'm partial to shades of blue?
Since the Iraq war seems to have been one of the decisive issues, I'd like to close by reminiscing about the "Say No to War in Iraq" sign that was proudly displayed in our yard and say only this: I told you so.
Flown by Mark Mislivec at 09:40 AM on November 08, 2006
