Tuesday, November 03, 2009
Election Night
No great surprise Chris Christie beat Jon Corzine. He did it handily, without carrying Bergen County, & he carried Middlesex. Neither of the candidates was a strong campaigner. Corzine had so much going against him, not least of which was a lack of enthusiasm among Democrats. Very few Corzine signs on lawns of this Democratic city, with no local races cranking up the GOTV machines. Obama's young supporters didn't vote. Younger people never did in large numbers before Obama, why would they this year? Many of Obama's independent suburban voters went for Christie or stayed home. While Christie's win is played as a massive defeat for Obama, this was a Jersey election on Jersey issues, & the toughest issues were mostly not discussed. It wasn't about giving back the stimulus money. Christie is a "moderate" as Repugs go, from the North Jersey establishment of Kean & Whitman. He began appealing to the Repug hard right only when polls showed his comfortable lead slipping. We don't really know the man. He ran bland.
In addition to the recession & the state's economic woes, we had the sorry spectacle this year of a wave of corruption indictments against Democrats. In the middle of the campaign, Corzine showed he had no power over the South Jersey boss, George Norcross, who couldn't wait until after the election to topple Senate President Dick Codey, a popular Democrat in North Jersey. The Democratic Party has to get a better face on in New Jersey.
The surprise was Mayor Mike Bloomberg's narrow win. He needed to spend a hundred million to win. With a better financed campaign, William Thompson might have beat him. There was more resentment against his overturning term limits than he had thought, & he did poorly with minorities. NYC voters voted for term limits, & their will was ignored.
The Democrat has apparently won NY-23, the upstate congressional district where the national teabaggers, Palin, Glen Beck, etc., drove out the legit Repug candidate because she wasn't a lockstep wingnut & homobigot. But Obama carried the district last year. Even Newt warned them to let her to run her own race. Repugs had held that seat for like 100 years. Now they won't.
Virginia is a conservative state. McDonnell outspent & narrowly beat Creigh Deeds for attorney general four years ago. He only serves one term.
In addition to the recession & the state's economic woes, we had the sorry spectacle this year of a wave of corruption indictments against Democrats. In the middle of the campaign, Corzine showed he had no power over the South Jersey boss, George Norcross, who couldn't wait until after the election to topple Senate President Dick Codey, a popular Democrat in North Jersey. The Democratic Party has to get a better face on in New Jersey.
The surprise was Mayor Mike Bloomberg's narrow win. He needed to spend a hundred million to win. With a better financed campaign, William Thompson might have beat him. There was more resentment against his overturning term limits than he had thought, & he did poorly with minorities. NYC voters voted for term limits, & their will was ignored.
The Democrat has apparently won NY-23, the upstate congressional district where the national teabaggers, Palin, Glen Beck, etc., drove out the legit Repug candidate because she wasn't a lockstep wingnut & homobigot. But Obama carried the district last year. Even Newt warned them to let her to run her own race. Repugs had held that seat for like 100 years. Now they won't.
Virginia is a conservative state. McDonnell outspent & narrowly beat Creigh Deeds for attorney general four years ago. He only serves one term.
Labels: New Jersey politics
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"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." Thomas Jefferson
I'm very curious to see how a Christie governorship pans out, but if he promised to increase Homestead Rebates and reduce taxes, the only way he's gonna be able to do that is through borrowing billions and billions of dollars the state doesn't have.
He might turn out to be a feisty economic conservative. But then he'll have to propose cuts that affect more than invisible poor people. I hope he stays away from the social values issues Repugs use to divide & conquer.
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