Election Random Thoughts
Here are some random thoughts about the election. I'm also going back over my predictions to see how I did. I'm looking over results. I'll have more to write about later.
- I was one state off on my Electoral College prediction. It looks like Missouri will wind up going for McCain and North Carolina for Obama. I was off in Indiana. I said the Electoral College would be 353 to 185. The actual result is 364 to 174.
- I predicted the popular vote would be 52% to 45%, Obama over McCain. The actual result was 52% to 46%.
- Democrats pick up at least five seats in the Senate (Colorado, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina and Virginia) giving them a total of 56. Minnesota and Oregon are still to close to call, but they look like Republican retentions.
- Elizabeth Dole is no longer in the Senate. Good.
- Convicted felon Sen. Ted Stevens won re-election in Alaska. It's very likely that he won't be seated in the next Congress.
- Democrats picked up 17 seats in the House, pushing them to 252. Eleven seats are still undecided according to CNN, so that number could go up.
- Sen. Saxby Chambliss goes to a runoff with Jim Martin.
- Jim Marshall embarrassed Rick Goddard.
- As it stands right now, John Monds won four counties and received well over 1 million votes. Those are firsts for the Libertarian Party of Georgia.
- Republicans lost a net of two seats in the State House, losing four seats and picking up two.
- State Rep. Jill Chambers won re-election. I was wrong there. Congrats, Jill!
- There no losses for either party in the State Senate.
- In addition to the US Senate runoff, there will also be a runoff for Public Service Commission (District 4) and Georgia Court of Appeals.
- Listen to Grift and Wilson discuss the election here.
- Which way am I going on the Senate race?
- I was a presidential elector.
- I was also quoted over at Reason.
Comments
Someone needs to give an award to Janet Shellnutt and her staff at the Henry Election Commission for the absolutely superb job they did on the elections in Henry County. They did Henry County proud.
Kathy Gilbert
Posted by: Classical Jazz | November 5, 2008 12:16 PM
Sarah Palin will be the new Senator from Alaska once Stevens is ousted
Posted by: Koz | November 5, 2008 01:55 PM
I don't care for Saxby either, but there's no way I'm going to vote for Martin. Maybe I'll just stay at home.
I just poured over the Henry County results yesterday and I was fairly surprised at the numbers. The Democrats are going to make things interesting here in 2 years, particularly on the north side of county.
Posted by: Dutch | November 5, 2008 02:08 PM
I'm not thrilled with everything about Chambliss, but electing Martin puts the Senate one step closer to a Democratic super-majority. Preventing that should be the top priority now that the presidential race is over.
Posted by: Monroe Roark | November 5, 2008 02:50 PM
It should be noted that this will be the last election the GOP will dominate Henry County politics.
Joe Mack Eckler, who was unqualified for the Sheriff's job and who ran a poor campaign, won 42.4 percent of the vote against a well-qualified and well-thought-of Republican.
Oh sure, the Henry County GOP will still own the lion's share of seats for the foreseeable future, but it will never see the dominance that it has had over the past half decade.
As it stands, a well-thought-of moderate Democrat with roots in the county would stand a good chance in any election in Henry County, from commission chairman to state legislature to coroner.
Posted by: Doug | November 5, 2008 03:18 PM
Yes, Doug. The Eckler numbers were the most shocking for me. He got over 35,000 votes and