Per requests from BMR and SS, here are some random election thoughts:
My representative, Rick Boucher, was one of just a handful of surprising house results, according to Nate Silver's model. Not sure what to say about it...he was one of the most valuable Congressmen in the country for Democrats - a moderate Democrat in a pretty Republican district - and I guess his vote for Cap and Trade and the general Republican mood was just too much for him to sustain. I was surprised that Tom Perriello came closer than he did - I guess there's something to be said for running on your record to motivate your base to turn out. Speaking of which....
So what happened yesterday? Basically (1) the economy sucks and (2) old people showed up and young people didn't. Kind of depressing (and I don't mean in a "wow, it sucks that we lost" kind of way, but rather a "wow, our country is pretty apathetic" kind of way) that huge swings in our government can basically be dictated by who feels like showing up to do what took me about 10 minutes to do from the time I left my house to the time I got back.
I wonder how many of yesterday's voters know that our current huge deficits are not the result of spending skyrocketing under Obama?
To some extent I think it's bad for the Dems in the short run that they maintained the Senate - if the GOP controlled all of Congress, it would be all the best for demonstrating the contrast between them and Obama and easier to blame them for the continuing economic malaise (which will continue absent substantial intervention).
[From CloneBook] This isn't really related to the election, but this graph really illustrated how much of a role trust plays in politics - the extent to which voters mostly just follow politicians from "their" party irrespective of what policies they pursue, just as they would follow their favorite football team or whatever. So when Barack Obama proposes basically the same health care reform that ...the GOP promoted in 1994, Republicans call him a socialist. And when he also basically maintains Bush's policies on civil liberties and national security, the Left barely manages a whimper.
On a related note, holy crap is Virginia Tech football awesome and man are we going to destroy Georgia Tech tomorrow night!
On a related note, holy crap is Virginia Tech football awesome and man are we going to destroy Georgia Tech tomorrow night!
