New Jersey, Virginia results send a message
OUR VIEWS: Administration should take heed
The Oklahoman Editorial
Comments
94
Published: November 5, 2009
THE White House reacted with a yawn to Tuesday’s election results in New Jersey and Virginia, where Republicans scored big gubernatorial victories. The buzz in Washington was that President Barack Obama didn’t bother to watch the returns on television.
Don’t believe it.
Obama made three trips to New Jersey and appeared at five events late in the campaign trying to save
Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine’s job in a blue state where Democrats outnumber Republicans by 10 points.
The president’s victory last year in bellwether Virginia supposedly marked a new era of progressive liberalism. No one’s talking about Democratic ascendancy in the
Old Dominion after Republican Bob McDonnell’s 18-point victory — basically, a 25-point swing from Obama’s seven-point triumph over
John McCain.
You bet New Jersey and Virginia mattered at the White House. As well they should.
Obama and top Democrats in Congress dismissed the summer’s tea parties and town hall protests as the work of right-wing rabble rousers. Tuesday’s election results should end their denial.
While it can be hard to extrapolate national trends from state elections, Tuesday’s vote showed that lots of Americans are dissatisfied with the country’s direction after nine months of policy from the Obama administration and the Democrat-controlled Congress.
Exit polling showed that almost 90 percent of New Jersey voters are concerned about the economy’s direction. In Virginia, it’s 85 percent. While Corzine in New Jersey and fellow
Democrat Creigh Deeds in Virginia had major negatives in their races unrelated to Obama, that strong undercurrent of dissatisfaction tracks directly to administration policies.
Most worrisome to the White House political team must be the wipeouts administered to Corzine and Deeds by independent voters who determine national elections. They reportedly favored
Chris Christie 60 percent to 30 percent and McDonnell by a whopping 66-33.
What does it mean? First, congressional Democrats in districts that went for
George W. Bush in 2004 or McCain last year now know Obama’s personal popularity isn’t transferrable when he’s not on the ballot — and he won’t be when they face voters next November. That should factor into the health care debate.
Second, the current economy truly is Obama’s responsibility now. Bush bashing doesn’t play anymore. Virginia, where Bush fatigue last year swung the commonwealth into the Democratic column for the first time since 1964, has swung back, with Republicans romping to double-digit victories in races for governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general.
If nothing else, Tuesday’s results warn against what could come in 2010’s midterm elections — nothing for the president and his team to yawn about.
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The 2000 Tennessee vote means what? (Not to mention, if I may ask a favor, Milk, please don't goad Bert into posting garbage like the Florida votes again.)
Presidential
Candidate Vice Presidential
Candidate Political
Party Popular Vote Electoral Vote
George W. Bush Richard Cheney Republican 1,061,949 51.15% 11
Albert Gore Jr. Joseph Lieberman Democratic 981,720 47.28% 0
Ralph Nader Winona LaDuke Independent 19,781 0.95% 0
Other (+) - - 12,731 0.61% 0
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Final certified results
Federal official vote for the state of Florida (25 electoral votes) Presidential candidate Vote total % Party
George W. Bush (W) 2,912,790 48.847 Republican
Al Gore 2,912,253 48.838 Democratic
Ralph Nader 97,421 1.634 Green
Patrick J. Buchanan 17,484 0.293 Reform
Harry Browne 16,415 0.275 Libertarian
John Hagelin 2,281 0.038 Natural Law/Reform
Howard Phillips 1,378 0.023 Constitution
Other 3,028 0.051 —
Total 5,963,110
Source: 2000 official presidential general election results
[edit] Results breakdown
[edit] By county
County Bush Votes Gore Votes Nader Votes Buchanan Votes
Alachua 40.28% 34,135 55.91% 47,380 3.81% 3,226 0% 0
Baker 69.65% 5,611 29.69% 2,392 0.66% 53 0% 0
Bay 66.26% 38,682 32.33% 18,873 1.42% 828 0% 0
Bradford 63.16% 5,416 35.86% 3,075 0.98% 84 0% 0
Brevard 53.1% 115,253 44.84% 97,341 2.06% 4,470 0% 0
Broward 31.06% 177,939 67.7% 387,760 1.24% 7,101 0% 0
Calhoun 56.69% 2,873 42.54% 2,156 0.77% 39 0% 0
Charlotte 53.26% 35,428 44.55% 29,636 2.2% 1,461 0% 0
Citrus 52.55% 29,801 45.02% 25,531 2.43% 1,379 0% 0
Clay 73.34% 41,903 25.67% 14,668 0.98% 562 0% 0
Collier 65.86% 60,467 32.61% 29,939 1.52% 1,399 0% 0
Columbia 60.02% 10,968 38.57% 7,049 1.41% 258 0% 0
De Soto 55.03% 4,256 42.94% 3,321 2.03% 157 0% 0
Dixie 58.64% 2,697 39.73% 1,827 1.63% 75 0% 0
Duval 57.91% 152,460 41.04% 108,039 1.05% 2,757 0% 0
Escambia 63.14% 73,171 35.37% 40,990 1.49% 1,727 0% 0
Flagler 46.82% 12,618 51.57% 13,897 1.61% 435 0% 0
Franklin 53.51% 2,454 44.64% 2,047 1.85% 85 0% 0
Gadsden 32.57% 4,770 66.48% 9,736 0.95% 139 0% 0
Gilchrist 62.18% 3,300 35.99% 1,910 1.83% 97 0% 0
Glades 55.14% 1,841 43.19% 1,442 1.68% 56 0% 0
Gulf 58.85% 3,553 39.72% 2,398 1.42% 86 0% 0
Hamilton 54.95% 2,147 44.1% 1,723 0.95% 37 0% 0
Hardee 60.9% 3,765 37.88% 2,342 1.21% 75 0% 0
Hendry 58.67% 4,747 40.04% 3,240 1.29% 104 0% 0
Hernando 47.31% 30,658 50.38% 32,648 2.32% 1,501 0% 0
Highlands 57.86% 20,207 40.57% 14,169 1.56% 545 0% 0
Hillsborough 50.52% 180,794 47.39% 169,576 2.09% 7,496 0% 0
Holmes 68.82% 5,012 29.89% 2,177 1.29% 94 0% 0
Indian River 58.02% 28,639 40.05% 19,769 1.92% 950 0% 0
Jackson 56.6% 9,139 42.55% 6,870 0.85% 138 0% 0
Jefferson 44.29% 2,478 54.35% 3,041 1.36% 76 0% 0
Lafayette 67.2% 1,670 31.75% 789 1.05% 26 0% 0
Lake 56.8% 50,010 41.54% 36,571 1.66% 1,460 0% 0
Lee 57.91% 106,151 40.13% 73,571 1.96% 3,588 0% 0
Leon 38.14% 39,073 59.97% 61,444 1.89% 1,934 0% 0
Levy 54.71% 6,863 43.03% 5,398 2.26% 284 0% 0
Liberty 55.5% 1,317 42.86% 1,017 0% 0 1.64% 39
Madison 49.75% 3,038 49.37% 3,015 0.88% 54 0% 0
Manatee 52.87% 58,023 44.86% 49,226 2.27% 2,491 0% 0
Marion 54.26% 55,146 43.96% 44,674 1.78% 1,809 0% 0
Martin 55.05% 33,972 43.14% 26,621 1.81% 1,118 0% 0
Miami-Dade 46.42% 289,574 52.72% 328,867 0.86% 5,352 0% 0
Monroe 47.75% 16,063 49.01% 16,487 3.24% 1,090 0% 0
Nassau 69.47% 16,408 29.45% 6,955 1.08% 255 0% 0
Okaloosa 74.38% 52,186 24.21% 16,989 1.4% 985 0% 0
Okeechobee 51.72% 5,057 46.94% 4,589 1.34% 131 0% 0
Orange 48.28% 134,531 50.33% 140,236 1.39% 3,879 0% 0
Osceola 47.57% 26,237 51.1% 28,187 1.33% 732 0% 0
Palm Beach 35.72% 152,964 62.99% 269,754 1.3% 5,564 0% 0
Pasco 48.46% 68,607 49.14% 69,576 2.4% 3,393 0% 0
Pinellas 46.73% 184,849 50.73% 200,657 2.53% 10,022 0% 0
Polk 53.89% 90,310 44.88% 75,207 1.23% 2,060 0% 0
Putnam 51.88% 13,457 46.67% 12,107 1.45% 377 0% 0
Santa Rosa 72.85% 36,339 25.7% 12,818 1.45% 724 0% 0
Sarasota 51.93% 83,117 45.53% 72,869 2.54% 4,069 0% 0
Seminole 55.34% 75,790 43.24% 59,227 1.42% 1,940 0% 0
St. Johns 65.62% 39,564 32.36% 19,509 2.02% 1,217 0% 0
St. Lucie 44.7% 34,705 53.53% 41,560 1.76% 1,368 0% 0
Sumter 54.95% 12,127 43.67% 9,637 1.39% 306 0% 0
Suwannee 65.3% 8,009 33.23% 4,075 1.47% 180 0% 0
Taylor 59.98% 4,058 39.15% 2,649 0.87% 59 0% 0
Union 61.76% 2,332 37.26% 1,407 0% 0 0.98% 37
Volusia 45.11% 82,368 53.3% 97,313 1.59% 2,903 0% 0
Wakulla 53.09% 4,512 45.16% 3,838 1.75% 149 0% 0
Walton 67.35% 12,186 31.19% 5,643 1.46% 265 0% 0
Washington 63.34% 4,995 35.48% 2,798 1.18% 93 0
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Also Bert, a request for "documentation" to me means links. I don't actually believe you just made up and typed the references you cite, but it's possible. BUT IT IS POSDSIBLE ? YOU ARE A NORMAL LIBERAL
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Congressional leaders, Democratic officials and Gore aides blamed the Palm Beach County election supervisor, Theresa LePore. Ms. LePore, who redesigned the county's ballot this year, said she had hoped to make it easier to read for the county's many elderly voters. Ms. LePore is a Democrat.
In an interview on Tuesday with the Sun-Sentinel of Fort Lauderdale, Ms. LePore said she did not think the ballot was confusing. ''I was trying to make the print bigger so elderly people in Palm Beach County can read it,'' she said. ''If I'd made it small, they would've said we made the print too small.''
The Palm Beach design was not used in any other Florida county
Salon.com
Some Florida Ballots Illegal, Dems Say
(The ballot designer, a Democrat, wonders why nobody told her about the problems in advance -- the answer is that she simply showed a sample to voters, she did not ask them to use the samples.)
[Palm Beach County] Supervisor of Elections Theresa LePore, a Democrat, insisted any confusion was unintentional and defended the layout of the cluttered ballots as necessary to get all the presidential candidates on facing pages while making the type large enough for [elderly] voters to read.
She also said that if it was so confusing, someone should have pointed it out to her earlier. "We sent out sample ballots to all registered voters, and no one said a word," she said.
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--Pathetic.
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their base of Progressives. Not because Sarah Limbaugh and Minnesota Bachmann have gone all wolverine.
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I figured, "like father,like son." 3 generations of Skull and Bones going back to grand dad. But Kerry was another bonesman.
No matter. The Illuminati has controlled the U.S. for years as all of you know. If you don't know then you may wish to do a little research. Unless you don't care to know like it seems with so many.
But I never figured Arnold would take Californication.
It has been proven time and time again that Governor's are elected on local issues. People vote with the candidate that they feel will best Govern the state or at least be better than the last guy. State level elections such as these are not national trends. Infact, in the last 16 or so years off year governor votes have traditionally moved away from the part in the white house. Be it Republican or Democrat.
What's worse is that you are supposed to be experts but all you do is rewrite what every other political columnist or editorial writer is putting in their paper.
Finally, let's not forget that the only federal level election went to Democrats. The upper NY State district has been Republican for 139 years and is, for the first time, represented by a Democrat. What does that say to Republicans? That the only election that affects their standing at a Federal level was lost?
Perhaps politics shouldn't be treated like the childish game this paper and so many others treat it as. It's about time that we look at the value of a person as a representative of a people and not the party they are assigned to. Everything about politics in modern America goes against the basic tenets of being a responsible adult:
Do not prejudge
Work with those with whom you disagree towards the best solution
Do not be so arrogant as to refuse to admit your follies
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http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2009/11/military_veteransbill_coburnhold_110309w/
Now this statement I agree with 100%, but I don't know what to do nor do I trust the idiots in DC to 'fix" this issue. Borrow and spend....Same song, second verse.
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