Iyow - in your own words

What happened in my country last week? The American public voted decisively for change. And their anger seems directed at the Republican party, more than at the Iraq War or President Bush. This suggests a general feeling of malaise, that things aren’t going as they ought, but nothing specific. No Democratic incumbent lost, whether they voted for the Iraq War, ran in Hurricane Katrina-affected districts, or had political baggage of their own.

And kibbosh on the notion that ’ they shoulda won more’ – this was the most number of seats lost by a sixth-year president since Eisenhower. Most importantly, they won back both houses despite having significantly less support from the moneymen. (Notwithstanding any defections.) Previous Democratic National Chair Terry McAuliffe was esteemed as a fund-raiser, but couldn’t failed when it came to the only metric that really counts – winning elections.

Yet, Americans don’t seem particularly mad at President Bush. Though Congressmen up for re-election sought to distance themselves from the President and the perceived failures of Iraq and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, it didn’t seem to be a determining factor at the regional level.

For example, incumbent Senator Joe Lieberman fought back furiously against upstart challenger Ned Lamont, as well as anger from his own party for his alignment with the President – and won resoundingly in Connecticut. In contrast, moderate Lincoln Chaffee of Rhode Island – the only Republican to vote against going to war in Iraq – was voted out in favor of his Democratic opponent.

And Hurricane Katrina? No Louisiana incumbent lost* his job, Republican or Democrat! *The one to-be-determined is Democrat Congressman Jefferson’s race which will go to a run-off. For Jefferson, a run-off is a decent result for an entirely separate reason – he’s given new meaning to the words ‘cold, hard cash’.

Notable elections in my part of the country:

• Deborah Bowen won Secretary of State election – a good thing for electronic voting accountability.

• Gas tax for energy alternatives subsidies lost—too bad for all the muscle former President Clinton had put in those ads.

• Sexual predator tracking proposition passed.

• No on 48-hour parental notification requirement for teenagers seeking abortion – though the margin of loss (54 to 46%) was close than I would’ve guessed around here.

And Arnold of course… though he’s lost the faith of many pillars of California public service (the teachers, the nurses, law enforcement and firefighters, anyone in a union), earnest Phil Angelides couldn’t truly challenge the starpower and charisma of California’s Govinator, aka the Gropinator, as the center-left has dubbed him.