Because the messages and the point of the election will and has been discussed and dissected by minds far greater then mine, here are a few points I'd like to make
1) If you live on the coasts (Pacific, Northeast, State of New York) it really does suck to be a republican. Connecticut sent a liar and a shameful individual to the Senate in place of a respectable business woman. New York went hardcore liberal (though some of the candidates turned out to have been a bad choice, more on that later), Delaware sent a Marxist over a (flawed) citizen politician, Massachusettes re-sent the man responsible for the housing crisis (Bwaney Fwank) back to Washington while also sending their horrible governor back. No idea what will happen in Washington State with Dino Rossi. It does beg the question what does it take to crack the coast. Don't get me wrong I'm thrilled that most of the center of the country is dark red, but what does it take to make progress in democrat strongholds?
1a) Nowhere is this more evident then in California. Sending Governor Moonbeam back to Sacramento and Boxer back to Washington is disgraceful, I do not know how these individuals were victorious over the two most successful female CEOs in history. No new house seats, limited gains in the assembly and senate, and worst of all in this hand, no pot. How am I supposed to deal with this? You look at a map of California and with the exception of this stretch of land up the coast from Los Angeles to the Oregon border, its basically all red. It might be time to form two separate states, if not more. i'm game breaking off San Diego, Imperial, Orange, Riverside and San bernadino counties to form its own state. Who's with me? I just worry things will not get any better for the Golden State; we are drowning in debt and obligations only to elect people who are beholden to, and are among, those who got us into this damn mess. We might become the first federal state.
2) Outside the coasts and a few races (namely Nevada, damn you harry reid!) The map was very heavily painted red. Republicans swept Florida, Missouri and other states taking the house and closing the gap in the senate. The party also won almost a dozen governor's races stretching throughout the middle of the country and control numerous state legislatures. The Republicans did well and the message has been the right one; that the party is on probation until it can prove it learnt its lesson from 2001-2006. I like alot of the candidates that have won in the house especially Allen West, Daniel Webster & Jon Runyan. I'm hoping this group doesn't make the mistakes of the past
3) What does this election mean for the tea party? It's 50/50. They found some absolute gems in this election cycle but also found weaker candidates. I can't deny that where Marco Rubio and Rand Paul and Allen West and Pat Toomey are outstanding men and look to be future stars in the GOP. But Sharon Angle, Christine O'Donnell and others were definitely weak candidates primarily because they were citizen politicians who made poor decisions early on. There has to be a better selection process and a better hunt for candidates; maybe some of that was because of how late the Tea Party got involved in the process but there has to be more quality control on the candidates to find better people who can control what's going on from the get go. Anyone think marco rubio would have beaten harry reid?
4) The real thing I'm scratching my little wooden head on is how Americans state they don't want packaged and prepared politicians but citizens running, and then when actual citizens run, they run away. Carly Fiorina, Meg Whitman, Linda McMahon (oh gee look, all female candidates, all ignored by the feminists for being anti-women or not real women, I think the rank and file feminists would be wise to look at what their organizations are actually doing) were all outstanding individuals with personal success but were ignored in favor of individuals who have been in the system and sucking off the government teat their entire career. I will never get this.
5) Most damning of all is the GOP Establishment. Their failure to either unite behind candidates (Joe Miller, Christine O'Donnell) or the selection of pathetic candidates (Colorado Governor, Mike Castle, Charlie Crist) and the failure to truly create an agenda for the candidates to run on was pathetic. If anything this election shows that the republicans could win heavy even despite the failures of the republicans. They can't do this again in 2012, they must establish an identity and credentials and not just allow Obama to collapse. People will not go with the devil they don't know over the devil they do. The GOP establishment in both house/senate leadership as well as head of the party for fundraising needs to be changed, immediately.
6) Prsonally speaking I wish I could be happy with what happened but I just feel like this was opportunity wasted. With all the fire and the passion of the tea party and the movement against Obama, there was little to show for it in areas that really aren't under republican control. We have made great gains but I wish more had been done.
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