Oh, Happy Day!

I'll have more later but, for me, it's a great result nationally and a mixed-to-bad bag at the state level. (4.00 / 2)

Nationally, we are undergoing a realignment. As Douthat noted in the New York Times, Obama's coalition is basically McGovern's. The difference is that McGovern's 40-odd-percent is now a decisive majority. Republicans are convinced that their mistakes are tactical and that Romney could have possibly gotten to 270. The more interesting question might be why Republicans' best case scenario was always little over 270. While they try to figure this out, Obama can attempt to govern. And he can exert more political pressure on the House than in the past because they've got an election coming up in less than two years and he doesn't.

At the state level, the green shoots I hoped for just were not there with the candidates. I thought Obama needed to break 40% for Vance to win. He didn't and Vance narrowly lost. I find it somewhat discouraging that the demographic trends going on elsewhere in the South (Virginia, Florida, North Carolina) aren't having the same effect here. We lagged all of our peers in the Deep South in support for Obama. And a Democrat with everything going for him (including a great campaign) and plenty of bipartisan support could not eke out a victory in the CJ race.

Two small positive takeaways though. One, as noted, JeffCo has become decidedly Democratic across the board. I agree that the party has to start there and move out, but I fear what is going to happen is simply a widening gulf between the rural and urban parts of the state. Second, the voters are more willing than before to vote "yes". Some of the amendments approved were bad; some were excellent. The approval of 9 and 10 and the willingness of voters to approve even quasi-controversial amendments like Forever Wild is a good sign for the future work of the revision commission.

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by: bluebearcat @ Wed Nov 07, 2012 at 15:15:09 PM UTC

Not grokking your Obama 40% (4.00 / 1)

Why would Obama's breaking 40% of the vote have helped Vance?  Vance, according to results listed at www.myvotealabama.com, Vance won 970,533 votes while Obama only won 793,582 votes.  Even if you added the votes for Stein, Johnson and Goode to Obama's figures, Vance still had >158K votes than Obama.  

What this basically means is that a fair number of GOP voters took Kennedy's advice and broke with their party and voted against Moore (Romney pulled in >206K more votes than Moore--that shows, to me at least, the number of SENSIBLE GOPers living in this state).

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by: BamaRainbow @ Wed Nov 07, 2012 at 23:55:38 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

My theory is that Vance more or less maxed out the number of votes he could get from Republicans... (4.00 / 1)

I'm not sure how much a campaign he could have run in terms of TV and such to appeal to GOP and independent voters. It really was a great campaign.

What he needed was a marginally closer presidential race. I thought all along he was going to outperform Obama by ten or so points. He did. If he could have pulled an additional 36-37K Obama straight ticket voters and if we had had 36-37K fewer Romney straight ticket voters, he would have won. But that's not his fault. That's just where we are right now as a party. I think Kennedy is doing a fine job as party chairmen in probably the most difficult state in the country to hold that position (even Utah has been able to elect a Dem in a non-VRA district). 

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by: bluebearcat @ Thu Nov 08, 2012 at 14:30:45 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Vance started late (4.00 / 1)

and then there was the embarrasment of the previous "candidate."  I hope Vance runs again in the next election, for whatever seat is available.  Or, maybe challenge Roby.

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by: Doggone @ Thu Nov 08, 2012 at 14:54:36 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

One of my favorite tweets last night (4.00 / 3)

and one that perfectly encapsulates the GOP's long term problem with women & younger voters:

"The Rape guy lost" "Which one?" Your party has serious issues if people have to ask "Which one?"

"The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness."  - John Kenneth Galbraith

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by: countrycat @ Wed Nov 07, 2012 at 15:43:35 PM UTC

Senator-elect Heidi Heitkamp (4.00 / 2)

Democrats win another Senate seat, this one in North Dakota.  More women than ever in the US Senate.  More progressive Democrats (not that Heitkamp will be very progressive) in the Senate than I can remember.

Work harder and work smarter!

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by: mooncat @ Wed Nov 07, 2012 at 18:29:12 PM UTC

Thank you for getting the word out on Amendment 4. Victory for schools. (4.00 / 3)

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by: henrycmabry @ Wed Nov 07, 2012 at 20:36:34 PM UTC

You're welcome (0.00 / 0)

I'd love to see AEA pushing for real constitutional reform next session, that includes removal of the segregationist language AND reaffirmation of the right to a public education. 

Work harder and work smarter!

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by: mooncat @ Fri Nov 09, 2012 at 14:32:20 PM UTC

[ Parent ]