TW: Lost somewhat in the excitement about Obama's victory is the fact that the Dems underperformed expectations in Congress. There was talk of 60 Senate seats and picking up 25-35 House seats. It appears the Dems will pick up 5 Senate seats with OR/MN and maybe GA going to re-counts. Alaska managed to re-elect a convicted felon which speaks to the wackiness of that state (but then are we surprised, btw Stevens will be tossed from the Senate as they do not take to having felons sit there which means my girlfriend will appoint his successor). I am very bummed if Franken comes up short in MN but that one is not done yet. Gordon Smith in OR is a good Senator so worse could happen than his re-election.
In the House the Dems appear to have picked up about 15 seats, not bad but not a wave. They lost 4 seats inc. 3 picked up in 2004. Some real knuckleheads like Michelle Bachman in MN made it through which again speaks to the lack of clear wave amidst the economic carnage. With the defeat of Chris Shays in CT the Republicans now have ZERO House seats in New England.
Why? I think the "socialist/Joe the plumber" trope gained traction the last week of the campaign. I strongly disagree with that trope but I think it worked.
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Democracy at its best.
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