On Tuesday, November 6th over 120 million votes were cast in the election for President of the United States. A voter turnout of 57.5%, down from 2008 (62.3%) and 2004 (60.4%), but up from the 2000 election turnout rate of 54.2%. One of the highest voter turnout rates in the nation came from the battleground of Iowa (and home of this writer) with over 1.5 million votes tallied equaling a rate of 71.7%, second highest mark in state history. Way to go Iowa!
1.) A country voted. People exercised their rights as Americans, candidates were chosen, and after months of negative political ads, of pundit sniping, of record numbers in campaign contributions, almost EVERYTHING stayed the same. Look at the numbers:
2008 Presidential Election: Senator Barack Obama (53%) Defeats Senator John McCain (45.7%). Total votes cast: 129,446,455. Electoral: Obama - 365, McCain - 173
2012 Presidential Election: President Barack Obama (51%) Defeats Mitt Romney (48%). Total votes cast: 120,565,359. Electoral: Obama - 332, Romney - 206.
2010 Congress/Senate Election: House/Senate: GOP: 242/47, Dems: 193/51, Ind: 0/2
2012 Congress/Senate Election*: House/Senate: GOP: 233/45, Dems: 194/53, Ind: TBD/2
The Difference: Under 9 million less votes for the Presidential Election, GOP picks up 33 Electoral votes (and is still crushed), House about the same (multiple elections still being decided), and the Dems pick up 2 Senate seats. Cost of the Presidential Election: 1.6 billion dollars. Total cost of all elections: 6 billion.
Let that sink in a little. Cost of the Presidential Election: 1.6 billion dollars. Total cost of all elections: 6 billion dollars. Mind blowing. Let's chat a little bit about this number. The median income in the US is around $29,000. If you saved every single penny and never spent a CENT, it would take you 206,892 YEARS to make 6 billion dollars. Let's say you have 6 billion dollars, what would you buy. Now I know me. I am a man of simple wants. If I was a billionaire I would want a few simple things:
Chicago Theatre Company: ($35 Mil)
Season Tickets to the Cubs for Life: (Assuming I live to be 85, $12.1 Mil)
Personal Masseuse ($254,000)
1968 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 ($120,000)
Chrysler 300 (I'm rich so how about a few) (Whole 2013 series- $200,000)
An Island w/ a Castle ($25 Mil)
Maybe a small town ($900,000)
Booth Wanted Poster ($200,000)
Original Playbill from Julius Caesar ($40,000)
T-shirt gun: (Lim. Ed. Nike $1,500)
 |
| My Island Castle |
Total Cost: $73,815,500. Oh crap. I still have to spend nearly 5.9 billion dollars. What is a guy to do.
What about a race that wasn't the Presidential one. In the Indiana Senate, Democrat Joe Donnelly defeated Republican Richard Mourdock in a heated race. Total amount spent: 25 Million. Donnelly received about 1.2 million votes and Mourdock received 1.1 million. Based on the amount of money that each spent, Donnelly spent $9 per vote and Mourdock spent $12 per vote in defeat.
6 Billion dollars, the most costly election in history, both financially and perhaps morally. Just amazing. And we wonder why we are in debt.
2.) Super PACS run politics in America. For just the Presidential election here are the top ten contributors to the major campaigns, nine are SuperPACS and nine are Republican.
Name $$$ Raised Party Affiliation
- Restore our Future $142,645,946 (R)
- American Crossroads $91,115,402 (R)
- Priorities USA Action $66,482,084 (D)
- RNC $40,166,559 (R)
- Americans for Prosperity $33,564,920 (R)
- Crossroads GPS $22,133,006 (R)
- American Future Fund $19,038,220 (R)
- Winning Our Future $17,008,038 (R)
- Americans for Job Security $15,223,067 (R)
- Ending Spending Action Fund $9,928,188 (R)
We need to fix campaign finance. Al Franken, I believe in you.
3.) I never have fully agreed with the way that Keith Olbermann presents the news, but I am reminded of a segment he did on MSNBC's Countdown every night, "The worst person in the world." Well, here is my list for the worst people of the 2012 election cycle.
- Congressional Candidate Gabriela Mercer for comparing all "middle Easterners" to "Mexicans" and saying "those people, their goal in life is to cause had to the United States."
- John Koster, Todd Akin, and Richard Mourdock for you know, that whole "rape thing."
- Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell: "The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president." Good work Mitch.
- Michele Bachmann, Newt Gingrich, and Herman Cain: Do I really need to explain why? One thing, a Bachmann Prediction for election day: "I believe 2012 will be a wave election that goes all the way across the US, it will even take in the Golden State." Claiming that California would be a red state. Oh Michele, Obama won by 20%.
- Dick Morris and Jim Kramer: For making the two stupidest predictions of the campaign season. Morris: Predicted a Romney landslide of epic proportions. Kramer: "The Presidential race is nowhere as close as the polls suggest." His projection. Obama-440/Romney-98. He said Texas would be blue.
- Jeffrey Toobin: For his declaration on the death of Obamacare. "a train-wreck for the Obama Administration." Oops.
- All of Fox News: Duh
- Most of CNN: Also Duh. But still love me some Anderson Cooper
- Florida: From their mini-book of a ballot to the fact they still cannot count ballots.
- Arizona: Also cannot count ballots. I know I worked there. It hasn't improved.
Much like on Countdown here is the medal rounds:
Bronze: Karl Rove. The once great orchestrator of the Bush campaign victories looked like a bumbling, stumbling fool on election night. Especially when FOX NEWS even started to go against him. If you haven't seen the footage, watch the daily show from November 7th. Classic.
Silver: Chris Matthews. I know, shocked aren't you? I chose a Democrat. Chris Matthews is the reason why sometimes I hate the party that I am affiliated with. He is not a newsman, he is a moron. Here is his quote from election night. "I'm so glad we had that storm last week because I think the storm was one of those things. No, politically I should say. Not in terms of hurting people. The storm brought in possibilities for good politics." Chris Matthews has always been a windbag, but now he is a pompous asshole. I wish I could give him the gold, but there is one other person.
Gold: The Donald. Could anyone else have won this award? Donald Trump is 100%, bonafide, bat-shit crazy. From his four year tirade of the President on whether or not he is an American, to his own "run" for President, to his new call for the President's grades from college. But election night brought out another side of Donald. Not the demented, conspiracy nut-bag, but the tea-bag, musket holding, revolutionary nut bag. A few "tweets" from Election night: "This election is a total sham and a travesty. We are not a democracy," and "Lets fight like hell and stop this great and disgusting injustice! The world is laughing at us." He went on to talk about how the Electoral college is a joke and how Romney won, which he didn't. Then he went…cuckoo. "We can't let this happen. We should march on Washington and stop this travesty. Our nation is totally divided," and the great finale, "We should have a revolution in this country." The Donald is the Worst Person in the World.
4.) America likes Gay marriage and Weed. Hooray. No real comments here other than I am supremely happy. For the marijuana issue, I am excited to begin making money off of the stuff instead of fighting a war that is meaningless. For the Gay Marriage issue, anyone who knows me knows that this was definitely the highlight of my election night. Equality. “At some point in our lifetime, gay marriage won't be an issue, and everyone who stood against this civil right will look as outdated as George Wallace standing on the school steps keeping James Hood from entering the University of Alabama because he was black.” ~George Clooney.
5.) Amongst the many victories that occurred on Tuesday from the Senate in Mass. to the Senate in Wisconsin. From the White House in DC to the churches in Washington, there were a few losses that hit me quite hard. I wish to end my rant by thanking a few people for running and one for his dedicated service.
Mike Henning for State House Montana-17: I didn't vote in this election, I don't know Mike Henning, and I barely know where District 17 is on a map of Montana. My connection to this race is with his daughter, Amber, a friend and former fellow camper with me at Missoula Children's Theatre. When Mike first ran in 2010, Amber told me about his campaign, and then after his defeat I watched his 2012 campaign closely, well as closely as one can from across the country. I don't like Mike Henning because I know his daughter. Some of my friends worked for Romney, some hate Obama, and even one worked on the Todd Akin campaign, a man whose existence in politics makes me squeamish, so obviously I don't always listen to my friends. I like Mike Henning because of his dedication to his family, because of his steadfast determination to his job and to his state, but most importantly because of his views of education. For me, education is right behind gay rights on the political scale of most important issues in my book. In the recent legislative session, Montana is one of the few states that has a large (450+ Million) surplus, but has failed to help students with the money that they have allocated. His opponent, a woman by the name of Christy Clark voted multiple times against education (I know, broad term) in Montana by voting for a 5% raise in tuition, by attempting to destroy teacher retirement, and finally she voted for HB 154, a bill that sought to eliminate the BA degree requirement for a Superintendent of Public Instruction. All of this might seem small to you, but these measures, especially the last one are incredibly important. Coming from a town which has suffered under the leadership of terrible Superintendents, I understand the value of adequately preparing people for the jobs that they are to undertake. I wish I could make it a masters mandatory, but I am not in the house. Mike is a dedicated serviceman and a fantastic advocate for the young people of Montana and his opponent, frankly, is not. Mike, "Montana deserves better and I want to do what is right for the people in my district." Unfortunately, Mike will not get that chance as he lost his race to Clark. I hope for the sake of many issues, some not discussed here, that Mike Henning will run again. Hopefully third time will be the charm.
Nate Willems is a wonderful father, husband, and has been a great member of the State House for Iowa since 2009. His wife went to school with my siblings and is a teacher at my old high school and both of the Willems have been good friends to me and my family for many years. This year, after re-districting, Nate decided to run for State Senate and in a shocker, to me at least, he was defeated by Dan Zumbach. Unlike Mike Henning above a lot of the people who will read this blog know Nate and all I wish to do is thank him for his service to our state, to our neighborhood. Janette Voss of Ryan says this on his campaign website, "Nate will do a great job representing rural Eastern Iowa in the State Senate. He works hard; he shares our common sense values. He is an effective leader for all Iowans." Simple. True. Honest.
Finally, Ron Barber. As of the publishing of this blog post, Ron is ahead in the count.
Ron Barber: 132,750
Martha McSally: 132,420
 |
| Ron and Gabby triumphant |
Difference: Barber +330
When election night was drawing to a close he was down by over a thousand votes. There are still many more ballots to count, but as of now it looks like Ron is on the uptake. I hope and pray that he wins. This seat is very personal to me. In 2010 I worked the grassroots campaign to try and get the last Democrat that stood in the Winner circle elected. That was Gabrielle Giffords. Giffords, of course has since resigned to continue her recovery and Barber, her district director, also wounded in the shooting, ran in a special election and has served for the past few months. I know Ron Barber, not very well, but from what I do know of him, he is a man of steadfast integrity, of great moral judgment, and of honest humanity. Essentially, he is the male Gabby. If he wins, Arizona will be the better for it. But if he is destined to lose, I thank him for his service.
The 2012 Election is over. Please can we get on with the governing now.
(Next blog post: Why the purchase of Lucasfilm by the Disney Corporation is a good thing)
No comments:
Post a Comment