Flumesday.com - Vote or Don't 2006: Election Results

VOTE OR DON'T 2006

SENATE

You may be wondering what on earth the yellow state is. Yeah, for some reason CNN did not include this on its legend. Well that little yellow state represents Joe Lieberman who ran as an independent because he couldn't win the Democratic primary. Thanks Joe for reminding everyone how you cheaply got yourself re-elected to the Senate. But more important, as you see from the map, the Democrats replaced Republican senators in 4 states. Bob Casey ousted the smug ultra-Conservative Rick Santorum, who lost by an 18% margin despite putting his ugly children in a political ad. Yes it's mean to call someone's children ugly, but if you put them on T.V., they're fair game. Santorum was apparently a neo-con presidential hopeful. Not no more. In Ohio, incumbent senator Mike DeWine fell to Congressman Sherrod Brown, who I was surprised to learn is not black. In Missouri, Claire McCaskill defeated incumbent Jim Talent who resembles an aged Skippy from Family Ties. And in Peter Griffin's home state of Rhode Island, former state attorney general Sheldon Whitehouse unseated first-term Republican Senator Lincoln Chafee. At the time of this posting, senate races in Montana and Virginia are too close to call according to CNN. The Democrats need both to take control of the Senate.

HOUSE

Eh, this map is a mess. but the important thing is that the Democrats whooped some serious ass, gaining 28 seats in Congress. I wouldn't be surprised if new Speaker Nancy Pelosi does a touchdown dance during her victory speech. No one could have expected such a dominant reclamation of the House of Representatives from a party that's been asleep the last 10 years. I suppose on the local level, Americans, mostly independents and moderates, felt the Republicans were not addressing their needs and went for the Democrats. Races that I was interested in: football great Lynn Swann lost in his bid to become Pennsylvania governor. Football failure Heath Schuler beat a Republican incumbent for a Congressional seat in North Carolina. As MSNBC commentator Keith Olbermann put it, "he finally completed something." And John Hall, the front man for the band Orleans known for the 1976 smash hit "Still the One", grabbed a Republican congressional seat in upstate New York.

•CNN: America Votes 2006
•Boston Globe: A Change Of Course
•NYT: A Loud Message For Bush