November 2006 Election: U.S. Is Bluer

Man, I bet they're popping Xanax or Rolaids in the White House this morning. Bush has never had to deal with an opposition party so the next two years will be interesting. The Republicans controlled both houses in Texas when he was Governor and the U.S. Congress for the past six years.

So much happened yesterday I don't know where to start. I think for the purposes of organization, I'll separate things by geography.

New York State: Statewide Offices
• As expected, Eliot Spitzer swept into the Governor's mansion. The position reverts to Democrats after several terms under moderate Republican George Pataki who is expected to make a Presidential bid in 2008.
• Andrew Cuomo, son of former NY Governor Mario Cuomo, will be the next Attorney General.
• Alan Hevesi, despite a scandal where he used government funds to pay for a driver for his wife (that he repaid when he got caught), was returned to the office of Comptroller.

New York State: Federal Offices
• Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand wrestled the 20th Congressional seat from 4-term Republican John Sweeney after a bruising battle that she won by 6%. She'll be part of the new Democratic majority in the House of Representatives. Her television ads that broke over the weekend basically called Sweeney a drunk-driving, wife-beating, Abramoff-associating, Bush syncophant. The heavily Republican district evidently agreed. I called this one in a previous post last month.
• U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton cruised to victory.

United States: Statewide Offices
• Six state houses changed hands putting Dems in a majority of governorships for the first time in 12 years by 28 to 22.
• Massachusetts, New York, and Ohio haven't had Democratic governors in decades.
• California Governor Schwarzenegger, the lone GOP bright spot, won easily after moderating his stances last year.

United States: Federal Offices
• Control of the U.S. Senate remains unknown as the race in Virginia is still too close to call. In the case of 50-50 votes, dead-eye Vice President Dick Cheney is the constitutional mechanism to act as a tie breaker.
Update: Virginia goes to Democrat Jim Webb, making the Senate 51-49 in favor of the Democrats, and ending an evening where they picked up 6 seats.
• Katherine Harris, purveyor of national elections and the hugest fan of Tammy Faye Baker mascara, lost her bid for the Senate seat from Florida.
• Control of the U.S. House of Representatives swung to the Democrats 230-205.
• The citizens of Pennsylvania finally woke up and gave the bestiality-obsessed Catholic Rick Santorum the boot. Try googling "Santorum"...hehe.
• Joe Lieberman came back from a Democratic primary defeat as an Independent to retain his seat.
• Marilyn Musgrave of Colorado's District 4 won with less than 50% of the vote as an Independent siphoned off 11% of the total. She's the krazy Khristian bigot that introduces the Federal Marriage Amendment to ban same-sex marriage in the U.S. Constitution. Now it has no hope of making it out of committee. She'll have to confer with her Colorado Springs constituent former-Rev. Haggard on their next steps. Maybe he can give her a bump of crystal meth to ease her election night pain.

Ballot Initiatives and Referendums
• Colorado, Idaho, South Carolina, South, Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia, and Wisconsin all banned same-sex marriage.
• Colorado also rejected a pro domestic partnership measure.
• Arizona rejected a ban on same-sex marriage that also would have included civil unions and domestic partnerships. Many thanks to our friends in the Valley of the Sun.
• South Dakota rejected a ban on virtually all abortions by a 55-45 margin.
• Missouri approved protecting stem cell research in the state.