An Unusual Election Day

Tomorrow, Democrats are going to be drinking a lot of champagne. A quick skim of the centrist or conflicted bloggers shows them all leaning to the left. The Times doesn't mince words.

I would ordinarily be gleefully pulling the Democratic lever in Senate race for New Jersey, except the Democrats have gone and put Menendez in that column. Ugh. Ordinarily, when faced with a politician riddled with corruption, my finger might waver over to the other column, especially when the other candidate is so likable. But these are not ordinary times. So, I'm keeping my wavering finger steady and pulling the lever for every Democrat in that column.

I will have to vote Republican in my town, because the local Democrats have inexplicably chosen to run on an All Old People platform.

What's going to happen on Wednesday, when the hangovers wear off and the Democrats get control over Congress with a lame duck Republican president? I don't know. Tomorrow is a sure thing. Wednesday is anybody's guess.

Comments

[dave s]

Your choice reminds me of the 1991 Louisiana Duke-Edwards campaign for which people not in the Edwards campaign produced the bumper sticker "Vote For the Crook. It's Important."

It's not the choice I would make if I were in Jersey - besides the obvious that Tom Kean is not David Duke, it seems likely to me that the Reeps will keep the Senate, and I would rather the majority caucus included Kean than not.

[Laura]

It's going to be all about the war today, Dave S. Kean's social politics are pretty moderate, but that's not important right now.

[bj]

You are more optimistic than I. I was devestated in 2004; I simply could not understand how people would chose to keep things the same. We had foreign visitors, and she spent the day after the election hearing my sisters and I talk about which hill we were going to defend with our lives.

This election is even harder, because in order to vote for a change you have to vote in your own individual local election, where the choices are more complicated.

bj

[Dr. Manhattan]

I hope the CW - that Democrats will capture the house but not the Senate - is accurante. For a devotee of divided government , it's the best possible option - in that it increases the likelihood of gridlock at the congressional level and decreases the chances of more budget-busting bills making it to the Oval Office for signature. I'm hoping.
I will be curious to see how well Lamont does tonight. The worst outcome for Kos would be if both he and Tester lose.
My own voting instincts have always been to do the opposite of whatever the NYT recommends. Perhaps not the most mature viewpoint, but as a first principle you could do much worse.