Midterms 2010: Biggest Wins and Losses

Midterms 2010: Biggest Wins and Losses

Billed as the most exciting and cutthroat midterms in a long time, yesterday's election panned out essentially how the pundits said it would. The Democrat's losses were monumental, costing some serious, moderate candidates office because of the wave-style of the Republican wins.

The Democrats' Biggest Losses
The party in power barely hung onto the Senate two nights ago, and the House was cleanly called for the former minority early on. Some of the most important races for Democrats became the easiest for the Republicans to win.
Joe Sestak in Pennsylvania- Sestak is a Democratic Pennsylvanian Congressman who beat Senator Arlen Specter in the Democratic primary for Senate (Specter was a Republican senator until last year, when he switched parties). Sestak was a promising candidate who had the potential to be a real ally for President Obama in the Senate, but he was unable to win the seat.
Florida Senate- In probably one of the strangest races this year, the independent candidate- Florida Governor Charlie Christ- had a much better chance than the democrat, Kendrick Meek. Christ, though he is traditionally a Republican, would have been a much better compromiser in the Senate than the Senator-to-be, Marco Rubio. Christ is much more moderate and undeniably more ready to work with the Democrats.
The House of Representatives- The absolutely least surprising of the Democratic losses, but it is the most monumental in what it means for the entire country. This loss changes the entire leadership in the House (most notably unseating Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House) and creates a split-party majority in Congress.

The Democrats' Biggest Wins
So it wasn't the Democrats' night. However, there were some important gains and retainment of seats by the Democrats.
Harry Reid- Senator Reid faced a tough, if highly criticized, opponent in Republican Sharron Angle. Reid's win, in addition to the Democrat's recapture of the Senate, secured him the majority leader spot, the highest legislative position in the Senate.
Christine O'Donnell- The Delaware Senate race was the least surprising wins for Democrats (O'Donnell was declared the loser quickly after the polls closed in Delaware) but an important one nonetheless because of its huge national visibility, most of which can be attributed to the Saturday Night Live sketches about O'Donnell.
Barbara Boxer- In the closing weeks of the midterm campaigns, it became common knowledge that Boxer was going to have trouble winning the California Senate seat. She was facing a career businesswoman, and many in the media saw the race as a voter vindication of either politicians or businesspeople. Boxer sailed through her race on election night, however, securing one more seat for the Democratic party.

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Popular Populists

Popular Populists

Democratic ads heading into the midterms have taken an odd, if not unexpected turn. Liberals and left-leaning moderates have feverishly distanced themselves from the majority party's impressive political accomplishments this year and set themselves up to be angry, populist-style advocates for disenchanted voters, especially Republican ones. Some don't even note being a Democrat (Rep. Glenn Nye's, D-VA, rather conservative seeming video is below). The assumption, at least in Washington, is that the anti-incumbent, and, to a lesser extent, the anti-Democrat, sentiment in the country this voting cycle is so strong that detaching oneself from the many policy goals which were completed last year is the only way to survive the midterms.
To the contrary: many voters' biggest issue with the last Congress is what they consider its inability to bring progress to the nation. A representative who absolves him or herself of responsibility for what is, in actuality, an impressive repertoire of accomplishments, does not help their chances of re-election. If anything, they hurt them. Voters want to see something being done to fix the problems in America. Oftentimes, any action is better than no action
"Its about the conservative movement hating the Republican establishment," Rachel Maddow said of the supposed anti-incumbent attitude. She noted that there was no real comparison in the Democratic party. If this is true- and there are many examples of it being so (Delaware, for instance), then the fear among Democrats shouldn't be that they appear to be, well, Democrats. It should be that they appear to have wasted away the last year.
And they haven't. The Democratic congress accomplished a lot this year, and, for all of the legislations' faults, several of the decades-long Democratic goals were met. Truthfully, if the Democrats cannot learn to focus on their progress and the great things passed this year, they will lose the House, because voters- especially the much sought-after moderates- don't really care if you're a Democrat or a Republican. They care if you're getting things done.

Rep. Glenn Nye (D- VA): Path

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