Dems' winning Gov in VA and NJ points to Dem victory in 06

Corzine's win by almost 10 pts is interesting, because he wasn't a very popular candidate here among Dems (I live in northern NJ, close to NYC), with a backlash attributable to a justifiably cynical response to the the nature of the race -- two rich white men slinging mud, using wives as the ultimate cheap shot in the last week. I really thought they'd be much closer, so Corzine pulling ahead invites analysis.

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Did the proposition to create a Lt. Governor position in NJ pass or fail?

passed. it will happen in 2009.

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Yeah, I think the succession issue this term was more than enough persuasion. :)

I expected that we would lose in Texas. But I'm very pleasantly surprised that Maine came through for gay rights. I wasn't expecting that.

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I'm thinking it will be 3.

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From the AP article:

Democrats said the results were the first steps toward bigger victories next year — when control of Congress and 36 governors seats are at stake — and for the 2008 presidential race.

"I believe national Republican politics ... really had an effect in Virginia and California," said Democratic Party Chairman
Howard Dean. Voters "don't like the abuse of power, they don't like the culture of corruption. They want the nation to go in a different way."
Democrats Win Elections in NJ, Va., Calif.

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By "powerful," I mean era-changing powerful. Jackson, Lincoln, FDR, and Reagan were the last 4, and I'd be surprised (right now) if the next FDR came along next term. The pattern with those guys is that they always followed a decidedly unsuccessful, weak President of the opposite party.

Bush has done horrible things, but he was effective at it, so I can't put him in the same category as John Quincy Adams, Buchanan, Hoover, and Carter. No, what we're seeing is the splitting of the Republican power base- neocons vs. fundies- kind of like the Taft vs. Teddy Roosevelt split way back when. But it still took a few terms of successively weaker Presidents to finally hit the low of Hoover and bring the termendous FDR into power. So I think we'll have to wait as the Democrats slowly build power; this stuff doesn't happen overnight.

It's our time. Breathe it in:
Worlds to change and worlds to win.
Our turn, we're what's new,
Me and you, pal!
Me and you!

Feel the flow.
Hear what's happening:
We're what's happening!
Long ago,
All we had was that funny feeling,
Saying someday we'd send 'em reeling,
Now it looks like we can!
"Someday" just began...

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Well, if the Dems don't have a strong Presidential candidate with a TRUE platform (not the "he's stupid and I'm not" one) then 2008 could turn out to be the same deal. It's a shame that campaigning these days is all about how much mud you can sling and/or avoid versus what you are actually going to bring to the role. Could you imagine going on a job interview and spending the entire time talking about how bad the other interviewees are and no time on what you can bring to the job?

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Not much of a shift up this way.

I was hoping there would be a shift back towards the center. That's where I like things to be.

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