Election Post

Needless to say, last night was a big win for Republicans and specifically, for conservative grassroots activism.  As of midnight, the GOP picked up a minimum of 63 House seats–anything over 39 would have been considered a huge victory, and there are still some races left to be called.

Despite all the hand-wringing over the Senate, picking up 6 seats was nothing to sneeze at, and as I’m writing this, the seats in Colorado, Alaska and Washington, are still not decided.  I say this only because of the mind-boggling ineptitude of John Cornyn and the NRSC throughout the campaign.

I’m looking forward to seeing all the new conservative Senators in the GOP caucus–especially Marco Rubio and Kelly Ayotte.  These two are special because they showed that conservatives can win as long as we have strong candidates, in spite of party issues.  Ayotte won her primary a few months back, and the New Hampshire GOP rallied behind her, and she brought a decisive victory.   In Rubio’s case, the guy was 30 points down in the polls, when the geniuses at the NRSC tapped Charlie Crist for the spot, resulting in an embarrassing turn of events for the Obama-hugging Crist.

Take all of this, plus the huge gains that Republicans made in state governments and you have, well…a tsunami.

Here in New Jersey, Jon Runyan won decisively in the 3rd CD, while Scott Sipprelle and Anna Little came up short.  Kudos to all three for running good campaigns and especially to Anna Little in the 6th CD.  She missed the mark by about 11 points, which is honestly not so good in a Republican wave year, but it’s better than anyone has been able to get to Frank Pallone in forever.  More importantly, the Little campaign was a true grassroots campaign and it’s a solid foundation for us to build on here in New Jersey.

Similar campaigns throughout the country should take note of what happened here in the 6th, as electoral change doesn’t just happen overnight and from the top.  It’s a bottom-up operation that takes a while to cultivate.  We’re headed in the right direction in that aspect.

Some other election night thougths:

• Despite my initial misgivings, Michelle Bachmann can have her Tea Party caucus now.  And speaking of Michelle Bachmann, a tip of the hat to her for pushing back against the insane clown posse that is MSNBC:

• Obviously I was wrong in my assessment of Dan Benishek in Michigan’s 1st congressional district.  Picking up spineless Bart Stupak’s old seat after he caved in voting for Obamacare, this win was one of many sweet ones last night.

• Congressman-elect Allen West!

• MSNBC’s election night “panel” of idiocy, ignorance and immaturity made CNN’s coverage appear watchable by comparison.

• The US Congress is a better place now that there is a former Representative Alan Grayson.  Later, jerk.

• Congratulations to Speaker-elect, John Boehner.

To wrap it all up, I like this excerpt from Mike Allen yesterday morning.  It was aimed at the candidates, but I think it sums it up for everyone else as well:

Soak it in – people will write books about this day. Enjoy the ride – the bonds from this campaign will last your life. Give someone grace, a break, karma – we all need it sooner or later, usually sooner. Thank you for putting up with the press, and congratulations on your hard work and dedication to something larger than yourself.

Congratulations to all the conservative Republicans out there in the new House majority.

Now get to work…