Hanging 53

I'm glad I took a couple of days before writing this - I do have to admit, I was a little shell shocked after Tuesday night. I really did not watch for most of the night - I could feel that wave coming and just did not feel like being swept under. I don't do sadness, not even a little bit. Neil told me that Kentucky was called the second that the polls closed, I knew it was going to be a bad night for us Democrats.

The biggest shocker of the whole night was right here in Rochester, not in my congressional district, which is bright red, but in Rochester itself. Totally totally safe Democratic seat is at this writing, late Thursday night still up in the air.  Long time local Congresswoman Louise Slaughter , which no one even thought about losing is in the fight of her political life, leading by about 600 as they go into a second pile of absentee ballots. The wave was a tsunami hit home.

I have never not voted - ever. So it is hard for me to wrap my brain around what exactly happened this week. I only started playing around with the numbers tonight and any that I get are of the total population and not of eligible voters but 18% voted in New York, the result of that was Ms Slaughter still not re-elected and most all of New York outside of NYC is now  red. Statewide we reelected our Democratic Governor, but all of it came from the NYC metro area.

The only other state I was following close was Georgia , where my number was a little over 25 % voted , of that the mighty GOP took a little over 50% - enough, but nothing like the MANDATE that all of television is blathering about. Nationwide it was the lowest turnout in an election in a long time, I think. 

Current Make Up of the US House

Damn, that is a lot of red. The GOP hold a record number of house seats - but all they need is a majority of +1 so the raw numbers don't impress me. And, this map does not in any way tell the story of the country - there is purple in all this red, we are a divide country - but it is not this stark. So much gloom and doom " DEMOCRATS ARE OVER ". Some dim witted GOP congressman said out loud this morning where others could hear him that the GOP was going into a 100 year house majority, and yes, Mr Jerry Mander and his buddy Mr Voter Suppression are helping him towards that goal, but really dude, get a little perspective.

So for the next two years the GOP holds the House and 53 votes in the Senate, as we have learned over the last six years, not a T is crossed nor an I dotted in that chamber with out 60 votes, and nowhere near the 2/3 vote needed to override a Presidential veto . SO all we will have for the next two years is massive gridlock, but this time with ADDED WHITE HOUSE ELECTION grandstanding.  Would be fun to watch if peoples actual lives did not hang in the balance.

This is from May of 2009 when the exact same media tossing dirt onto the grave of the Democratic party, killed off the GOP elephant - gone, no longer resonant, etc, etc, etc. This is a map of the 2016 Senate race.

Turn out some vote in Chicago and Philly , Des Moines or St Louis and we have yet another flip. Don't get to comfy in the big office there Mr. Leader.