WE WIN

Yesterday’s election was, to my mind, a victory for just about everybody — except for those candidates who lost, of course, and one particular group of citizens.

The Democrats, of course, got the biggest win. They’ve won the House, and, if not the still-hanging Senate, a close enough loss there to make possible defections of moderate Republicans a factor in any legislative proposals. They get to show what they’re about, and what they can do, and they can at least stem, if not reverse, some of the one-party agenda of the last six years.

The Republicans get some victories, too. They may have held the Senate, which gives them a leg-up on the next Supreme Court nomination, as well as the various intrinsic powers that the majority gets in that chamber. Even if they lose there, the margin is so tight that the Dems will have to worry about conservative Democrats bolting any legislation that leans too left. And, most importantly, they’ve won a scape goat for 2008 — they can always point to the Dems and claim they’re responsible for
any problems that crop up between now and then. Those “plusses” all accrue to the White House, regardless.

The citizenry won, too. They gave notice that they’re willing to change their mind, that they’re willing to back another party when one has been in for too long, and that they’re not simple sheep to be herded along — at least not too easily. And, despite dire conspiratorial predictions (and a fair number of glitches and dirty tricks), they retained enough power to change the House of Representatives, at least.

There are some losers, of course. The GOP can’t help but regret the loss of the House, where they’ve run things since 1994. The Dems haven’t won the Senate yet, and now they have to lead with a coherent agenda. And the citizenry has to deal with Nancy Pelosi as Speaker. Gah.

The biggest loser of the night? Karl Rove. Yay!

As for my own electoral selections? Well, living where I do, the chance of any of my local candidates winning is always a long shot. I did get my gubernatorial choice selected, though I do have a few qualms about one-party rule in the Colorado state government (though it’s not like our Dems here are frothing radicals in the first place). But Tom Tancredo (cringe) is still my US Representative, and the other local officialdom for my county remains Republican.

Colorado, though, has officially moved to the Blue camp. We have a majority (4-3) of Dems as US Representatives (though we do have Tancredo, and Musgrave, after some struggles early last night, is also back in DC). The governor, and both state houses are Dems, too — overall, with the Congressional delegation, a combination not seen (I’m told) since Eisenhower was in the White House.

On ballot propositions — the results were okay in comparison to my votes. Not great, but okay.

Good Things

• Amendment 38: Like me, the voters soundly rejected making it easier to file petitions. Maybe because so many issues were on the ballot.
• Amendment 39: The voters also rejected diktats to local school boards about budget allocation on a one-size-fits-all model.
• Amendment 40: And they rejected term limits for the judiciary. The lesson of the past several years is that having checks and balances is a good idea.
• Amendment 42: We did actually bump up the minimum wage, and tie it to inflation. About time.
• Referendum E: The voters agreed that giving a property tax reduction to fully disabled vets was the least we could do. Got nearly 80% of the vote, the highest margin of any of the ballot measures.
• Referendum F: Voters didn’t think that politicians redefining recall procedures probably wasn’t a good idea.
• Referendum G: There’s usually general agreement in cleaning out obsolete stuff from the constitution. Wouldn’t mind doing a bit more of that.
• Referendum J: See Amendment 39. The public doesn’t like screwing with school finances in a way that might hurt them.
• Centennial Issue 2A: De-TABORed until 2013. Yay.

Meh Things

• Amendment 41: The voters resoundingly agreed on tighter ethics, more oversight, and lobbying restrictions. I thought the proposal was clumsily framed (and not a good constitutional amendment), but I can live with it.
• Amendment 44: The voters didn’t go for legalized pot. I voted for it, but it’s not the burning (so to speak) social issue of our time.
• Referendum H: This one isn’t called yet, but it appears that businesses won’t be able to deduct employer costs for illegal workers they knowingly hire. Yeah, that’s going to make a huge difference.
• Referendum K: Oh, boy, our state attorney general will have to spend tax money on a fruitless law suit against the feds on illegal immigration. Whatever.

Bad Things

• Amendment 43: Huzzah for enshrining cultural and religious prejudice in the state constitution by defining marriage as one-man, one-woman! Passed handily. Bah.
• Referendum I: Not only are we going to keep gays from getting married, we’re going to reject domestic partnership rights for them. This one really chafes me.

So even if you count the “Meh” as negatives, I still “won” on more issues I voted on than “lost.” The only really unfortunate ones were the two defeats on gay rights. It’s possible we may see some legislative moves in this direction from the new governor, but the defeat of Referendum I in particular is going to make that politically risky.

To my gay brethren, my apologies. Colorado’s still a pretty neat place to live — we just have a hell of a time showing it.

Aside from that one not-insubstantial blot — I call Election 2006 a success. I might even break open some champagne tonight.