>.<
Of course I’m pleased with the outcome of the presidential election, and in due time I’ll be able to truly appreciate the historical importance of it, but at the moment I’m quite ashamed of my state and it’s been ruining my ability to savor the victory. See, it’s been a blue state in all but one election since 1960 and so I don’t think Obama was ever in trouble here. But we didn’t give him any help otherwise. Al should have been able to defeat Norm easily, and anyone who says the stuff Bachmann did should be run out of town. But Bachmann won comfortably and the senate race is bogged down in a recount that will likely favor Norm. And no upsets of which to speak. Way to go, MN.
I guess I always assumed Al was going to lose since it was a dirty campaign and he’s a true democrat; they always seem to lose the tight races and can’t ever seem to out-nasty the GOP no matter how hard they try. But the fact that it’s this close (the AP says he’s down 236 votes at this time) makes it that much worse. 236 votes out of 2.9 million cast. It’s unbelievably crazy. But I know, both from conversations at work and from the baffling yard-sign displays I’ve seen, that there are democrats out there who cast a vote for Norm instead of Al. I can understand a moderate Republican or even an independent punching a vote for Obama but not doing Al the same favor, but just the same, any blue-blooded democrat who voted for someone other than Al should be ashamed. He was endorsed by Hillary (twice, even), Bill, Mondale (a local hero), and most importantly, by Obama, even if it was a tad late and under the radar. That should be good enough for anyone who was a true Obama supporter. No one says you have to like the guy or agree with everything he says or has said, but if Mondale or BO would vote for him, that’s all you should need to hear.
What’s even more infuriating is that nobody embodies this brainless split-ticket nonsense better than the Star Tribune (the state’s largest newspaper), which endorsed Obama for president—and Norm for senate. Really guys? I know more than one person who cancelled a subscription over that crap, not that it really matters. Nothing much can be done now except hope the recount goes in Al’s favor. Just the same, that Bachmann (and Stevens, for that matter) escaped leaves a bad taste in my mouth. But if I had to guess, I’d say in a week or so I’ll settle down and go back to spending the next 4 years not caring about politics =)
