I voted first thing this morning and confused some Republicans, I guess, when I said I was voting for Rendell, Casey, and Daylin Leach. I then looked at myself and realized I was wearing a camo hat with an American Flag that said TK on it (that's Toby Keith for folks who don't know, a country singer), cowboy boots and a cross. I told him, don't judge a book by its cover - Democrats love America too, you know!
I was out at polling places all morning and through lunch with my State Representative, Daylin Leach, who is simply the best and so much fun to be around on top of it all. We went to 8 different polling places around the Philadelphia suburbs -- Wynnewwod, Bryn Mawr, Narberth etc. and voters - I should say mostly Democrat ones - were very excited and jubilant, and many Republicans told me they were voting for change or at least were voting Rendell and Casey, and Daylin of course. Independents the same. I spent a lot of time talking to the Republicans, as I was curious to know what was going on in their minds. Many who were working the polls told me they understood my frustration with their spending and Iraq, they were frustrated too, but that they still thought they were better on defense--when I get a good answer on "why" I will let you guys know.
One polling place, Gulf 1, which is marginally Republican, had 220 registered Dems who had voted and only 90 registered Republicans, to give you an idea on the excitement level on both sides.
I know Rendell does not want us to think the race is over so folks, go out and vote(!), but I will be straight with you: The race for governor is over, and it should be. Rendell has been a great Governor and he is one of the best campaigners I have ever seen.
Swann ran a race of little substance not to mention all of his slips. Rendell's record speaks for itself and it speaks pretty loudly of a man who works across party lines to get great things done for Pennsylvania!
Casey looks pretty good, but get out there and vote, this one is very important. Rick Santorum does not speak for Pennsylvanians, his positions on intelligent design, Iraq, minimum wage, and on and on, are just not in line with common-sense folks in PA.
I think and hope we are going to get a great American and veteran in Joe Sestack, get out and vote for him if you have not.
I am heading back out on the trail so I will check in later, but my national folks are telling me more of the same. Turnout for Dems looks good and independents breaking for Dems looks good esp. in Connecticut, NY, and PA.
There have not been any real problems voting in PA that I have heard of, but I am sure that will not be the case nationwide. I have already heard form folks on the ground that they stopped voting in Maryland for an hour while they counted votes and made people stand in line. Don't know whether that was partisan or not - will let you know.
I know Denver, Colorado and places in Indiana have already asked that the time to vote be extended because of some abnormalities.
The Governors' races, which I tend to follow more since I think it will make a difference for '08 (folks like Governors as Presidents), seem to be going well for Democrats. Looks like they will hold all incumbents and one open seat in Iowa, a state I lived in for a few years. Looks like they will pick up NY, OH, CO, AR, MA. They look good in MN and MD. They have outside chances of winning in NV, ID and AK -- that would only happen if there was tsunami of sorts. I still don't quite feel that '94 feeling. People want change, they are mad about Iraq, but a lot of them like their own representatives and gerrymandering and lack of campaign finance reform makes it very tough for challengers. That's it for now!
(Note: This entry is linked over at TheNextMayor.com, where they're doing a lot of other fun live-blogging today and tonight.)
Comments (5)
little known fact, Toby Keith is a Democrat.
A conservative democrat to be sure, but definitely a democrat.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toby_Keith#Personal_convictions_and_controversy
Posted by: brendan on November 7, 2006 16:20
So is Tim McGraw.
Posted by: Joe on November 7, 2006 19:23
Santorum "does not speak for Pennsylvanians"? What a hoot! You mean LIBERAL Pennsylvanians!
Posted by: Ellsworth on November 7, 2006 21:25
No I mean 60% of them anyway based on the numbers.
Posted by: Flavia on November 8, 2006 00:44
Looks like my predictions on the Gov. races were pretty good, dems won governors' races in New York (Spitzer in a landslide and there has not been a D there in over a decade), Ohio (1st dem in 16 years) and Massachusetts (also no dem there for quite some time and, Deval Patrick will be the first black in the state's history to be chief Exec). Dems also won Colorado, Maryland and Arkansas.
Republicans hung on to Florida's governorship and Bob Corker beat Harold Ford in the Senate contest in Tennessee, I was just in Tennessee, Harold Ford would have been amazing and I am very disappointed he lost. Ford also would have made history in becoming the first black senator from the South in more than a century.
Posted by: on November 8, 2006 07:46