I’m a political junkie. I’m also a partisan but I love the game itself just as much. I like seeing the strategy, the chances campaigns take, the feints, the little games they play with the other guys as much as with themselves. So election night is very much like the Super Bowl to me.
Even better, I was called in to KFI to help cover it. I provided reports for KFI news as well as anchoring newscasts for iHeartRadio and the other Clear Channel stations in L.A. It’s like a sports nut being given the opportunity to cover the big game right down on the field.
One of the things that struck me was looking up at the TV monitors and seeing election coverage interspersed with ads for Spielberg’s Lincoln movie. It was like a wormhole through space-time, with a black president on one end and the president who signed the Emancipation Proclamation on the other.
All in all, a good night for Democrats and progressive causes, with some high profile races going their way. President Obama won decisively, of course, but also Tammy Duckworth, Clare McCaskill, Elizabeth Warren and others. Tea Party favorites like Allen West, Todd Akin, Scott Brown and Richard Mourdock were sent packing. Gay marriage won the ballot in Maine and Maryland (and maybe Washington). A gay marriage ban went down in Minnesota. In California a couple of high profile ballot initiatives broke in the progressives’ direction. Democrats gained seats, adding to their majority in the US Senate while the House stayed in the GOP’s hands.
Recreational pot won in Colorado and Washington. Massachusetts fully legalized medical use.
A massive voter suppression effort in Florida seems to have kept the outcome there in doubt, but in the end it didn’t matter, as Mitt Romney failed to win the battleground states he had to win to stay alive.
Many pundits predicted it was going to be a long night, with the election results not known for days or even weeks. I had a feeling they were wrong – my personal prediction was that Obama would win and we’d know by midnight on the west coast. As it turns out I missed it by about three and a half hours.
The campaign MVP award has to go to Bill Clinton, who once again helped propel Barack Obama to a convincing victory, just as he did with his barnburner convention speech in 2008. Runner up MVP award goes to Joe Biden – a tireless campaigner, a happy warrior, and an old school politician who nevertheless wears his heart – and sometimes his tongue – on his sleeve.
Once again, pollster and analyst Nate Silver shamed his detractors.
And Dick Morris and Donald Trump embarrassed themselves. As usual.
ArcherVox 