A Glimmer of Hope From Election Night

As near as I can tell there was only the slightest of good news that came out of election night and that was in the California ballot propositions. Prop 93, the initiative that masqueraded as term limit "reform", was soundly defeated by the voters 53%-47%. That proposition would have enabled a bunch of liberal legislators to remain in office for something like 12 years beyond when they should have been termed out under the current term limits law. So long, Fabian Nunez.

Two other bad propositions were defeated, but the four Indian gaming compacts were approved. Voters were fooled once again into believing that it's in the best interest of the state to fund itself with gambling revenue. Four tribes will get to add as many as 17,000 additional slot machines so that the can continue to impose a tax on people who are bad at math.

The most entertaining complaints are coming from people who registered as "declined to state" as their party preference and may have their ballots ignored because they were required to check a certain box on the ballot and many of the 776,000 apparently didn't do that. Under the party rules indepedents could vote for Democrats but not for Republicans. The GOP primary was closed to non-Republicans (as I think it should be). Lawsuits are now threatened if the local registrars of voters don't ignore the current election code and count the ballots. Can't anybody read the law? Do laws even matter when it comes to elections in this country anymore?

As I was writing this I saw an interview with an LA voter that should be a warning to both parties. The guy is a Republican who voted for McCain because, as he described it, it was "a vote against Hillary". However, he stated that if Barack Obama becomes the Dem nominee he, a lifelong Republican, will switch and vote for Obama because "he sees something in him". I've said before that Obama would beat anybody the GOP could put up, and especially John McCain since he's now the likely nominee, while Hillary could be beaten, though I doubt that McCain can do it. By the time the Clinton machine is done with him he'll be a doddering old fool.

I think I'm going to create a new political movement - Uninspired Republicans for Anybody But McCain. I think I'll get a lot of folks joining that movement.