It’s a new morning in America, an America whose finest hours lie ahead. We said ‘No Thanks’ to the millions and millions of Citizens United spending from corporations and the 1% who thought our democracy could be bought, who thought our vote was up for the highest bidder. We reelected the President who brought us back from the brink of another Great Depression. We reelected the President who understood that a thriving automobile industry was essential to the economic vitality of our Midwestern states. We reelected the President who understood the greatest economic and military power our planet has ever known cannot allow millions of its citizens go without adequate health care. We reelected the President who believes the millions who were brought here as children through no choice of their own and know no other life than that as Americans deserve to pursue their American DREAM. We reelected the President who understands that the way to strengthen marriage is to let everyone marry the person they love. We reelected the President who will take us Forward.

Mitch McConnell, Republican leader in the U.S. Senate famously said that the #1 priority of Republican Senators was to make the President a one term President. So they used the filibuster a record number of times to block any and all legislation that would strengthen our economic recovery. Well Mitch, the chickens came home to roost. Not only will President Obama be a two term President, in a year when Democrats had to defend 23 of 33 Senate seats up for election, we increased our majority in the Senate by two seats, increasing our majority from 53 to 55. And not only will be there more Democrats in the U.S. Senate, there will be better Democrats. Elizabeth Warren, a tireless fighter for the middle class, replaces Tea Party darling Scott Brown in the seat held by Teddy Kennedy for 47 years and will be the first woman to represent Massachusetts in the U.S. Senate. Richard Mourdock found out that it was God’s intent that he not serve in the U.S. Senate.  Todd Akin found out that women’s bodies have something to shut the whole thing down when it comes to him serving in the Senate. Tammy Baldwin will be the first openly gay person to serve in the U.S. Senate, and the amazing thing is that the issue never even came up in the campaign, it was rightly considered that who she loves is her own business. Mazie Hirono from Hawaii will be the first Asian American woman to serve in the U.S. Senate. Although not yet called, Heidi Heitkamp has apparently overcome a 20 point deficit in the Presidential race there to be elected North Dakota’s first woman Senator. Sadly, Rich Carmona came up short here in Arizona but ran a campaign to be proud of, while Jeff Flake should be ashamed of his.

John Boehner will be returning as Speaker of the House, with a smaller majority. So, Mr. Speaker, what’s your plan? Are you going to try to repeal the Affordable Care Act, for like the 20th time? A repeal that would be rejected by the Senate and ripped to shreds if it ever reached the President’s desk? Or will you reach out and pass common sense legislation that can pass with a majority of Republicans and Democrats? Thanks to your Do Nothing Congress that accomplished absolutely nothing in the last two year, there’s alot of important stuff that needs to be done. And there’s a lot the Democrats can accomplish in the next Congress. I suggest they start with new leadership – I think Nancy Pelosi was a terrific Speaker, but I also think it’s time for her to step down as Minority Leader and let fresh blood with fresh ideas take charge. And Democrats should start by standing strong: let ALL the Bush Tax Cuts expire. Republicans will never vote to raise taxes on the 1%, so let all the tax cuts expire. Then in January in the new Congress pass an Obama Tax Cut reinstating the lower tax rates for the poor and middle class – but $250k annual income is NOT middle class, reinstate the lower tax rates to a maximum of $100k annual income. And Democrats should tell Republicans: “Don’t like those sequestration defense spending cuts? Raise the debt limit without the circus theatrics you did last time, and then we’ll talk to you about those spending cuts.”. And Fix the Debt, address the debt and deficits with a responsible mix of increased revenue and decreased spending.

Here in Arizona it was mixed results and close races. CD1 has yet to be called with DemocratAnn Kirkpatrick leading Jonathon Paton by around 9500 votes. CD2 has yet to called, with Republican Martha McSally leading Ron Barber by around 1300 votes. In CD3, Raul Grijalva soundly defeated Gabriele Saucedo Mercer 57-39%. Our new CD9 has yet to be called, with Democrat Kyrsten Sinema leading Vernon Parker by around 2100 votes. As Mark Evans points out in his Caveat Lector blog, many thousands of “early” mail-in ballots have yet to be returned and processed and it will likely be the end of the week before many of those races are called. One race we don’t need to wait to be called is LD10, where David Bradley handily defeated Republican state Sen. Frank Antenori. The So Long Frank Celebration Party starts this morning. Statewide, Democrats increased State Senate seats by 4, with the Republican majority reduced from 2/3rds 21-9 majority to only 17-13. How’d that voting to remove the Independent Redistricting Commission Independent Chairwoman work out for you?

In politics there are winners and losers. Last night our country was a winner.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 7th, 2012 at 10:43 am and is filed under Pol. & Govt.. Tags for this post: 2012 election, krysten. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.