Andy, et al -
Here is a good summary of what happened overall. Biggest news for us in
California is passage of Prop 30, "The Millionaire's Tax." -- Helena
Worthen
Rack `Em Up - Progressive Victories from Coast to Coast
By Think Progress War Room
November 7, 2012
Center for American Progress Action Fund
http://thinkprogress.org/election/issue/
Progressive Victories from Coast to Coast
While re-electing President Obama is obviously very good news
for progressives, so much more happened to bring progressive
change to communities across America. These victories are
further evidence of an emerging progressive majority in this
country that will help take us forward as we all fight for
change in ways large and small.
Here's the rundown of some of last night's winners and losers.
WINNERS
* The Facts: Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan tried to run a
post-truth campaign that was fact free, deceptive, and
insulting to voters. They paid a heavy price for their
false claims about the auto industry in Ohio. Nationally,
voters affirmed that facts and a candidate's policy
positions do matter.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/01/opinion/mitt-romney-versus-the-automakers
.html
* The Middle Class: Voters supported a president who will
make the investments in the middle class that we need to
create jobs now and grow the economy over the long-term.
President Obama will redouble his efforts to create an
economy that works for everyone, not just the wealthy few.
* Equality: For the first time in history, voters embraced
marriage equality at the ballot box - and not just once.
In Maryland, Maine, and Washington state, voters approved
marriage equality referenda. In Minnesota, an effort to
ban same sex marriage was defeated. Wisconsin Rep. Tammy
Baldwin is also the first openly gay person elected to the
Senate; the person who won the House seat she vacated is
also openly gay. Nationally, voters rejected the most
anti-immigrant presidential ticket in history. In
Maryland, voters approved a state-level version of the
DREAM Act.
* Women: In addition to defeating a ticket that threatened
women's health and economic security, a record number of
women were voted into office. The Senate will have a
record 20 women and the House will have at least 77, also
a record.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/07/women-in-politics-break-records-20
12-election_n_2088954.html
* Pot: Voters in Washington state and Colorado both
legalized the recreational use of marijuana, though it
remains a federal crime.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57546495/justice-department-drug-laws-r
emain-unchanged-following-passage-of-marijuana-ballot-initiatives/
* New Hampshire: The state elected progressive champions
Anne Kuster and Carol Shea Porter to the House and will be
the first state to send an all-female House and Senate
delegation to Washington. Democrats also seized control of
the New Hampshire House back from the Tea Party extremists
who seized control of it in 2010.
* Maine: Democrats wrested control of both the Maine House
and Senate back from extreme right-wing Republicans who
spent the past two years pursuing attacks on voting and
unions, among other things.
* Minnesota: Democrats won back control of both the
Minnesota House and Senate. Republicans forced a
government shutdown last year because they refused to
raise taxes on the wealthy to close a budget gap, even
though Minnesota's wealthy pay a lower tax rate than
everyone else in the state. The new majorities should be
able to work with Gov. Mark Dayton (D) to create a more
progressive budget.
http://www.minnpost.com/politics-policy/2011/03/study-finds-minnesotas-tax-
system-still-regressive
Minnesotans also rejected a constitutional amendment that
would have instituted Voter ID in the state. It had been
expected to pass.
http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/Minnesota_Voter_Identification_Amendm
ent,_Amendment_2_(2012)
* Michigan: The state's voters repealed an "Emergency
Manager" law that allowed the governor to seize control of
cities from their democratically-elected representatives
and put an unelected emergency manager with sweeping
powers in complete control. The law is most often applied
to communities with high minority populations.
http://www.freep.com/article/20121107/NEWS06/121107011/Snyder-Voter-confusi
on-helped-defeat-emergency-manager-law
Voters also rejected a measure that would've crippled the
state legislature by requiring a 2/3 majority to raise
taxes.
http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/Michigan_Taxation_Amendment,_Proposal
_5_(2012)
* Iowa: Democrats maintained control of the Iowa State
Senate, meaning they can continue to stop attacks on
marriage equality, women's health, and unions from the the
Republican-controlled House and Gov. Terry Branstad (R).
Iowans also rejected the latest effort by anti-gay
Christian conservatives to remove a justice from the Iowa
Supreme Court merely because he had joined the court's
unanimous decision in favor of marriage equality. Three
other justices were successfully removed in 2010.
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20121106/NEWS09/311070016/Voters-r
etain-Justice-David-Wiggins
* Colorado: Democrats seized control of the Colorado State
House and will install the first openly gay Speaker of the
House. The current Republican Speaker blocked
consideration of a civil unions bill even though it had
the votes to pass.
* California: Progressive change happened in a big way in
one of the nation's most progressive states. Yesterday,
voters:
* Approved a tax increase on households making over
$250,000 in order to fund education and help reduce
the state's perpetual budget deficit.
http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/California_Proposition_30,_Sales_and_
Income_Tax_Increase_(2012)
* Reformed the state's corporate tax code in order to
create billions in new revenue for clean energy.
http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/California_Proposition_39,_Income_Tax
_Increase_for_Multistate_Businesses_(2012)
* Modified the state's "Three Strikes" law so that
most non-violent or non-serious third offenses don't
automatically result in a life sentence. A similar
initiative failed by almost six points in 2004, while
yesterday's initiative passed by more than 35 points.
http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/California_Proposition_36,_Changes_in
_the_%22Three_Strikes%22_Law_(2012)
* Rejected a right-wing effort to severely limit the
political activities of labor unions. Just days before
the election,
http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/California_Proposition_32,_the_%22Pay
check_Protection%22_Initiative_(2012)
the initiative's backers revealed that they broke the
law by laundering $11 MILLION in contributions through
out-of-state groups linked to the Koch Brothers.
http://www.thenation.com/blog/171055/could-attorney-general-kamala-harris-t
urn-tide-dark-money
* Gave Democrats a supermajority in both the
California Assembly and Senate, meaning Democrats can
finally overcome the 2/3 vote requirement needed to
raise taxes and make California governable and
solvent. Republicans have consistently blocked tax
increases, forcing governors to put any tax increase
before voters.
http://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/Democrats-get-supermajority-in-Legis
lature-4015861.php
LOSERS
* Tea Party Extremists: Voters tossed out some of the most
extreme voices in the U.S. House, including Joe Walsh,
Allen West, and Chip Cravaack. Michele Bachmann very
narrowly avoided defeat in her heavily-Republican
district.
* GOP Candidates Who Made Offensive Comments About Rape:
From Todd Akin to Richard Mourdock to Linda McMahon, all
of the Republican candidates who made outrageous comments
about rape in recent weeks lost.
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2012/11/07/1155211/rape-gaffes-lose-electio
ns/
* Grover Norquist: Signing the Washington lobbyist's
infamous pledge to never raise taxes became an anchor for
many candidates.
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/11/07/1159241/grover-norquist-pledge-
albatross-vulnerable-candidates/
* GOP Donors: They donated billions, much of it to Super
PACs and secret money groups, in order to defeat President
Obama and Democratic Senate candidates. Polluter-backed
groups alone dumped $270 MILLION in TV ads during just the
final 8 weeks of the election. It didn't work.
http://www.americanprogressaction.org/issues/green/news/2012/11/07/44116/bi
g-polluters-big-ad-spending-in-the-2012-elections/
* Our Voting System: Voters across the country faced
almost unprecedented obstacles to casting a ballot.
Conservatives did nearly anything possible - legal and
otherwise - to keep people, particularly young people and
minorities, from voting. Early voting was curtailed,
onerous photo ID requirements were put in place, voter
registration was made more difficult, technical changes
meant to disqualify more ballots were implemented, dirty
tricks were employed, and the list goes on. The net result
was that tens of millions of Americans faced long lines
and other hurdles when attempting to exercise one of their
most basic rights. Millions more who might otherwise have
voted didn't vote at all.
* Ending Medicare, Slashing Taxes on the Wealthy: By
selecting Rep. Paul Ryan (R) as his running mate, Mitt
Romney put the GOP plan to end Medicare as we know it in
order to slash taxes on the wealthy front and center on
the ballot. Voters rejected these plans and the GOP should
drop them once and for all.
* The Residents of Michigan's 11th Congressional District:
They elected a man who actually believes he is Santa Claus
to represent them in Congress.
http://thinkprogress.org/election/2012/10/15/1017371/michigan-congressional
-candidate-thinks-he-is-santa-claus/
THINKPROGRESS - Center for American Progress Action Fund
1333 H Street NW, 10th Floor | Washington, DC 20005
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On 11/7/12 5:44 PM, "Andy Blunden" <ablunden@mira.net> wrote:
Yes, in Australia we get blanket coverage of the US *Presidential*
Elections. Day in and day out we are lectured on the subtleties of the
Electoral College system, the practice of eliminating voters from the
register, the negative advertisements, etc., but there is precious
little coverage of the myriad of other posts being filled and
plebiscites being decided. We heard about the two advocates of God's
work losing their seats, and a couple of notable new Congress-people
(the first openly gay woman elected to Congress I believe?) but
absolutely nothing of the issues which affect Americans such as you
mention.
Andy
mike cole wrote:
Peg is one of those who put the rest of her life on hold and walked the
walk in the "battleground" states, Andy. California was not in play
nationally. But locally, the University and education system in general
was
saved a terrible blood bath by a slim margin vote on a state-wide
initiative, so you can be sure there is relief all around.
But yes, the popular vote is split and the problems have not been
solved.
mike
On Wed, Nov 7, 2012 at 8:02 AM, Peg Griffin <peg.griffin@att.net> wrote:
I keep learning that we have a country that's full of people worth the
work that we all keep trying to do over and over again until we
finally get
it a little closer to right!
Let's internationally join virtual hands of of "arguers," workers,
canvassers, phone bankers, celebrators so we can pick each other up and
figure out "forward." Remember, we've only been at it for a couple of
hundred years in our country -- we can use the help!
Peg
--- On Wed, 11/7/12, Leif Strandberg <leifstrandberg.ab@telia.com>
wrote:
From: Leif Strandberg <leifstrandberg.ab@telia.com>
Subject: Re: [xmca] election day
To: ablunden@mira.net, "eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity" <
xmca@weber.ucsd.edu>
Date: Wednesday, November 7, 2012, 2:52 AM
Congratulations to the people of UNITED States of America
and... FORWARD
Leif
Sweden
7 nov 2012 kl. 05.54 skrev Andy Blunden:
You did a fantastic job getting those votes out Mike.
Andy
mike cole wrote:
For those of you in the US but busy during work hours.
A major need on election day is for volunteers to go around to check
on
people who have not voted by about 4pm, knock on doors, take them to
polls if
necessary. The Cole family is planning to do this and it occurred to
me
that perhaps some of you would want to contact your local campaign
office
which will be very glad to hear from you. The outcome, methinks,
matters to
my children and grandchildren.
mike
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*Andy Blunden*
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Book: http://www.brill.nl/concepts
http://ucsd.academia.edu/AndyBlunden
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