The United States 2010 Mid-Term Elections Page 3

Started by Netto Azure October 14th, 2010 10:05 PM
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Elite Overlord LeSabre™

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Posted January 25th, 2022
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I didn't vote. They never bothered to mail me an absentee ballot :/ Not that I'd know any of the candidates since I'm at school 9 months out of the year...

Not liking that the House and the Senate are each controlled by a different party. Prepare yourselves for even more bickering and even less actually getting stuff passed for the next two years :/

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Section Eight
Seen May 19th, 2012
Posted May 18th, 2012
1,069 posts
13 Years
I didn't vote. They never bothered to mail me an absentee ballot :/ Not that I'd know any of the candidates since I'm at school 9 months out of the year...

Not liking that the House and the Senate are each controlled by a different party. Prepare yourselves for even more bickering and even less actually getting stuff passed for the next two years :/
Is that worse than having both the House and Senate in cahoots with the President?

I know it "gets stuff done" faster, but even then...

I'm not saying you're saying this (...Umm...), but I can't stand the "Balance is only good when we're the minority" mindset everyone has.

I'm a Conservative. I'm happy that it's not a single-party government.

I'm happy because the Republicans filibustered the Healthcare Bill (Something the Democrats would never dream of, I know...), and I'm happy that we now have a semi-balanced legislative branch.

We can't keep relying on "Obama isn't as bad as George Bush!" to help our nation, nor can we rely on "Republican X is really stupid!"

Both sides have their problems, even if one side never gets called on it.

I'm sick of the black and white view of politics, and the way most people act like schoolchildren after elections.

Yeah, there'll be bickering. I'm not naive. But saying "They'll bicker more!" is a really bad way to start off. Whining that there'll be arguments and opposing ideas is a really bad way to start off.

This country has gone to hell since the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s, and... I'm actually starting to lose faith in America's pride. If all we can do is sit around, moan about the other party, and worry about offending anyone and losing votes...

Wow.

God/Some-Inoffensive-Deity-Or-Lack-Thereof Bless America.


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Livewire

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Seen December 3rd, 2022
Posted August 2nd, 2019
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Bush was President in 2002.
You also have to take 9/11 and Afghanistan into account. Wartime Presidents have approval ratings through the roof. At least in the beginning, as show by Bush's massive ratings in 2002-4, right after 9/11, then horrendous ratings in 2007-8.

FreakyLocz14

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You also have to take 9/11 and Afghanistan into account. Wartime Presidents have approval ratings through the roof. At least in the beginning, as show by Bush's massive ratings in 2002-4, right after 9/11, then horrendous ratings in 2007-8.
As I recall, Bush's approval ratings were at record highs (like 90%) after 9/11.
Section Eight
Seen May 19th, 2012
Posted May 18th, 2012
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13 Years
This is the balance of power. Checks and balances. The Congress checks the Executive, and vice-versa.
That's what I'm saying. I like the fact that the two are in the hands of two different parties, regardless of the fact that the Democratic agenda won't steamroll everything else because of "Dirty Republican tactics."


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Amai

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As I recall, Bush's approval ratings were at record highs (like 90%) after 9/11.
Yes.

This just shows how spitful people can be. "They blew us up, omg our president hates them too! LIKE LIKE LIKE!"
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The Republican takeover of the U.S. House, and its modest gains in the Senate can be attributed to one thing-disgust for Obama's agenda (such as the stimulus which has several pork-barrel special interest projects, the health care reform which forces everybody to buy health insurance, the financial reform which does everything for Wall Street and the Federal Reserve and almost nothing for Main Street, and the cap-and-trade bill which taxes our energy to benefit Wall Street speculators who will be controlling the issuance of the permits), just as the Democrats' takeover in 2006 was the result of voters' disgust for Bush.
(From what I read, the incumbent President's party typically loses Congressional seats in the midterms.)

I doubt the Republicans in the House will be able to do much to slow down Obama's agenda. In fact, I expect them to bow down to Obama and his agenda, just as the Democrats bowed to Bush when they took over in 2006.
After all, just as the Democrats have wildly expanded government and spent and inflated us into debt like there's no tomorrow, the Republicans under Bush expanded government and spent and inflated us into deep debt like no other.

In Michigan, in addition to winning the statewide races, Republicans regained the majority in the State House of Representatives, and increased their lead in the State Senate.
Michigan election results, statewide races and select legislative districts, with commentaries on some races below:

Spoiler:
Governor/Lt
Rick Snyder/Brian Calley (R-Ann Arbor/Portland) 1,880,438 58%
Virg Bernero/Brenda Lawrence (D-Lansing/Southfield) 1,289,928 40%
Ken Proctor/Erwin Haas (L-Charlotte/Grand Rapids) 22,491 <1%
Stacey Mathia/Chris Levels (T-Grand Rapids/Flint) 21,033 <1%
Harley Mikkelson/Lynn Meadows (G-Caro/Ann Arbor) 21,312 <1%

As I said before, incumbent Jennifer Granholm (D-Northville) cannot run again due to term limits.

Secretary of State
Ruth Johnson (R-Holly) 1,613,772 51%
Jocelyn Benson (D-Detroit) 1,437,825 45%
Scotty Boman (L-Detroit) 58,213 2%
Robert Gale (T-Sterling Heights) 41,873 1%
John La Pietra (G-Marshall) 30,610 1%

As I said before, incumbent Terri Lynn Land (R) cannot run again due to term limits. Land tried to run for Lt. Governor as Mike Bouchard's running mate, but Bouchard lost the primary in August. Ruth Johnson unsucessfully ran for Lt. Governor in 2006 as Dick DeVos's running mate.
This race got really negative towards the end-Johnson was accused of using foreclosure lists to deny the right to vote to those whose homes were in foreclosure. Benson was attacked on allegations that she perpetrated election fraud.

Attorney General
Bill Schuette (R-Midland) 1,654,872 53%
David Leyton (D-Flint) 1,369,353 43%
Daniel Grow (L-St Joseph) 62,901 2%
Gerald Van Sickle (T-Wellston) 61,012 2%

Both the major candidates ran on "tough-on-crime" platforms, although Schuette has been accused of siding with insurance companies when he was a judge, and Leyton has been attacked for cutting plea deals with murderers and rapists as Genesee County Prosecutor.
As I said before, incumbent Mike Cox (R) cannot run again due to term limits. He tried to run for Governor but was defeated in the primary.

As I said before, there is no U.S. Senate race for Michigan this year.

State Board of Education
Eileen Weiser (R-Ann Arbor) 1,490,880 26%
Richard Zeile (R-Detroit) 1,380,507 24%

Elizabeth Bauer (D-Birmingham)(i) 1,363,291 23%
Lupe Ramos-Montigny (D-Grand Rapids) 1,143,515 20%
Karen Adams (T-Lake Odessa) 95,970 2%
Mary Wood (G-Warren) 78,834 1%
Bill Hall (L-Grand Rapids) 76,184 1%
Ronald Monroe (T-Clarkston) 63,008 1%
Dick Gach (L-Southfield) 56,189 1%
Latham Redding (G-Detroit) 41,088 1%
Stacy Kohmescher (N-Linden) 32,247 1%


U.S. Congress, District MI-01
Dan Benishek (R-Crystal Falls) 120,077 52%
Gary McDowell (D-Pickford) 94,805 41%
Keith Shelton (L-Marquette) 2,571 1%
Pat Lambert (T-Oscoda) 4,200 2%
Glenn Wilson (I-Rose City) 7,841 3%

I was expecting McDowell to win this seat. Benishek was accused of wanting to add a 23% National Sales Tax to everything people buy, and also claimed "Privatizing Social Security and Medicare is the only way to do it", with numerous attack ads calling him on it.
This district is socially conservative, yet strongly pro-union.

U.S. Congress, District MI-05
Dale Kildee (D-Flint) (i) 107,212 53%
John Kupiec (R-Grand Blanc) 89,671 44%
Matthew de Heus (G-Essexville) 2,648 1%
Michael Moon (L-Fenton) 2,647 1%

I'm surprised Kildee only got away with 53%-this district is heavily Democratic. Like Benishek, Kupiec was accused of wanting to add the national sales tax.

U.S. Congress, District MI-07
Tim Walberg (R-Tipton) 114,384 50%
Mark Schauer (D-Battle Creek) (i) 103,650 45%
Greg Merle (L-Battle Creek) 3,338 1%
Scott Aughney (T-Jackson) 3,796 2%
Richard Wunsch (G-Brooklyn) 3,195 1%

I was expecting Schauer to win re-election rather easily. The third party candidates took away votes from Schauer. Walberg has been regularly accused of supporting outsourcing, while Schauer has been accused of voting the Obama-Pelosi party line.

U.S. Congress, District MI-10
Candice Miller (R-Harrison Township) (i) 168,120 72%
Henry Yanez (D-Sterling Heights) 58,335 25%
Claude Beavers (L-Eastpointe) 3,749 2%
Candace Caveny (G-Lapeer) 3,295 1%

Shouldn't be surprising that Miller won this district easily-this district generally votes Republican and is mostly rural. Also Candice Miller is a household political name in Michigan-she previously served as Secretary of State.

25th District State Senate
Phil Pavlov (R-St Clair) 52,221 66%
John Nugent (D-Lapeer) 26,313 34%

Incumbent Jud Gilbert (R-Algonac) cannot run again due to term limits.

26th District State Senate
Dave Robertson (R-Grand Blanc) 49,701 55%
Paula Zelenko (D-Burton) 36,231 40%
Mark Sanborn (I-Davisburg) 4,427 5%

Incumbent Deb Cherry (D-Burton) cannot run again due to term limits.
I'm surprised Robertson won this race. This district covers the eastern portion of Genesee County, and a small section of Oakland County. Genesee County is heavily Democratic. Robertson previously served in the 51st State House district, but was term limited out. Zelenko didn't run much of a campaign, most of the advertising airtime serving this district was from Robertson.

51st District State House
Paul Scott (R-Grand Blanc) (i) 22,509 60%
Art Reyes (D-Grand Blanc) 15,275 40%

Paul Scott tried to run for Secretary of State, but lost the nomination to Ruth Johnson at the MIGOP convention. This district covers the southern portion of Genesee County, which is more Republican than the rest of the county.

82nd District State House
Kevin Daley (R-Lum) (i) 20,338 71%
Mark Monson (D-Columbiaville) 8,401 29%

This district covers all of and only Lapeer County. Lapeer County generally votes Republican, so this was a easy seat for Daley to win.

83rd District State House
Paul Muxlow (R-Brown City) 14,940 60%
Alan Lewandowski (D-Port Huron) 10,115 40%

Incumbent John Espinoza (D-Croswell) cannot run again due to term limits.

84th District State House
Kurt Damrow (R-Port Austin) 15,181
Terry Brown (D-Pigeon) (i) 15,153

This was also a surprise result. I was expecting Brown to win rather easily. There may be a recount.

Michigan Supreme Court
Mary Beth Kelly 1,412,215 30%
Bob Young (i) 1,315,189 28%

Alton Davis (i) 911,701 19%
Denise Langford Morris 814,652 17%
Bob Roddis 263,679 6%

This is a non-partisan race, even though candidates are nomiated by their political parties. The Michigan Democratic Party was busy throughout this election cycle attacking incumbent Republican-nominated Justice Bob Young for siding with the insurance companies and allegedly preventing taxpayers for suing polluters. The Democrat-nominated Alton Davis was criticized for suing taxpayers to support "gold-plated pensions".

State Proposal 1 - Constitutional Convention
Yes 985,884 33%
No 1,965,877 67%

Voters must decide whether to call for a State Constitutional Convention every 16 years. The last time this was up for a vote was in 1994, and was shot down in a landslide then also.

State Proposal 2 - Felon Politician Ban
Yes 2,276,874 75%
No 763,129 25%


Lapeer County Commissioner, District 1
Cheryl Clark (D-Columbiaville) (i) 1,998
Randy St Laurent (R) 1,974

This was much closer than I ever expected. As with the 84th District State House race, there may be a recount on this one too.
All 6 of the other County Commisioner seats had Republicans running unopposed.

Lapeer County Parks and Rec Millage increase
Yes 11,598 41%
No 16,705 59%


For more information on Michigan's statewide and Congressional races:
http://abclocal.go.com/wjrt/story?section=news/state&id=7762374&rss=rss-wjrt-article-7762374

Margot

some things are that simple

they/he
Seen April 16th, 2022
Posted February 25th, 2019
3,662 posts
17.3 Years
I finally got to vote! I sadly just turned 17 for the '08 presidential election, but I got to vote for the first time on this midterm election :)

Illinois was really close and we got both a democratic and republican winner. We got Quinn (D) at 47% for Govenor v. Brady (R) at 46% and then for the Senate, Giannoulias (D) at 46% and Kirk (R) at 48%. Sooo we got a democrat govenor like before, which whatever, as long as it won't be as embarrassing as Blagojevitch it should be fine.

I personally didn't vote for dem/republican for govenor or senate since I'm really not a fan of either canidate. they all had pretty shady backgrounds and eh. I also didn't catch the rest of the races, so i'll have to check on that :)

FreakyLocz14

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Posted August 28th, 2018
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That's what I'm saying. I like the fact that the two are in the hands of two different parties, regardless of the fact that the Democratic agenda won't steamroll everything else because of "Dirty Republican tactics."
I agree. This is our republican form of government in action.

And no party controls the Senate. Real control of the Senate takes 60 seats. The Democrats have a majority, but unlike in the House, a majority =/= control. Because of this, the Republicans are still in a position to play hardball in the Senate as well.

Esper

California
Seen June 30th, 2018
Posted June 30th, 2018
I agree. This is our republican form of government in action.

And no party controls the Senate. Real control of the Senate takes 60 seats. The Democrats have a majority, but unlike in the House, a majority =/= control. Because of this, the Republicans are still in a position to play hardball in the Senate as well.
This would be a better situation if the Democrats and Republicans could actually agree on things and compromise to get things done. A balanced congress is only good if it can actually do something and doesn't get mired in bickering and stalling the other side's actions. Somehow I don't see that happening as often as it needs to in the next 2 years.

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Democrats and Republicans will NEVER compromise on anything. Their stubborn pride for their party won't allow it. We might as well sit back and watch those two sides squawk like hens for the next two years.
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Livewire

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No matter what, in this economic state we're going to have the same situation--everyone hating on anyone who has power.
Exactly. Nothing will get done. Don't expect any big, beneficial legislation until at least early 2013.

FreakyLocz14

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Posted August 28th, 2018
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Exactly. Nothing will get done. Don't expect any big, beneficial legislation until at least early 2013.
The last two years didn't have that either. Big legislation, yes. Beneficial, not so much.

Netto Azure

Kiel

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The last two years didn't have that either. Big legislation, yes. Beneficial, not so much.
I do wonder what prescriptions that the party that will have the House will propose that is beneficial.

Livewire

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The last two years didn't have that either. Big legislation, yes. Beneficial, not so much.
In your opinion. The several million people that have access to health care now would disagree with you.

2009

2010

FreakyLocz14

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In your opinion. The several million people that have access to health care now would disagree with you.

2009

2010

More regulations that hurt business, punishing people for their opinions, a failed health care bill that is nothing like what Democrats of this past wished for, a failed stimulus plan, etc. Like I said, lots of useless legislation.

The health bill forces people to purchase private insurance. That's nothing like the single-payer system Hillary Clinton advocated for in the 1990's.

Livewire

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Posted August 2nd, 2019
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The health bill forces people to purchase private insurance. That's nothing like the single-payer system Hillary Clinton advocated for in the 1990's.
Again, from the conservative side of the aisle. My Grandparents' health care costs are much more affordable now.


... And Newt Gingrich and the Republican leadership back then did a good job of killing that too.

FreakyLocz14

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Posted August 28th, 2018
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Again, from the conservative side of the aisle. My Grandparents' health care costs are much more affordable now.


... And Newt Gingrich and the Republican leadership back then did a good job of killing that too.
I don't see how your grandparents' healthcare is more affordable now, seeing that most of that health bill won't even take effect this year. The elderly are supported by Medicare. It middle-aged people (one's too young for Medicare, but too old to take advantage of health benefits for college-aged people) that will suffer the most. Since the public option didn't remain a part of the final bill that was passed, those who do not qualify for public assistance, but cannot afford private insurance (the cut-off lines for Medicaid and most state and local programs are low) will be forced to by private insurance. The healthcare companies are already beginning to raise rates in anticipation of having to insure people with pre-existing conditions. People who fail to purchase private care will be charged with a minor federal crime.

I'm opposed to both the bill that passed and single-payer, but I consider the latter the lesser of the two evils.

Netto Azure

Kiel

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The cutoff points and requirements for Medicare vary state by state usually depending on the political persuation of the state. For example Texas has very stringent requirements while California has more lenient ones for qualifications.

And the so-called "Donut-hole" is being filled in slowly by the PPCA.

THis is off tangent tho.

Livewire

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I'd like to point out that the Tea Party did have a big impact- but not in ways the Republican leadership had hoped. The tea party losses by Sharon Angle in Nevada, Joe Miller in Alaska and Christine O'Donnell in Delaware cost the Republicans the Senate majority.

FreakyLocz14

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The cutoff points and requirements for Medicare vary state by state usually depending on the political persuation of the state. For example Texas has very stringent requirements while California has more lenient ones for qualifications.

And the so-called "Donut-hole" is being filled in slowly by the PPCA.

THis is off tangent tho.
I live in California and I don't qualify for MediCal (our equivalent of Medicaid). I only make $21,000 per year, and a good chunk of that goes towards school tuition and expenses.

The individual mandate will hurt people like me. If I could afford to buy private health insurance, I would have done so by now.