Election wrapup

As Michael Medved frequently notes on his radio show, it’s more fun and interesting to talk politics with someone whose views disagree with one’s own. I certainly had that opportunity last night at AIPAC’s Ballots and Beer biannual election party at John Barleycorn in Lakeview. Most of the attendees were Obama partisans, and I enjoyed the chance to discuss their choices and the president-elect’s plans for his first term.

It was a big night for tax-and-spend liberal Democrats in Illinois. Sen. Barack Obama for president: a 3-2 margin. Sen. Dick Durbin: re-elected to a third term, G-d help us, by a 2-1 margin. Rep. Jan Schakowsky: re-elected to a sixth term, G-d help us, by a 3-1 margin. Rep. Rahm Emanuel, perhaps the new White House Chief of Staff: easily re-elected to a fourth term. Illinois Rep. Julie “Taxaholic” Hamos: unopposed for re-election. The constitutional convention, opposed by every politician, desperate to protect his job: handily defeated.

I was pleased that the people of North Carolina sent Sen. Liddy Dole (R.-N.C.) off to a happy retirement. Her speech last night was gracious and polite. That was not the tone of her campaign in its final days, however. Her “G-dless Americans” attack ad, accusing her opponent, a Christian, of being an atheist, was one of the worst I’ve seen. Instead of gracefully stepping aside when she realized the campaign was lost, as she did last night, she “approved this message” of nasty mudslinging. I’m not familiar with her performance in Washington during her one term as U.S. Senator. For her sleazy, embarrassing campaign, Mrs. Dole deserved to lose her job.

I’m delighted Minnesotans returned Sen. Norm Coleman (R) to the U.S. Senate, defeating commentator Al Franken. Franken can do hilarious Henry Kissinger and Rush Limbaugh imitations, but he’s a left-wing extremist and shouldn’t be Senator. And thank G-d, after both sides spent about $74 mil, it appears that Prop. 8 passed by four points in California, preserving traditional marriage in the nation’s most populous state.