ELECTION RESULTS

Poor Democrats, they've been out of power so long they think they've actually won something, rather than just treading water:

New Jersey Governor's Race: Corzine wins. Surprise! A corrupt Democrat won an election in New Jersy.

Virginia Governor's Race: Kaine wins. Virginia switches parties every two or three years when voting for its Governor. No surprise here. Oops - Virginia didn't switch parties - the Governorship passed from a Democrat to a Democrat, even better.

St. Paul Mayoral Race: A Liberal Democrat was defeated by a more Liberal Democrat. Uh, okay.

Republicans however won some real victories.

NYC Mayoral Race: Bloomberg retains his office.

Ohio "Reform Ohio Now" Propositions: Looks like Soros wasted his money (again), the so called "reforms" look like they're headed for defeat at the moment went down in flames.

Texas Gay Marriage Amendment: Surprise! Texans voted to ban gay marriage. Yawn, did the Sun come up today too?

The California propositions are still too early to call; and you never know what California is going to do. They're thoroughly unpredictable.

* * * * * U P D A T E S * * * * *

True to form - California blazed it's own trail.

• California Ballot Initiatives: All four of Schwarzenegger's ballot initiatives fail.
• San Diego Mayoral Race: "Law and Order" Republican Jerry Sanders won the vote. Voters hope he can fix the mess they find themselves in.

Another thing to keep in mind - there were no Federal races in this election. State and city politics are quite different from Federal elections. A handful of mayoral races in heavily democratic cities, two Governorships, and few state ballot initiatives do not a "bellweather" make for 2006. Not for either party.

Neal Boortz is glad that Corzine won. I must say I agree; the Republican, Doug Forrester, took the campaign to a real low when he started personal attacks on Corzine's ex-wife. That is not acceptable. Corzine is crooked enough by himself to negate the need for slinging mud at his family. He's also happy that a pro "Intelligent Design" Schoolboard was swept from power and replaced by Democrats. Can't argue with that. Not sure where this happened - could it have been Kansas? It was Pennsylvania.

Here's Neal's post on the election results:

BIG NIGHT FOR DEMS? HARDLY

Much is being made about last night's Democratic victories in New Jersey in Virginia.....as if it's some sort of referendum on George Bush and his parties' chances in the 2006. But really, as much as it was somewhat of a Republican defeat, it doesn't really matter too much in the larger scheme of things.

First of all, the victories in New Jersey and Virginia do not represent a loss of Republican power. Corzine is replacing the Democratic stand-in who took over after former Democratic Governor James McGreevey came out of the closet and resigned. Kaine wins in Virginia replacing another Democrat. The press is hailing the Kaine win as some sort of embarrassment to the president, since he campaigned for the Republican opponent, Jerry Kilgore. But as you will find in today's reading assignments, Kilgore ran an extremely inept campaign and essentially defeated himself.

So...the Democrats retain two governorships...BFD. The Democrats did not "clean up big," as the Associated Press is declaring today. In fact, according the AP's own poll, President Bush wasn't a factor in voters' choices yesterday. We are a political eternity away from the mid-term elections next year, and the left is going to have to do a lot more to try and fulfill their goal of winning back the House and the Senate.

Now .. having said that, let's also point out that the Republicans in congress have been a huge disappointment of late. Today they're engaging in that anti-capitalistic exercise of browbeating oil company executives. The Republican chairman fo the Senate Finance Committee has introduced a new version of profit sharing, where corporations bow to government and political pressure and "donate" huge chunks of their profits to government spending programs -- as if they didn't pay enough taxes in the first place. Then there's the spending. Republicans have shown absolutely no desire whatsoever to curtail spending.

Frankly, if they lose control of the Congress in the midterm elections next year I won't be all that upset. They deserve it.

Michelle Malkin and Real Clear Politics have good election recaps. Oh, and there was a political earthquake in Pennsylvania apparently, read the report here.