Which do you Prefer if you had your choice? Two "D" Votes in the House, or Two Dem Governors?

[FrenchieCat]

If you had a choice, which would it be?

[donheld]

1. A spine for the Dems we have now.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. I'm happy with the outcome...

And I also agree with donheld.

[camera obscura]

3. I'd take the governors

A governor can decide or heavily influence how the policies implemented by the US Congress are enacted in his state.

It's easier for the White House to work with House Republicans than Republican Governors. Not easy, but easier.

And governors make very strong Senate candidates when they've been term-limited.

That's not a statement on tonight's results, by the way. Just in general, I would take the governors over the House seats.

[Hutzpa]

4. I wanted it all

the more Dems we get the better it would have been for us to move our
agenda, this just makes it a little bit harder for the President.

[CalGator]

5. neither

Unfortunately, the option for two new Dem senators to offset the crappy insurance lobbyist (read: "centrist" by the MSM) was not available in the poll (in the forum or at the ballot box today). Those are the folks who have the biggest say on the most important topic of the day: healthcare reform and the public option.

[Jennicut]

17. They are Reps, not Senators.

[Ozymanithrax]

6. Governors run the elections in their states.

Remeber how much the Governors hand picked people helped the elctions along in their states in 2000 and 2004.

[saracat]

7. Local elections, especially gubernatorial elections have more influence on our day to day lives

but I have been told by several today that local elections don't matter.So I guess when the governors of those state promote legislation that makes it impossible to elect Dems, those folks that think only federal races count will be alright with that.

[onehandle]

9. Shh.

Explaining Politics 101 at DU is like explaining math to a cat.

[krispos42]

8. The governorships

The Repubs are taking a state-by-state approach on several topics such as abortion and gay rights, and we need the governors there to block such things.

We already have a massive lead in the House.

[Garam_Masala]

12. I agree

A governor has substantial power and infrastructure to help in national elections.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

28. yup

[uponit7771]

31. We NEED to KEEP this massive lead for next year

[krispos42]

32. And we have it, if we get stuff done

If we don't, knocking a couple of one-year representitives off won't be that hard for the GOP.

[Orsino]

37. ...depending on what Senate seats might someday need appointees, yes. n/t

[krispos42]

39. Good point... I didn't think of that n/t

[depakid]

10. I wouldn't be too happy if I lived in either of those two states

but I'll take the humiliation of the teabag crowd (they also lost a no-tax measure by a considerable margin in Washington State).

[vaberella]

11. D votes in the Congress (either House or Senate).

Governor's can act dumb to their ultimate failure, either Dem or Repub.

[Renew Deal]

13. I don't care about the governorships beyond the fact that this is bad for NJ

I respect peoples need to deal with their local issues. NJ and VA all have local issues that none of us even know about. Christie ran the right year.

[davidpdx]

14. The two governors, because they can do so much damage

in terms of election law especially if the legislature is Republican. While we did pick up 1 seat, which is nice, we lost two governorships. It will take four years to get them back.

[GoCubsGo]

26. Maybe that's what it takes

Some people are slow-learners. That appears to be the case for the majority of yesterday's voters NJ and VA. I guess they didn't learn over the past eight years what are the costs of having a republican in charge. I feel sorry for the ones who voted against them, but the rest, not so much.

[goclark]

40. Try CA with Arnold

We will gladly give him away ~ now he is trying to act like a Democrat.

[davidpdx]

41. LOL

Except for taking all those steroids. Shh..don't tell anyone!

[harry_pothead]

15. I voted for the blank option

Because what I really wanted was Q1 in Maine to go down.

:(:(

[TheKentuckian]

16. Come on! It has to be the state houses

What real difference is a couple of more votes in the House really going to do? Now, if we had just picked up a decent pair of Senators I might buy it but claiming preference for a years worth of House votes has more value is soooo spinning the situation.

[Jennicut]

18. I wanted them all but will take the House wins as it humiliated the teabaggers

and made the national GOP look incredibly stupid for wanting to shrink their tent of voters.
I feel for the people in VA and NJ but I too have a Repub Governor. She turned out to be not terribly damaging as she is very moderate. In NJ, I doubt Christie will turn sharply to the right as he would not be reelected again in a more liberal state. Not sure in VA as they have voted in very middle of the road Governors and some nutso ones. The lesson in NJ is we can be the challenger with a clean slate in 4 years. In VA it is that next time there needs to be a better candidate who maybe is not afraid of acting like a Dem.

[HopeOverFear]

19. IMO, in the case of Deeds vs. Mcdonnell, the better man won

[ShortnFiery]

21. OMG! Bob McDonnell = fundie misogynist out of Pat Robertson's Regents University...

You are taking this "bipartisan bent" of President Obama's WAY TOO FAR! :puke:

[Sebastian Doyle]

38. Pat? Is that you?

[ShortnFiery]

20. There's no way to spin losses positive.

Give it up. :eyes:

[saracat]

29. Are you kidding? They will NGU! That would mean taking responsibility!

[polichick]

30. True. Head-in-the-sand optimism is silly and won't help get out the vote in 2010. nt

[demwing]

35. You don't have to spin them as positive, just don't spin them too negatively

They were EXPECTED to lose. Corzine is unpopular as hell, and VA has a TRADITION of swapping Govs against the WH.

Also, don't let the "negatives" overshadow the gains made in the Congress, and particularly in the defeat of Sarah Palin's pet candidate. in a seat held by Republicans for 125 years.

If a famous Dem walked on the scene, endorsed a Green candidate in a three way race for a seat held by the Democratic party for 125 years, and then the Republicans won it, that Dem would be blamed, and all of DU would acknowledge it as a huge loss.

Let's keep our perspective here.

[PVnRT]

22. Support for basic human rights in Maine

[JVS]

23. 2 congressmen doesn't really make a difference. A gov can make a big difference in a state.

Also, there are about 10 times as many congressmen as governors.

[Unvanguard]

24. The governors, especially with our current House majority.

But the more important question is which races are more indicative of national trends, and there it's the House ones. It was not a bad night for the Democrats: not a great one, but not a poor one either.

[bigwillq]

25. delete

I'm an idiot.

[Bluenorthwest]

27. Civil rigths in Maine if I had a choice

because rights for thousands of people is more important than jobs for a few professional politicians. So of course, I had to vote 'other'. Civil rights = 'other'.

[Cha]

33. All was not lost in NJ..cross post..

<snip>

"Despite losing the governor’s office, Democrats staved off Republican challenges in several battleground districts Tuesday, maintaining almost a decade of dominance in the state Assembly.

<...>

The Assembly went into the election with 48 Democrats and 32 Republicans. The Democrat-controlled state Senate is not up for election until 2011."


<more>
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x8733151

3 votes for "Obama failed"..Yeah, they wish..too bad for them they're dead wrong.

[Cha]

34. Democrats score big across Pennsylvania!

"HARRISBURG, Pa. - Democrats ruled Tuesday in Pennsylvania's major municipal election races."

Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, a Democrat who took the helm of city government at age 26 following the death of his predecessor, was elected to his first full term.

Philadelphia voters elected Democrat Seth Williams to become the city's first black district attorney and re-elected Democrat Alan Butkovitz as controller.

The cities of Harrisburg, and York, which is still feeling the effects of race riots that occurred four decades ago, both picked Democrats to become their first black women mayors.

In Allentown, voters re-elected Democratic Mayor Ed Pawlowski, who won 6,201 votes or 73 percent with 91 percent of precincts reporting, to defeat Republican challenger and city councilman Tony Phillips ...

http://www.philly.com/philly/wires/ap/news/state/pennsy...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x8732139

More Good News to combat the Doom and Gloomers.

[IndianaGreen]

36. I voted for blank choice #4

Better to win it all! Governorships will be important when Obama runs for reelection.

[jesus_of_suburbia]

42. I want it all, but personally I'm just happy that Hoffman lost!

He was a far-right freak.

[Awsi Dooger]

43. Governors are my highest priority

The GOP is sunk if we maintain hefty majority in governorships, because the demographic tide will naturally wear them away.

But if we're dense enough to devalue gov seats the Republicans can easily fortify their bench, find ways to manipulate the innards of those states in their favor, and in general give young voters a familiarity and comfort level with the GOP running their state.

Tuesday is only a horrid outcome if we allow it to continue in 2010. We're already a big underdog to hold many of the gov seats that had unlikely turnover in our favor during 2002.