Happy US Mid-Term Election Results

[bjarvis]

Most of my wish list from yesterday came true!

Adrian Fenty is now mayor-elect of Washington DC, taking 90% of the vote totals. Sounds like a solid mandate to me.

Maryland races: I despise our governor, Bob Ehrlich (R). While I'm not wild about Martin O'Malley (D), he'd do. And indeed, O'Malley won, displacing Ehrlich and thus the first turfing of a single-term incumbent in Maryland since 1951. Michael Steele (R), the lieutenant-governor seems a nice enough guy but he was too close to Ehrlich in my books so I preferred to see him lose his bid for the US senate as well as keep the seat in Democratic hands as a message to Bush; fortunately, Ben Cardin (D) won so I'm content with the results.

Ohio: Blackwell went down in flames. Yay! More than almost any other race, I was happy with this particular result.

Florida: Kathleen Harris loses. Yay again! She is simply too much a hyper-pseudo-christian, vain, unstable nutjob for public office anywhere.

Virginia: Allen (R) vs. Webb (D). Hmm... Don't like either of them but I'd prefer Webb to help keep the senate out of Republican hands. At the moment, Webb is indeed in the lead but by such a slim margin a recount is an inevitability.

Overall: The wins in the House of Reps was more than I dared hope. The gains in the Senate far exceeded my expectations, even if the remaining two undecided races go to the Republicans. Of course, I'd be happier if they went to Democratic hands but I fear saying so out loud may appear greedy.

Anything which can tame the right-wing extremes of the GOP or hamstring W's making-it-up-as-he-goes non-agenda would be a very good thing in my books.

Comments

[gingy.livejournal.com]

O'Malley would be a fine governor if not for the fact that he fucked up Baltimore city schools (3% of high school seniors can pass a standardized math test. THREE. Not a typo) and the violent crime and murder rate hadn't gone up since he's been in office. I have no love for Republicans for damned sure, but I don't know that O'Malley is going to do anything good for my children.

But then, I have no vote, so I can't bitch.

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

I don't have kids or a vote but the state of schools always worries me. If nothing else, the future of the country --any country-- depends on the state of their school system. If the schools suffer, the nation will likewise suffer one generation later and fixing the issue will require another full generation or more.

kent4str and I are nominated as alternative legal guardians for four children in total, should anything happen to the parents. While I have enormous confidence in the public schools of Montgomery County, MD (and Ontario), I'd be seriously considering private schools if I lived anywhere else. It would be a hefty financial burden but a quality education is too important to dismiss the possibility. I sometime wonder what homeschooling would look like but I don't have the teaching skills to make that work or the breadth of experience required, and I wonder about a lack of opportunity for socializing and extra-curricular activities.

I hope your children are in a good school, despite the general state of the Baltimore educational system.

[gingy.livejournal.com]

Jimmy's only not-quite-two (Remembrance Day, at 11 am!), but Matthew is in a Magnet school and has terrific teachers. I hope it stays that way for the next few years. If not, we'll have to look at private.

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

Remembrance Day, at 11 am!

Funny how mothers can recall down to the minute precisely when they gave birth... :-)

I'm the second of six kids. Mom frequently doesn't remember my name but she never forgets birth order, birth weight or precise time of birth. My unofficial name is "Two of Six".