Election Wrap-Up

I'm not sure I've been successful yet in removing the Decision 2008 widget from the sidebar. If it's still there, you may have noticed that North Carolina is no longer grey. Its electoral votes went to Barack Obama, by a very slim (in the low hundreds) vote margin.  I attribute this to Onkel Hankie Pants's cousin's daughter, who has been working very hard there in a responsible position for the Obama campaign (there is more about her on her aunt Julie's blog, also referenced in my blogroll).

Although there were some grave disappointments (especially Prop. 8 in California, and the stupid Fed Up with Taxes referendum here) and some cliff-hangers still pending (Franken-Coleman-Barkley in Minnesota), I can hardly remember an election when so much of the voting went "my way." Wheeee!  Yes, Republican Susan Collins is still in the Senate. I can't say this is a bad thing, although I voted for her opponent. I am represented in Congress by 3 women now -- Democrat Chellie Pingree in the House and Collins and Olympia Snowe in the Senate. Collins and Snowe are the kind of moderate, reasonable Republicans who are all too rare nowadays, and I don't believe they will be filibustering any time soon just to be obstructive.  If the Republican Party has good sense (always a questionmark), they will move toward a Collins-Snowe style and substance, and forget this Palin-2012 nonsense.

Many other bloggers have mentioned that they feel at loose ends now after spending so much time thinking about the election and reading all the political news.  There are a lot of challenges ahead, and the President, Vice-President, and Congress can't meet them alone. It's time for all of us to be thinking about what we can do to be the change we seek.