The Mid-Term Elections, Part III: Post-Script

So, the predicted Republican bloodbath did indeed come to pass. I actually thought it was going to be much closer, but it wasn't. The message was loud and clear. People are tired of the current leadership and want change. I think this is well and good. My prediction that the Republicans would hold on to the House wasn't wishful thinking, it was just what I thought was going to happen. But the Republicans did everything possible to ruin things the past few years, and now they can sit back and decide how they can return to power. It could be a while. Republicans today feel like Democrats did in 1994.

I was at Republican headquarters last night watching the election returns, and it wasn't exactly an upbeat evening. We heard about a dozen concession speeches, from a variety of local and state candidates. The final concession speech was from Chris Chocola, who got creamed by Joe Donnelly, in what was expected to be a very close race. Funny thing though, I don't think there was any love lost with Chocola. Not exactly a resounding ovation when he took the stage. He gave a brief speech where he gave the usual thank you's to the volunteers, his wife, etc. Then he simply left. At that point, the entire room fell totally silent and people started to leave, now knowing that the Republicans were well on their way to losing just about everything. I didn't vote for Chocola, although I kept that little tidbit silent since technically I was an invited guest of the Chocola campaign.

One bright spot was that Jackie Walorski held on to her State seat, so she can continue to annoy B. Patrick Bauer (she got a huge ovation, obviously a star within the Party). Bauer handily beat my candidate Kevin Mitschelen. Kevin got 32% of the vote, which with everything against the Republicans this year, was not a bad showing. Mark Souder also won fairly easily and didn't get swept up like most of the other Indiana Republicans in the House.

Now Bush has a choice. Be stubborn and have a miserable final two years, or return to his Texas governor's style and reach out to the other side, which he was very good at doing (that was his whole "uniter not divider" thing). Clinton had to do it, and that's what saved his presidency. It could be quite the ironic footnote if it's the Democrats who end up saving the Bush legacy. But if Bush wisens up, he could have a very productive final two years and could leave office on quite the high note. It's his call.