Election Results Mostly Conform to Expectations

Chris Christie won big, epically big, in New Jersey. He emerges tonight as the GOP favorite for 2016. That’s my objective analysis, not what I want. He did do well with voters the GOP absolutely needs and has a problem attracting. Very well. He captured 21% of the black vote, for instance. That ain’t nothing.

Bill de Blasio, the Sandinista-loving Communist, won and will be mayor of New York as expected. It’s only a matter of time before he wrecks that city and it needs a second Rudy Giuliani to come along and save it again. Why New Yorkers chose to follow Detroit’s and Chicago’s lead is anyone’s guess, but they have, and the consequences will be theirs. But at least Spitzer and Weiner have been rejected and will not wield any political power.

Democrat Terry McAuliffe has been projected to win the governor race in Virginia. Republican Ken Cuccinelli was outspent heavily, smeared, largely abandoned by the GOP brain trust, never endorsed by the outgoing Republican lieutenant governor, yet still managed to close the gap in the closing days by hammering away on Obamacare. Virginia’s exit poll shows that 53% in the state oppose Obamacare, compared to 45% who support it. The government shutdown certainly didn’t help Cuccinelli in a state increasingly heavy with Beltway bandits, but the fake Libertarian candidate plus his own lousy campaign plus plain voter ignorance plus dirty shenanigans plus Bob McConnell’s ending unpopularity probably did him in.

It’s now nearly a given that Virginia will have the most corrupt governor in its history. Terry McAuliffe is a self-dealer who will use the state to build a platform for Hillary 2016 and line his own pockets. That’s what he does. Evidently a majority of Virginians either don’t know that, or they do and don’t have a problem with it. It’s only a matter of time before Gov. Rick Perry shows up in the Old Dominion to poach its non-government businesses. How many gun manufacturers will Virginia have left after four years (unless McAuliffe’s term ends early due to prison) of an extremely anti-Second Amendment governor? It’s too easy to pick up and move now, and Texas is just too inviting.

To the extent that Virginia says anything nationally, and it’s easy to over-interpret it, it says that even an outspent and outgunned candidate leading a divided party can make serious headway just by pounding a single issue: Obamacare. Mark Pryor and Mary Landrieu are among the red state Democrats who will not be getting any sleep tonight, or any time soon. The Democrats’ hold on the Senate is shakier than they would like.

Barack Obama is still an exposed liar pushing an unpopular law that is hurting millions of Americans. He isn’t on any ballot next year, but the Democrats are stuck with him and his indefensible deceptions.