Final thoughts on the 2012 Election and campaign

Voters in Minnesota District 6 may be starting to wake up a bit.  Michele Bachmann was re-elected by the skin of her teeth.  Washington County which is in District 6 even voted for Obama and Anoka County voted for Romney 50%-48%

Mitt Romney is so arrogant he never even wrote up a concession speech.   He thought he was appointed by God to be president.  Newsflash Mitty...God chose Barack Obama the alleged Kenyan Muslim instead.

I would have loved to have be a fly on the wall when Mitt got back to one of his mansions today.

Sarah Palin was a non-factor in this election.  Most of the people she endorsed with the exception of Debbie Fischer lost. 

Speaking of Sarah Palin, the Tea Party is officially dead.

The Rape Team is officially dead as well.  Aikin, Mourdock,West, Rivard, and King all got their asses handed to them.  Paul Ryan still kept his house seat but at least he won't be in the White House.

Best part of the whole campaign:

Even in Minnesota the Democrats got the majority back in the legislature.  The voters remembered the debacle of 2011.  Unfortunately my state senator was re-elected.  He is backed by his daddy's big business buddies.  Grrr.

Marriage amendments went pretty well to.  Here in Minnesota the amendment to define marriage as one man one woman failed.  Even better was the voter ID amendment which failed.  While requiring an ID to vote looks good on paper, many people like the elderly don't have a license.  The state would pay for ID cards but to get one you would need your birth certificate which costs money.

2016 Election is four years away but it's never too early to talk about it.  Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden have mentioned as possible contenders, but I do not see that happening.  I think Hillary is done after 2013.  Not many people serve as Secretary of State for more than one term, the exception being Cordell Hull who was FDR's SOS from 1933-1944.  The job is stressful and requires a lot of traveling.  While I love Joe to death, I'm not sure if I could support him.  Joe will be 73 years old by January 20, 2017 and I remember making an issue of John McCain being 72 back in 2008.  I think of Ronald Reagan and all the goofy stuff he did while in office.  He was in his 70's all of his presidency.  Even his son has admitted that Reagan had Alzheimers while in office.

I like a Brian Schweitzer-Martin O'Malley ticket.  Brian would appeal to Blue Dog Democrats and independent conservatives as he is a rancher and farmer from Montana and opposes gun control.  He is also the father of a special needs son and favors single payer health care.  O'Malley being from Maryland would appeal to the Eastern Liberal contingent.  He favors same-sex marriage even though he is Catholic.  Schweitzer/O'Malley or O'Malley/Schweitzer would be good, but I may change my mind a few years from now, so we'll see what happens.

Other possible contenders:

Elizabeth Warren.  I don't see her being a contender in 2016.  Not much experience and she would only be in her first term as a senator. 

Amy Klobuchar.  Amy has done a terrific job representing Minnesota as a Senator.  But she is not well known outside of the state and most of her bills have been consumer-related and nothing meaty like taxes and foreign policy.  She has proven that she can reach across the aisle, which would help her.  There was talk about her being a possible Supreme Court judge back in 2009.

Andrew Cuomo.  Andrew has executive experience being governor like Schweitzer and O'Malley.  He also has name recognition.  How he handles the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy will be a big test for him.

As for the GOP, they are a mess.  A hot, huge, mess.  If there is a standard bearer now it would have to be Chris Christie.  Romney has burned his bridges left and right and Ryan will never get the stench of Romney off of him.  I can see Christie being the Republican nominee 4 years from now and Rick Santorum his running mate.