Why I love Sen. Evan Bayh

Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN) lays out of case for why Lieberman should be allowed to remain in the Democratic Caucus. Sen. Bayh suggests that Sen. Lieberman should keep his chairmanships as long as he apologizes for criticizing Barack Obama.

I completely agree with Sen. Bayh on this issue. Lieberman has voted the party line on virtually every issue. There should be no reason to punish him for expressing his beliefs and going against the party.

Some general thoughts about the election

1. Looks like race wasn’t a negative for Obama after all (like I had mentioned previously), exit polls showed race ending up as a net positive for Obama.
2. We didn’t see such a big increase in turn out after all – probably because of a depressed GOP morale or maybe supporters on both sides thought the election was in the bag for Obama.
3. Polling is erratic – The Alaska Senate race is a wonderful example of this. Mark Begich was leading with double digits leading up to election. Begich is holding onto a very narrow lead (although Stevens led by a few thousand votes on election night) with some absentee ballots still left to go.
4. There is a big generational gap in America right now. Obama’s huge victory margin in California and the passage of Prop 8 is an excellent example of this. The passage of Prop 8 also shows that the Democratic coalition is complex and quite broad (It also shows Republicans have potential to make inroads using social issues as a driving factor).

Winners and Losers – Decision ’08

Like any other election season, we have seen political fortunes soar for some while some have suffered major setbacks to their political future. This post will explore the Winners and Losers (and those in between) of the Presidential campaign.

Winners

• Obama-Biden, Axelrod et al - Barring a couple of incidents, the Obama campaign was fantastic. It was run with a Bush-like discipline and a Clintonesque approach towards the media. Obama’s negative attacks was mainly under the radar (they were in the form of radio attacks) and the campaign managed to come off as “above the fray”.
• Tina Fey and late night comedy - Tina Fey nailed the Palin impersonations and the exposure added considerable boost to her career and brought in great promotion to 30 Rock. Palin also provided plenty of material for hosts of late night comedy shows.
• The Democratic Party - 4 years ago, the Democrats were in a horrible shape. Karl Rove was talking about a permanent Republican majority. But thanks to the wave elections of 2006 and 2008, Democrats are stronger than ever and the hands of Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid and Speaker Nancy Pelosi are greatly strengthened. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) (head of DSCC) and Congressman Chris Van Hollen (D-MDs 8th) (head of DCCC) won rave reviews for a repeat performance (although Rahm Emmanuel was in charge of putting the Democrats back in power in the House 2006, Congressman Van Hollen was quite instrumental as well).