I really want to crawl back into bed and go back to dream land, but off to work I go. It is all just so discouraging.

The one amendment proposition I was hoping wouldn't pass didn't pass, and by a wide margin (75% voted "no"). It was something meant to hold teachers "accountable" and hamstring teachers' unions. I am relieved and also pleased that a majority of people saw that this was a very, very bad idea.

Also, the one big Democratic victory in my area is, of course, the one I was actually hoping the Republican would win(County Executive). It was a case of Old Skool Republican and decent human being vs. a skeevy product of local politics and cronyism.

Hagan lost. She wasn't perfect, but she was better than the sorry excuse for a human Tillis. Now I really hope one of the out of state jobs comes through. Can I get some call her in for an interview already~ma aimed toward Duluth, MN, please?

I'm moderately disappointed in several of the results here, but I'm really annoyed with all the people who voted for the independent candidate for governor instead of the democrat! Because I'm sure most of them were actually "no" votes against the democratic candidate. I don't think she's that great either, but I would still rather have a dem governor than the very nice republican!

Ovama's poll numbers dropped a lot after the botched Obamacare rollout and have not recovered since. That still pisses me off, because people in the administration were warning that the webpage was going to have major problems.

Also, and you may not have heard, but he's still black.

(I'm super bitter this morning, and not a little confused that, like in many places, my overwhelmingly Republican county voted in almost all the Republicans, yet voted to fund the public schools, mental health, and the indigent health care issue, and voted to raise the sales tax to keep a local landmark from literally crumbling. So much cognitive dissonance.)

(I'm super bitter this morning, and not a little confused that, like in many places, my overwhelmingly Republican county voted in almost all the Republicans, yet voted to fund the public schools, mental health, and the indigent health care issue, and voted to raise the sales tax to keep a local landmark from literally crumbling. So much cognitive dissonance.)

Not wrong. A tweet from a Fivethirtyeight columnist:

So voters want a higher minimum wage, legal pot, abortion access and GOP representation. Ok then.

Apparently the polls had something like a 6% bias towards the Democrats on average. Hugely disappointing results. I was at least holding onto the thought that the Dems would easily take back control in 2016, when the 2010 wave year Repubs would be in the firing line (and in a Presidential year); but that's less comforting if they might wind up with around 54 seats.

There are silver linings to point to, I suppose; but I find I'm not really up for it right now.

Although -- I said this a few places on FB last night -- there is no way I could ever, EVER feel as bad as I did after the 2004 election, so there's that. (Really. That was my oh-my-god-super-naive election, where I thought the rest of the country agreed about what a horror Bush was, and showed up in overwhelming numbers to throw the bum out. It was like waking up in a different, somewhat hostile, country the next day.) By now -- man, it's been 10 years -- I am totally inured to seeing my fellow citizens voting against their best interests.

Although -- I said this a few places on FB last night -- there is no way I could ever, EVER feel as bad as I did after the 2004 election, so there's that.

Hmmm... I'm not sure which election I felt the worst about. 2004 was definitely very bad, but I've also felt bad about 1988 and 2000.

So every time a Republican wins the presidency, I guess.

The 1994 midterms were bad for me, but I got to blow off steam at a wonderful Cramps show, so that helped.

And that the Democrats were taking victory laps about the economy when lots of people were still out of work, many people in real terms are continuing to see drops in household incomes, and just about nobody has seen a raise in real dollars.

I can't say I've seen victory laps. The closest I've seen to "victory laps" is hearing people say that we've made a lot of progress, but we have a long way to go. I do think it's fair to say that the economy is a lot better today than it was when President Obama took office. But that's like saying it's better to be on crutches than in a full body cast.

As a gay man and a 50-something-year-old federal employee, I feel like Congress is putting a target on my back for the next two years. I'm eligible to retire in 1,407 days. I hope I can hang in that long.