2000 and 2004 were both no sleep watching election returns and the feeling terrible about them times. Bleh.

Aleve is not getting rid of this headache. Should I try a second cup of coffee or leftover Halloween candy as my next step in medication?

2004 was running off war fever and vengeance, too many people liked Bush/Cheney's witch hunt. We're a sadly vengeful people.

My county was one of the few in Central PA to vote for the democrat for governor, but I'm not really sure how much of that was because of his political views and how much was people upset at how Corbett handled the Sandusky scandal and NCAA sanctions. (My county is usually the purple spot in a sea of red, because of the university.)

2000 was the worst for me. I couldn't believe the outright theft of the election.

Yeah. Plus all that bullshit was dragged out over almost two months.

2000 was also the first election where I followed the campaigns closely. I couldn't believe how the media focused on the stupid "Gore is a liar" thing, despite being untrue and despite all of Bush's lies. Now I'm much more resigned to biased media.

Plus there was the sucker-punch of the media initially declaring Florida for Gore.

Corbett won my county with 66%. I was prepared for it to be more lopsided.

The bigger shocker was Hogan's win in MD. No one really saw that coming.

Wolf won Centre county with 57%, Clinton county with 53%, and Cambria county with 54%. All counties containing or adjacent to Penn State. The rest of the middle of the state was red.

And, not totally related to anything, but can I just say how goddam sick I am of people STILL writing letters and editorials and stuff in the local papers about how the NCAA needs to "give Joe back his wins"? A few local candidates actually had that as part of their platforms.

Perry County is very, very red. Has been and always will be. Cumberland County is usually red, but there are pockets of blue. Corbett won there with 58%, which is much lower than expected. Dauphin County is a mixed bag. Harrisburg leans D, but Corbett won the county in 2010 with 60%. Wolf won it yesterday with 55%. I'm just glad Linda Thompson didn't win the House seat she was after. She was a disaster for the city of Harrisburg as mayor, and it wouldn't have been any better in Congress.

And, not totally related to anything, but can I just say how goddam sick I am of people STILL writing letters and editorials and stuff in the local papers about how the NCAA needs to "give Joe back his wins"? A few local candidates actually had that as part of their platforms.

It's a thing down here too. Like we don't have bigger things to worry about.

This is priceless: Josh Malina and his pranks on West Wing: [link]

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.

OK, but even "made a lot of progress" really is a victory lap. 70% of the population feels they are no better off than they were in 2008 personally. And something like 80% of 90% of those with kids feel those kids will have it worse than they did. "Progress" that leaves out that many people can't be called "a lot". And statistics show that people answering those surveys are overly optimistic. Only about 10% of the population today are better off than they were in 2008. 90% are the same or worse. It is not really progress if the economy subjectively is not better for 70% of the population and objectively is no better for 90%

I'm not saying this election result is not awful. And it is not only the people who did not turn out but the people who voted for higher minimum wages, grass legalization, but still voted Republican. But I also think the Democratic candidates and the professional campaigners who get paid the big bucks need to take some of the blame. Bland emptiness apparently does not trump energetic evil.

The Democrats (I mean the national candidates and the campaign professionals) mostly decided to pivot away from "inequality" to "opportunity". That sure worked out well. And going further back, the President (and his employee the Attorney General) decided it was more important to prosecute whistle blowers than rogue bankers and financeers. It was the executive that failed to enforce bailout terms so that almost nobody could get a mortage modification. Note also that the executive decided to do QE (basically a complicated way of printing money to give to bankers) rather than using the same authority to print money to give away to ordinary people. Leaving aside whether that was good policy (I think it wasn't) it was lousy politics.

Sure people stupidly fail to vote, and more stupidly vote against their self-interest. So be angry at that if you want. But send some of that bitterness and anger towards the national leaders inside the Democratic party who blow elections because they are too in bed with a lot of the same people who the Republicans represent.