So I know I haven't gone back to analyze the elections of earlier this week yet. Well, here goes.

Democrats got hit. Which is not a shock. Nor was it really a big surprise that they lost governorships in Virginia and New Jersey. Look at the facts:

In Virginia the Democratic candidate, Creigh Deeds, was a joke. He was terrible. He fumbled over his words, couldn't decided whether he was for or against tax increases and ran a campaign more negative the maybe any Republican has ever run. Voters in the state associated Deeds with negativity, not solutions. Those kinds of candidates always lose. So despite the fact the Bob McDonnell has fought against equal pay rights for women, written that women belong in the kitchen and will be most conservative Governor is a long time in Virginia, he won. And he won big. UPDATE: After studying some numbers, maybe the most obvious fact I've ever see was backed up. McDonnell won because of white voters, 67 percent of which voted for him. It was the highest share of white voters for a Republican since 1994, with the exception of Bush in 2004.

In New Jersey the surprise was more, as was clear by the fact that I thought John Corzine was going to win. However, his loss is not surprising. He was disliked very much in the state. Under his watch key members of New Jersey government were arrested for corruption. A funny joke came out recently, about the big flap over Corzine calling his Republican opponent fat. After Chris Christie said that Corzine should just man up and call him fat, someone pointed out that calling someone corrupt in NJ brings a shrug and a really muted response. But call someone fat and it tips an election. Pretty wild.

No, the real news happened in smaller elections. First, in the NY-23 race that was so wild and divided the Republican party. The 5+ percent of the vote won by Republican Dede Scozzafava, who dropped out of the race, was the difference between Bill Owens and Doug Hoffman in a close race. The Democrat won and the Republicans spun it as a one-year coup that will be corrected next year. Keep in mind this was a special election for the remainder of the term. And the R's are probably right. But what they are not talking about is the deep split in their party that this race showed. Not only has the Tea Party movement clearly become quite strong, but someone they probably are scared of also has: Sarah Palin. The day she endorsed Hoffman in this race, he blew up. She is so big that even Mark Kirk, a moderate Republican from Illinois, is sending out feelers for her support, knowing how big it can be. This has to be scary for Republicans. They have a chance to take back a significant number of seats in both bodies. Split votes will kill them, however.

And the final thing I think is important to look at are two initiative votes, one in Maine, the other in Washington State. Both had to do with gay marriage. In Maine the law allowing gay marriage was a repealed. Talk about a hit. This has happened twice now. And even in Washington, one of the most liberal states in the country, its own version only passed by five percent, clearly showing the effects of a statewide vote. But once again, the country has shown why representative democracy is better than just democracy. The simple fact is that equal rights should not be voted on, period. The legal definition of "marriage" is "civil union". That was part of the Washington state version. I do believe there is much support for gay civil union, but not marriage. It seems ridiculous, but it matters. Legally, however, it shouldn't. If two people, regardless of gender, are afforded certain rights, those rights cannot be denied two other people. It's not just the law, it is the foundation on which this country was built. For the history of this country it seems that every generation has had a fundamental issue it has dealt with. This generation has two: privacy and same-sex rights. Their biggest problem is that they are not mainstream anymore. They have been overshadowed by things like healthcare and recession. Also, war. So the real fight might be a decade away because of it. That is scary. Especially if legislative action will just be shot down by votes.


And I'll finish with a story and some news:

Went to a party on Friday night about two blocks from the Hill. It was pretty loud, as they can be and the downstairs neighbor came up, only to ask if they could turn down the music a little. The host was a little upset because they had tried to warn the neighbor several times, but couldn't get them at home. So he went downstairs thinking that he'd at least argue a little. They led him inside, complained for a while and our host told them he wasn't going to turn it down. Then, out of the back, comes Iowa Rep. Steve King. "Son, turn that down." Problem solved.

Yesterday a campaign started, by the same groups that created the "Got Milk" campaign, to promote chocolate milk. Apparently schools across the country have been pulling chocolate milk do to complaints from parents over its sugar content. Here's the thing they don't know: nutritionists, starting at UW, have found that there is no better recovery tool for athletic activity than chocolate milk. UW athletes drink it almost religiously now. In other words, the problem isn't the milk, it's lazy kids. If these kids did even the least bit of physical activity, the milk would be very good for them.

In California last week, the Highway Patrol arrested a man that stole a car - get this - to make it to his court appearance for an auto theft charge. Police arrested the 24-year old while he was sitting in the car after the hearing.

At least he might be able to drive it. A South Korean woman finally passed the written drivers' test in South Korea, after trying nearly everyday since April 2005. She spent about $4,200 U.S. dollars and at the age of 68, passed with a 60. Pretty sure that would not pass you here.