Notice along with the Dem losses,

[elleng]

state minimum wage and marijuana, issues NOT taken up by Congress, passed.

[murielm99]

1. There were many states that had

progressive issues on the ballot, and those issues passed. So why all the repuke victories, when this country does not like conservative ideas, on the whole? How can people be so stupid?

[elleng]

2. People don't think,

not aware of distinction between economic and social 'conservatism,' and taken advantage of by national repug propaganda.

[alp227]

3. Exactly. There is disconnect between political self-ID (style) and personal positions (substance).

Look up poll numbers between self-identification as "liberal" and "conservative"...the same pollsters will find that a larger majority of people are comfortable supporting liberal policies than identifying as liberal. You can thank the othering of liberals by right wing broadcast & online media. The sludge that used to be on AM Radio spread to the Internet via Breitbart, The Blaze, etc.

When voting for officeholders, style always trumps substance. It's the way it's been since the 1960 JFK/Nixon debates. Admittedly, Obama won in 2008 largely on style (his articulate, passionate tone and anger at the Bush administration) than substance, no? But when voting for laws, the most persuasive messaging (campaign ads) win.

[True Blue Door]

10. How much regional overlap was there?

I would assume that most of the GOP gains were already in conservative states, while the progressive ballot initiatives would lean heavily toward the blue.

[redruddyred]

15. one word: gerrymandering.

our representatives are not representative of us as it turns out.

[meaculpa2011]

17. How do you gerrymander a state? n/t

[Historic NY]

27. When you don't own the statehouse...

the party ruling sets the re-districting to protect themselves.

[meaculpa2011]

28. And how does that impact...

races for senators and governors?

[Historic NY]

29. Who or whom gets selected to run for those positions....

[meaculpa2011]

31. They get selected in statewide primaries. n/t

[JI7]

19. because there ARE people who like guns and support the minimum wage

i know many people who complain about corporations who are racist and anti immigration. they say things like republicans want immigration for cheap labor and democrats want it for votes.

[Chathamization]

32. In my experience, most people have no idea about the actual positions of the people they vote for

Even (sometimes it seems particularly) people who consider themselves politically tuned in. When you start asking people why they voted for particular candidates, you often get odd results. Often they know the candidates stance on a couple of issues (the issues the candidate stumps for), and maybe some particular issue they're particularly interested in, but other than that a lot of it seems to be how the candidate is represented in the media, their style, their personal appeal, and the message a voter thinks they're making by voting for them (some Dems in blue states really seem to want to show that they'll vote for "good Republicans", for instance).

[Blue_In_AK]

4. We had four progressive ballot measures here

and they're all easily passing.

[Cha]

5. thanks ellen.

[elleng]

6. You're welcome, Cha.

Enjoy your new governor!

[Cha]

7. Yeah, mahina says he's great.. I didn't know about him because he came out of nowhere(according

to me)..beating Abercrombie in the Dem primary.. but, David Ige has been in the Hawaiian state Senate for 26 years if I remember right.

Who got Cantor's seat?

[elleng]

8. brat, the repug,

and I lost my Dem governor in MD.

[Cha]

11. Of course.. Damn, that's right.. I'm so sorry, ellen.. do you

think it will take the majority of voters in Maryland four years to get over their new repub Gov?

[elleng]

13. Dunno, we'll see what he accomplishes.

[Cha]

14. Right.. well, I just saw this as you already know.. but, it cheers me up a little

"Hogan’s victory — a repudiation of the eight-year tenure of Gov. Martin O’Malley — means Annapolis will return to divided government for the first time since 2006. It remains to be seen how much Hogan will be able to accomplish with a Democratic-controlled legislature. But his victory sent a message that Marylanders had grown weary of the tax hikes enacted under O’Malley, which Hogan harped on throughout the campaign."

Too bad they're "repudiating Gov O'Malley"..

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

16. It's bullshit!! They're NOT repudiating O'Malley. He left office fairly popular. Even Republicans

admit he was effective. They're mad at two main things O'Malley did: (1) raised taxes and (2) botched the ACA rollout in the state.

But honestly, Hogan's win is NOT a repudiation of anything because there was low voter turnout across the entire state, period. I think folks believed that Brown had the race in the bag and may not have voted because of that.

This article is pure bullshit because even though we take issue with O'Malley's taxes, we admit that he did a good job for the state.

Hence why so many people are shocked. Hogan was not expected to win and any other scenario from the pro-corporate media (Washington Post included) is nothing but pure, unadulterated BULLSHIT. It didn't help that Anthony Brown was a very weak candidate.

[Cha]

18. I wondered about that, Liberal Stalwart.. if it were actually true or not. Thank you!

It's too bad when people don't go out and vote.. no matter how "in the bag" they think it is.

I didn't know Anthony Brown was a "very weak" candidate.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

20. Really. Sadly, he's like Martha Coakley...more of a behind the scenes type of guy. He's more of a

policy wonk. And he was directly put in charge of the ACA rollout. As most Lt. Gov's are, he was the administrator of that rollout and he botched it. It was an embarrassment for the State of Maryland after we had blamed Republicans in Congress for sabotaging Obama. We couldn't blame the Republicans here because Democrats dominate across the state. In fact, the legislature has even become more progressively Democrat and less Blue Dog conservative in recent elections.

There really was so excuse for Hogan to win, but I thought something was terribly wrong when it was taking longer than usual to call the state. I started receiving calls asking what's going on. When it became after midnight, I knew something was terribly wrong, and that's when the projection was called.

Really, I'm beside myself. First, I'm embarrassed as well after bragging about how proud I am of my Blue State. Confident of a victory here in Maryland, I was going to take the day to work in VA, but couldn't break away from work. I tease my friends who live in VA, calling it a Red, backwards state. And now here I am, a Red governor in a blue state. Second, I scolded friends and family in GA who told me that they had second thoughts about voting for Nunn because she distanced herself from Obama. I finally convinced them and here I was not knowing that Brown would lose in my own state.

Again, it's sickening to me. This country is truly sick.

[Cha]

21. Oh dear! It is so terribly horribly sickening right now.. but, we will win again..

I read that Nunn said she voted for Obama when all that came out about Alison Grimes.. anyway, I don't know much about the races in those states. Did Michelle Nunn and or Jason Carter win?

Our country is sick because these majority people in these states are letting themselves be brainwashed by Koch money.. giving Billionaires a better life style and shafting themselves.

Glad you convinced your friends in Georgia.. Mahalo LS~

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

23. They both lost, sadly. Even though Deal is being investigated on serious ethics charges.

Notice Republicans never care about those things. And Sam Nunn is beloved by both parties across the state. I was hoping that his daughter would win.

We still have a long way to go.

[Cha]

24. Damn.. and we were hearing reports of such turnouts in Georgia.. I guess those

who are scared of voting for themselves turned out more.

[JI7]

9. because God, Guns, abortion, gays, minorities, immigration

[kerry-is-my-prez]

12. We missed passing medical marijuana here in Fl by 3% thanks to all the seniors.

I'm so disgusted with this state. That Scott managed to win by less than 1 percent. So close....

[davidn3600]

26. They may try again in 2016...it might pass then with a higher turnout

[TxDemChem]

22. Last night was depressing, but as you noted

There were some positive results. Now I'm gearing up for an ever harder GOTV for 2016.

[Freddie]

25. PA Gov went blue, Tom Corbett is gone

It wasn't a bad night entirely.

[Bluenorthwest]

30. In actual fact, marijuana legalization passed in Oregon AND Democrats won.

So along with Democratic victory, marijuana legalization passed.

[Chathamization]

33. Progress can be made state by state, city by city. We don't have to wait to retake Congress. And as

you point out, we are making progress in several important areas. There's a lot of victories to be had just by doing what we can.