I love Obama but he sure didn't have any coattails

[cali]

in my state of Vermont. Stupid us. We went more heavily for Obama than any other state but Hawaii. Only 32% voted for McFailed, and yet we elected our repuke gov by fucking 56% in a three way race. Oh well, at least my candidate, the prog party candidate, tied with the dem candidate.

Ugh. Stuck with a repuke gov for his forth term. Not so great coming from one of the bluest states in the country.

[CatBO]

1. His coattails were there, just not enough in some spots...

I'm surprised his coattails weren't longer, but Clinton didn't have terribly long coattails either.

[Merlot]

2. I know how you feel. Here in CA we seem to get stuck with a lot more

gop govs than such a blue state would desrerve.

[onehandle]

3. Don't get me started.

I agree, but you are playing with fire. And me too apparently.

[ncgrits]

4. He sure had 'em in NC!!!! nt

[Labors of Hercules]

8. Hell yes, he did!!

pretty much a clean sweep! (save the Supreme court... :grr:)

[WI_DEM]

5. We gained six seats in the senate and over 20 in the house, so yes, he did have some coat-tails

A couple of examples is North Carolina--if Obama hadn't gotten the huge turnout of black voters it is questionable if either Hagen or the gov candidate would have won. Another state he certainly had coattails was Oregon Senate. Minnesota was very close and Franken may still end up winning, if he does that would be in part because Obama did so well in the presidential race. New Mexico went decisively for Obama and swept out every GOP congress person. Obama certainly helped there. Martin kept it close in Georgia in part because of the huge turnout of black voters--there will be a run-off in December.

[GodlessBiker]

6. He had them in NY. Repukes lost control of the State Senate.

[Historic NY]

11. Yippee....finally a chance to make things work.

My paper talked about the gov. cutting out the pork, etc. He wants to be re-elected so putting Ny on a fiscal diet might just get him back up in albany.

[GodlessBiker]

16. I really like our governor.

[phantom power]

7. You are seeing the difference...

between people's perception of other politicians and "their" (i.e. local) politicians. My dad has remarked about this for years: when you talk to most voters, they tend to think everybody else's representatives are the problem, except theirs.

This is one of the reasons that presidential candidates almost always win their home state. McCain won AZ this year by a wider margin that Bush did. I'm quite positive that this is because native Arizonans think McCain is an OK guy. Why? Because he's our guy of course. We know him! Not like those other damned republicans.

This is, of course, completely illogical, but voters are nothing if not illogical.

[theboss]

9. The bluest state in the country has a 4-term Repub governor...and that is Obama's fault?

Why has your state elected him 4 times?

[cali]

13. uh, read my OP. As I said, stupid us.

[Tatiana]

10. I think soon-to-be Sen. Merkley would disagree with you. n/t

[cali]

15. I think people should actually read before commenting.

I thought it was pretty clear that I said Obama didn't have coattails IN VERMONT. Yep, that's what I said.

[jonnyblitz]

12. his coattails in CA which helped PASS prop 8 we could have

lived without. :(

[JVS]

23. Without Obama, it could have been worse.

Among age demographics only those under 30 opposed prop 8. If they had not turned out in as large a number as they had, then prop 8 would have had a larger margin of victory.

[PBS Poll-435]

14. .

[blueclown]

17. You are right.

He had a relative lack of coattails this election. Perhaps that will change in the 2012 election, but it is very noticable this election.

[WI_DEM]

24. how can winning 6 senate seats (maybe more) and over 20 house seats indicate no coattails?

Oregon is a prime example. NOrth Carolina Senate, without the strong black vote that Obama brought out Hagen would not have won. Georgia is going to have a run-off in part because of the strong black vote Obama brought out. Without it Chambliss would have won out-right. NM Obama coattails swept out all federal GOP officeholders. MN might still go for Franken and if it does it will be largely because Obama did so well.

[SweetieD]

18. He did in a big way in the house race here in LV. There is no way Titus would have

defeated incumbent Porter without all the new dems registered.

[AlCzervik]

19. Maybe the democrat running for Governor could have run a better campaign?

[cali]

25. Sadly, she couldn't. Gaye Symington is Speaker of the VT House

and she ran the shittiest campaign I've ever seen here. OTH, my candidate, Progressive Party member, Anthony Pollina, ran a great one with far fewer resources- though he did get all the significant union endorsements. Anthony split the vote with Gaye.

[JVS]

20. Bullshit. We made large gains in the house and senate

[cali]

26. Oh, for pity's sake. I said he didn't have coattails IN VERMONT

I wasn't referring to any other place but that.

[high density]

21. Obama is not the magic politician that fixes everything

Your chosen example is pretty weak. You're wondering why Obama didn't bring other people to vote for the Democratic governor candidate, but you didn't vote for that person yourself? I mean, wow.

[cali]

28. No, I'm surprised that Douglas got freakin' 56% in VT and so is every

political analyst in the state. It was only expected that he'd get in the 40s. And in Vermont we have a viable Progressive party and so yeah, of course I vote for good prog party candidates. I'm not blaming Obama for anything. I made it clear that I'm blaming Vermonters for supporting our repuke governor. I'm surprised that more dems didn't support either Gaye or Anthony.

[msallied]

22. America has incumbency issues.

When there are no term limits, we will often elect the same tired schmucks over and over and over again. I think it speaks to our culture that until someone turns our stomachs in a most insane way, we don't really do anything about it.

[Bread and Circus]

27. I'm pretty damn sure he got Mark Shauer elected here in Michigan

[Orsino]

29. Well, his powers are not divine...

...but his coattails seem to have done us some good.

Recall that the popular vote margin in the presidential race was not large.