The returns are in from yesterday’s election and everything seems to have gone as expected. Mayor Bloomberg won big in Gotham, Sen. Corzine won in New Jersey, Kaine won in the Old Dominion state, and the constitutional ban on gay marriage passed in Texas.
Presumably Democrats will present the gubernatorial victories of Corzine and Kaine as harbingers of more Democratic victories to come in ‘06. Perhaps they will be right, but I hardly see how these results foreshadow such an outcome. Sen. Corzine won in New Jersey because he is an established Democrat in an established Democratic state. Kaine was able to ride the coat-tails of the ever-popular current governor, Mark Warner, whom Kaine served under as lieutenant governor the past four years. Moreover, these victories were simple holds, not pick-ups. Democrats control no more state houses today than they did yesterday.
It is entirely possible that Democrats will enjoy substantial gains in next year’s mid-terms. Republicans are, for various reasons, certainly ripe for defeat. They spend too much, they haven’t addressed the border, we have heard very little about making the tax cuts permanent, and it seems to be business as usual in Washington, which Republicans were supposed to change when they were given control of congress in ‘94.
For the Democrats to capitalize on this however they will need to find some strong leadership and an agenda palatable to the American people. They don’t have either right now, and in fact are just as unpopular as Republicans are. All the Democrats have to offer now is opposition and outright hatred for Republicans and President Bush. That is nothing, and as the Democrats have learned in the past two elections you can’t beat something with nothing. The makeup of congress will change very little unless Democrats correct this.
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