dear elizabeth dole,

you lost.

love, north carolina.

dear kay hagan,

you won.

love, north carolina

unfortunately, this is my last blog post as our.state.beverage.is.milk! and for that, well, i don’t think you could understand the complexity of my emotions in this moment. but, as they say, as one door closes, another one opens. for me and elizabeth, this means more time. for kay, this means more responsibility.

since i never veer from my path of unbiased analysis, here is a bipartisan look at the conclusion of this election. some facts, in random order:

*kay won with a 52.7% (higher than estimates!), while liddy received 44.2%. chris scraped by with a 3.1%.

*north carolina hasn’t given a democrat love since the election of jimmy carter inn 1976. wowza- both kay and obama took the state this cycle. (they’rre both deomcrats, in case you missed the connection)

*kay took the vote of blacks (9 in 10), women (1 in 2), young voters (7 in 10), and those making less than $50,000 (3 in 5)

*liddy took the vote of older voters

*north carolina newspapers denounced the “godless” ad, and many contribute that to liddy’s loss.

*n.c. turnoout increased by 8%!!!! woot woot! (thats a jump from 65.8% in 2004 to 65.7% in 2008)

good luck to kay in the senate!

good luck to elizabeth in…. whatever she does next!

good luck to you, the constituents of north carolina, may all your endeavors be fruitful and fulfilling!

i’m going now!

if you are waiting for some sort of undeniable sign of who you should vote for, like a tiny gnome who jumps out of your mailbox with the answer, stop waiting. gnomes can be really unreliable, and its november 4th.

its time to use (dun dun dun) critical reasoning

don’t worry, i’m here to help.

elizabeth

• endorsed by the americans for legal immigration pac (generally recognized to have “stood with the people” against amnesty for illegal immigrants and for better border security)
• opposes abortion except in cases of rape, incest, and in the interests of the mother’s health
• “we should not ask main street to bail out wall street“
• we need to end the war

kay

• opposes immigration enforcement legislation at the state level, but wants stricter laws for employers who hire illegal immigrants
• abortion should be legal, but late term only when mother’s life is endangered
• “its a fix for wall street, not main street”
• we need to end the war

some things to keep in mind:

ONE: these are politicians. they want to win. their views appear fundamentally the same and differ only in details because they are sticking closely to what they think you want to hear. some of these viewpoints may change once one of them enters the senate, but overall, don’t forget that they work for you. it is up to you to decide who will represent you in the senate. make demands, we won’t call you needy.

TWO: policy position and effectiveness are of equal importance when deciding on a representative for the senate. if she agrees with you but can’t accomplish anything, that does not help you. on the other hand, if she disagrees with you and can accomplish things, that is not so beneficial to you either. so the win-win for you would be to elect a senator that shares your views and is going to kick ass in the senate. girl power!

good luck north carolina. it’s been a hard run of things, but, for better or for worse, it will all be over soon/tonight. hang in there.

VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE

PART ONE

everybody’s doing it!!! have you?

by mid-october of this year, registered democrats had increased by 9.7%. the number of registered republicans increased by 2.7%.

by the time the early polls closed on friday, 38% of registered voters had cast their ballot. thats 2.3 million people! woot woot!

after today, the number of registered voters who actually voted is expected to rise above 1968 levels. people are hoping for a 70% turnout rate, which would be approximately 30% higher than the national average, a great accomplishment for the state of north carolina.

you can contribute to this historic election by voting. i highly recommend it.

PART TWO

in sum, $34.26 million has been spent on television advertising in north carolina alone.

break it down:

• elizabeth + the nrsc = $12.6 million
• kay + the dscc = $16.7 million
• elizabeth alone = $6.8 million
• kay alone = $5.7 million

nationally: (tv ads for every state senate race)

• nrsc= $33 million
• dscc= $57.8 million

these are big bucks, people. that’s what makes it so important to analyze these television ads with impartiality, and then become biased later.

unless your me, who remains impartial throughout, at least in the blogosphere

elizabeth has been heavily criticized for not spending enough time in north carolina.

obviously, as the incumbent, she works in washington. she holds residency in north carolina (again, duh) but her husband (bob dole– heard of him?) votes in kansas.

here are some hard statistics on days spent in north carolina:

• 2003- 55 days
• 2004- 34 days
• 2005- 33 days
• 2006- 13 days
• 2007- 50 days
• 2008- a lot more

unfortunately, i couldn’t find the average number of days a senator spends in their “home state,” so we don’t have a basis on which to compare these stats.

if we gage public opinion, however, it seems practically unanimous that everyone wishes liddy had come home a bit more often. it is also an issue heavily pushed by kay’s campaign, who have used inefficency and absence as the primary factors in their attack ads.

to reassure you that she does, in fact, hold your interests dear to her heart, elizabeth released this [insert your own adjective here] ad:

this is the conclusion (on my blog at least) of the godless drama:

elizabeth did not release a counter-ad to kay’s counter-ad to elizabeth’s godless-ad.

probably because, well, today is election day, early voting was last week, hence, time has officially run out.

instead, she pulled the ad from the waves but defended it by saying “it’s definitely truthful and in no way attacks her faith. it questions her agenda. i think that’s a fair question.”

well that’s that. we can further analyze the effects of this last ditch effort to garner the attention of the north carolina electorate after all the poll results are in.

early today, pollster marked the race with—

kay: 48.2%

elizabeth: 44.1%

christopher: 3.7%

in an exciting, three day pre-election turn of events, kay hagan brought a lawsuit against elizabeth dole.

why?

remember the little post called “atheism: follow up” (i recommend scrolling down and reading it before you digest this post) that premiered recently on my blog? well…

that attack ad, which linked kay to the “godless americans” pac and insinuated that she holds their views, was risky to begin with, but in the last hours (literally) before the election, the dole camp is desperate to knock kay away from her tiny lead in the polls.

after the ad premiered on state television stations, kay’s attorneys issued an ultimatum: if the ad wasn’t removed in 24 hours, they would sue.

and sue they did. for defamation and libel, to be exact.

kay’s attorneys claim that the ad “injures hagan’s good name and reputation in her community.”

the hagan camp also released a follow up ad rebuking the claims made by the dole ad, while tying in the economy and job creation, and alluding the idea that elizabeth had violated the ninth commandment by “bearing false witness against other christians.”

the liddy campaign obviously did not give in to threats by the legal team of kay hagan, and responded by calling the idea of a lawsuit a “frivolous” and “silly political gimmick.”  they also wrote to the aformentioned legal team to remind them that everything in the ad was factually accurate (its all about spin) and that their intent was to question kay’s agenda and her associations, not her faith.

the voiceover of executive director (a woman) of the godless americans declaring that “there is no god!” while a picture of kay hagan (also a woman) rests on the screen would suggest otherwise.

drama drama drama.

the polls today:

kay- 47.5%

elizabeth-43.6%

christopoher (if you hadn’t forgotten about this guy, you might think that he is above all these negative mudslinging ads since he hasn’t aired any, but the truth is that he can’t afford to)- 3.6%

this is the best example of my last post.

its completely famous.

cost: 7 million dollars.

now that you’ve soaked up this freak show gloriousness, let’s talk about it. you know, to sustain the momentum.

fact: elizabeth dole was voted 93rd in effectiveness for the 2008 cycle (that’s out of 100 for you non-political junkies). she has also voted with president bush 92% of the time (and that’s out of 100% for those of you who…don’t do math?).

allusion: elizabeth dole is not 92 years old. she is a chipper 72.

in an interview with katie couric, kay defended the ad by saying that everyone knows kay is not 92/93 (age). elizabeth (rightly) identifies that yeah, that’s what the ad was meant to do, but she responds gracefully and ends up looking more honourable than kay, who denies reality. since honour is a rare sighting in this camaign, it really stands out. overall, however, most people are into this “snarky” ad, and it certainly gets the message out.

plus, old men in rocking chairs are really adorable.

plus, HAPPY HALLOWEEN.

and if you don’t celebrate for religious/personal/unknown reasons, then please spend tonight thinking about who you’ll vote for.

don’t forget to early vote!!!!!!!!!!

surprise surprise, both kay and elizabeth have taken full advantage of the loophole in contribution limits.

under federal election law, individuals can give no more than $4,600 to the campaign of a senatorial candidate. this law was designed to prevent large donors from unfairly influencing the election. after these donors max out on their candidate’s campaign, however, they just turn around and throw money at the national party committees, who, as we have seen throughout “the catfight of carolina,” put that money into attack ads and advertising for the candidate.

let’s check the stats on this years senatorial loopholed contribution fund: (per group of donors)

$200,000 to kay’s campaign + $1.7million to the national democratic senatorial committee

$400,000 to liddy’s campaign + $1.5million to the national republican senatorial committee

this is, obviously, legal. but it does bother those that don’t want the rich (like, billionaires) to have more of an affect on the results than “regular folk”

but where would politics be without the filthy rich?

the quick answer is: without hilarious and muddy attack ads…. think about it.

my last several posts have been pretty negative, and that, combined with the overall stress of the election, could lead to acne or heart failure or a whole host of other unpleasant health conditions.

so, deep breath, put on a happy song, and let’s discuss some of the really super aspects of kay and elizabeth and their spiffy campaigns.

kay: energetic and effective. in the state senate, she worked tirelessly on behalf of her constituents, established spending priorities and helped protect north carolina markets from overpowering competition. confident, moderate, and business friendly.

elizabeth: honourable and well liked. in the senate, pushed for wall street regulation, succeeded in strengthening north carolina’s military position, helped local sheriffs, and negotiated a favourable tobacco-buyout program for her state.

its too bad they spend so much time attacking each other and not enough time talking up their own accomplishments….

but just look at these smiling faces.

do you feel better?

in just a few moments, you will see yet another attack ad released in the north carolina senate race.

this one is unique, however, because it goes after the entire democratic party and tries to frame kay as a washington pawn whose nomination to run for senate was based solely on the desire of “these liberals” to control all branches of government.

well, true. that is the ideal for any party- a president in power and a 60 count filibuster proof majority in the senate. since the democrats actually have a chance of success here, several key senate races are being fought to the death.

because, obviously, on the flip-side, the republicans can’t think of anything worse than a democratically controlled legislative and executive branch. one is bad enough. but two?

enough talk, let’s cut to the newest creation of the nrsc.

first- it appears that national republican senatorial committee is conceding the presidency. well, not condecing, per se, but there is a definite allusion to obama winning the presidency.

second- the democrats are within arms reach of a congressional majority. that is a major cause for concern for any republican or independent who who would like to retain the checks and balances that a more closely tied election offers. although, in a heartbeat, wouldn’t the republicans love this sort of widespread majority?

yeah, well, who wouldn’t.

(answer: independents)

third- this might not bother all independents, and heres why.

in the minds of the people: divided government —> partisan gridlock—> inefficiency of government

so for those that share liberal views, the one party in power system might be a welcome change from this paradigm of constant political argumentation.

just until, that is, the party in power decides to abuse this position.

lose-lose, but its better than anarhcy.