The word 'Midterm' is defined as:
1. a. The middle of an academic term
b. an examination at midterm
2. the approximate middle of a term of office
Now unless you've been living under a rock in the US (or simply haven't been paying much attention), the 2010 US midterms are really heating up, and it feels like the midterm elections are becoming midterm exams for the Democrats. After two years of a Congress with the Democratic Party controlling both House and Senate, it seems that the public is quite unhappy with them.
Current projections show the Republicans taking over the House, and making major gains in the Senate. Looks like the Democrats are failing this exam.
Of course, the actual election is still 10 weeks away, so this is all subject to change.
Here's the Zen Master's opinion:
If the Republicans do take the House then it means that Pelosi loses her position as Speaker of the House. Good riddance. The last thing we need is a Speaker with an agenda and a lame duck House (currently, the Republicans are looking to pick up at 35+ seats, which would put any agenda Pelosi has in jeopardy).
Now we go to the Senate, where one of the senate seats from Washington, currently held by Patty Murray, is up for election.
Her opponent is the Republican Dino Rossi, who has run for governor twice and got cheated out of his victory both times: first was a bunch of new ballots were suddenly 'found' in King County during a third recount against Christine Gregoire. The second time was because Washingtonians foolishly believed Gregoire's lie that she'd balanced the state's budget. Guess what happened after she was re-elected? "We need to make 'vast spending cuts' to help close a massive hole ($6 billion shortfall) in the state's budget." Of course, this was after she said a few days after she was re-elected that she would balance the budget with out raising taxes, even though there was already a $3.2 billion shortfall being predicted. That was two years ago.[/tangent][/rant]
But I digress.
As a 'radical centrist' I intend to cast my ballot (actually, insert it in the mailbox. We don't get the fun of going to voting booth here anymore) for Dino Rossi.
Why, you may ask?
Now that Obama's no longer a member of the Senate, Murray is now the most liberal Senator in Congress. I like liberals as much as the next guy, but I don't want the Senator who's voting record places her farthest left from the center representing my state.
Rossi on the other hand, is more of a moderate with a bit of conservative flair about him. Not only am I voting for the guy who would remove Murray, I'm doing it because a lot of the issues Dino brings up I actually agree with, like fixing the healthcare bill, reducing government spending (Lord knows we need to do that), and promoting renewable energy.
As it stands right now Murray and Rossi are in a statistical dead heat, with Rossi possibly winning by 1.8%.
Who's going to come out on top in November?
As the Zen Master says, "We'll see."
