Doppler Politics

I'm following the advice of a friend and feeling pretty damn good about it. His advice: remember they're in a shrinking minority. And what's better than that? They're even in a shrinking majority. There's no denying the movement. Just take a look at this map: further evidence of movement. Prop 8 passed by a margin of 4 points: 52/48. That's only three minds out of a hundred that need to change. 8 years ago Californians passed Proposition 22 defining marriage as heterosexual by a much uglier margin: about 22 points. 61/39. Gaining 18 points in 8 years. We're getting closer. There's a lot of stupid ideas dying.

Indiana hasn't gone Democrat since 1964. It went for Bush by 510,000 votes in 2004. And this is a state that had previously been growing stronger and stronger in it's Republican leaning.

43/37 for incumbent G.H.W. Bush over Clinton in '92.
47/41 for Dole over incumbent Clinton in '96
56/41 for G.W. Bush over quasi-incumbent Gore in '00
59/39 for G. f—ing W. Bush over Kerry in '04.

So Obama's slim win by little over 25,000 is actually much bigger.

We have to feel pretty good about the opportunities of 2010. North Carolina was served the palled-around-with-the-godless argument and they did more than turn away from it. They threw it back at the cook. Nice job moving them around over there, Casey.

Yeah yeah. Minnesota's Michele Bachmann won her congressional district even after her re-Red Scare interview with Chris Matthews. Those cold temperatures can cause temporary brain freeze on even the sturdiest Norwegian. And if we go even further north we get to Alaska. Look what they've been churning out lately. Ted Stevens winning after his felony conviction has part of me saying WTF? and a better part knows that it's embarrassing for Alaska but not for me. There's a warming trend that's going to make it north eventually. A good one. Those aren't only polar bears clinging to the shrinking ice floes out there.