I've been watching the election returns this evening — it's all too depressing to blog about anything meaningful tonight. Montana, for example, has apparently elected a lentil farmer with a crew cut, giving the Democratic Party a majority in the Senate. Not just a lentil farmer, an organic lentil farmer! I will show my disapproval by boycotting lentils (of any kind) for the next ... oh, let's say five years. After two hours of watching talking heads hold forth on what "the American people" were saying in this election, I couldn't take it anymore. If I weren't Mormon, I suppose I'd go out drinking. Instead I clicked over to Military Channel and watched a show on mortars and howitzers for an hour. That cheered me up. I guess I'll muddle through.
The good news is that Harry Reid is now (apparently) going to become the Senate Majority Leader. I don't know if Reid's sudden rise to power is good news for the country, but it's certainly good news for Utah and Idaho, whose legions of staunchly conservative Mormons will now have to develop political (as opposed to religious) reasons for voting conservative. All this talk about Mitt the Mormon candidate, and look who suddenly walks onto the national stage: Senator Harry Reid.
There were a couple of bright spots in the evening. First, Arnold, the most unlikely of politicians, won big and was reelected as California's governor. I can think of no rational reason to explain Arnold's popularity with the California electorate, which does not tend to favor Republicans. Second, Joe Lieberman won reelection running as an independent in Connecticut. [Notice how the Wikipedia entry already reflects yesterday's election results.] Does this mean he is no longer a Democrat, or simply that he ran as an independent candidate so he could retain his seat as a Democrat despite being snubbed by his own state party? I like Lieberman. Maybe we need a few more independents in Congress.
[I'm really not interested in fielding comments on this one. Maybe next election.]
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