WINNER: Governor Jack Markell. The only state in the nation that got more Democratic last night was Delaware. Markell’s Delaware Democratic Party picked up 2 seats in the State House to return to their supermajority status. And he helped Chris Coons, Chip Flowers and John Carney win their races. With the supermajority back, Markell has the ability to enact his agenda to keep this state on the road to recovery. I am going to write a column, if someone doesn’t beat me to it, comparing where Governor Markell went right and where President Obama went wrong. Both were faced with comparable circumstances. Horrible economy. Epic job losses. Exploding budget deficits and falling revenues, which was worse for Markell since he is required by law to balance the budget. Markell, like Obama, was armed with huge majorities of Democrats in both Houses to enact his agenda. And both of their agendas were largely passed successfully. Yet Markell gained seats last night. Obama lost them. It occurs to me that Jack’s communications team is really good at what they do, and was able to get out the Governor’s message explaining his agenda much better than the White House was. Regardless, Governor Markell has never had more political capital. He has a bright future in national politics if he wants one. To say that his prospects for reelection are very good is to be making an understatement. The only danger is, he has to continue to perform. He has no excuses, and no obstacles.
Photo courtesy of the News Journal.
LOSER: Charlie Copeland. Wow. Where do I start on the series of epic fails that are the responsiblility of Charlie Copeland. Since Charlie left his safe Senate seat (which is now in Democratic hands) to make a quixotic run for Lt. Governor, which he lost horribly to Matt Denn, Charlie Copeland has had an almost O’Donnell-esque need to be seen constantly as the leader of Delaware Republicans. To be seen as a Governor-in-Waiting to Jack Markell. He has invested a lot of money and time and effort into doing so. He incomprehensibly blogs at Resolute Determination, which will be a goldmine of pronouncements in the coming 2012 campaign. He sets up the Casear Rodney Institute as his, or rather, the GOP’s, own paid-for think tank to produce the figures and talking points needed to oppose the Markell Administration. He encouraged and embraced the Delaware teabagger movement in New Castle County, in a transparent effort to jump on and then incorporate the movement into his own. But much like the story of the scorpion and the fox, the teabaggers he embraced defeated fellow establishmentarian Mike Castle. And finally, he was apparently behind funding a flood of anonymous negative mailers against Democratic candidates in the General Assembly. All this time, effort and money invested by Charlie Copeland. And his opponent, Jack Markell, is more stronger than ever before. All this time, effort and money invested by Charlie Copeland, and the Democrats gain two seats in the Assembly. All this time, effort and money invested by Charlie Copeland, and the only statewide Republican left is Tom Wagner. Charlie Copeland brings new meaning to the Reverse Midas Touch.
WINNER: John Carney. He found his voice in the final weeks of the campaign, and finally stepped out from Minner’s long shadow, which has dogged him for at least three years. Coon’s coat-tails helped, but Carney won this on his own. May he have a long career serving Delaware in Congress.
LOSER: Beau Biden. Yeah, yeah, he won reelection yesterday with something like a kajillion percent over some guy. Yeah yeah, he has the most important prosecution in the state since the Capano trial coming up, which will put Biden front and center in the public domain. But, he could have been Senator!!!! If he had run this year, he would have undoubtedly won against O’Donnell. But, something tells me Biden actually considers himself a winner in this respect, so….
WINNER: Beau Biden. He won reelection by a kajillion percent, he will be front and center in the most important prosecution in the state since the Capano trial, he avoided losing this year to Castle (which would have happened if Castle had not lost himself) and, if rumors are true, Beau Biden may indeed find himself in the Senate sooner than we all think, with a much more established pedigree than he would have had had he won this year as a first term AG and the VP’s son.
LOSER: Christine O’Donnell. For obvious reasons. She lost. In an unmistakable landslide. I wonder what it is like to have 182,000 people sceam in one voice “YOU SUCK” and know they are talking about you. She also singlehandedly destroyed the Delaware Republican Party, a once proud institution. And by all appearances and expectations, she will not stay to help rebuild what she destroyed, for she will most likely go the Palin route and cash in at Fox News. Does that mean we will never see her witch hat again in Delaware? No. Something tells me she will be back for her fourth consecutive ass whopping in 2012. Which makes Rob Tornoe a …..
WINNER: Rob Tornoe. Being a political cartoonist in Delaware must suck beyond all comprehension. We usually elect boring and uninteresting politicians. And that pesky “Delaware Way” does not allow for the kind of cartoonish material one needs to lampoon in a political cartoon. Until this year. Christine O’Donnell was a godsend to Tornoe and other political cartoonists in the state as Sarah Palin was to the national counterparts. And Christine, despite my telling her to get lost last night, will likely be back in 2012 for Rob’s, and our, enjoyment.
LOSER: David Anderson and the Delaware 9-12 Patriots. You got your hands on the wheel finally, driving the car where you wanted it to go. And apparently you wanted to drive off the Delaware Memorial Bridge. Because you, and the car, are sinking in the river now. Some people are not allowed to drive, due to physcial or mental limitations. And others are not allowed to drive because when they do, they kill things. Like the Republican Party.
WINNER: Best Buy. The retail store will apparently get their employees back for the Christmas Rush.
WINNER: Chris Coons. For once, a gracious, hard working, honest, knowledgeable, intelligent and dedicated public servant defeated an ignorant and pathologically dishonest fear-monger. It doesn’t always happen that way. More times than not, lies, hate and fear win. I, and I think many of my fellow Delawareans, are proud to have him as our new Senator (almost immediately, I think he will be sworn in this week). He is also a winner for proving that fortune favors the bold. Coons got in this race as an underdog, financially and in the polls. No one expected him to beat Castle. Some of us where just happy that finally we had a credible challenger to Castle. We knew Coons would give it his all, but he would probably lose in a Republican year. He took the risk, and is now our Senator.
LOSER: New Castle County residents Paul Clark and his developer friends now run the county. Time to find a replacement, stat.
WINNER: Pete Schwartzkopf Despite having an estimated $80,000 in negative, anonymous ads spent against him, he wins re-election and now has a super-majority in the House.
LOSER: Sussex County Sheriff Eric Swanson. Ran a lazy, non-existent campaign and didn’t take his opponent seriously until 2 weeks before the election. And he lost (along with the other Democratic row office holders).
WINNER: Russ Melrath Russ lost last night in his race to topple George Cole in the 4th District of the County Council. Still, he was chosen by the party to run this race in early September. With no name recognition, a shoe string budget, and very little time to campaign, Melrath got the race off the ground and campaigned like crazy, garnering 40% of the vote in Sussex County in a Republican year.
LOSER: Sussex County Councilwoman Joan Deaver. She is left as the only countywide Democrat in Sussex County after the GOP sweep of the Row offices and the two other county council seats. She will probably be redistricted out of her seat next year.