Fever for elections

Everyone's talking about the results of elections across the country today. It looks like a mixed bag, frankly.

Right Wing Nuthouse points out that in Pennsylvania, school board members who supported intelligent design (ID) were voted out. He calls it a vote for sanity, and I agree. I tend to support ID in the sense that it is religion attempting to incorporate science into religion. At one time Christians believed the universe revolved around the Earth, they came to accept this is not the case (the evidence was overwhelming). We are now seeing this happen with evolution and ID is a step in that direction. Besides, the spiritual side of me says there's a higher power at work here. In any case, religion (be it the wacko quasi religious environmental nonsense or ID) should not be taught as fact in school.

The eight propositions in California were all voted down, including four presented by Governor Schwartzenegger. It's a big set back for the Governater. (hat tip Power Line.)

Kaine won in Virginia over Kilgore (the Republican challenger), but Wizbang suggests it isn't the victory Democrats hoped for:

Declaring Lt. Governor Tim Kaine's victory over Republican Attorney General Jerry Kilgore a grand victory for Democrats ignores the stark facts staring them in the face down the ballot. Democrats lost the Lt. Governor race, are loosing the Attorney General race, and have no hope of closing the 60-38 gap with Republicans in Virginia's House of Delegates. Republicans might actually have a net gain of a seat or two...

I'm not familiar with Virginia politics myself, but it seems that this was a pretty close race given it's a Republican state.

The ridiculous election reform initiatives in Ohio got the smack down hard. Drumwaster's Rants live blogged it and has all the relevant info. These were sponsored by none other than billionaire lefty moonbat George Sorros. That alone is reason to vote against them, but the initiatives themselves are crap (Michelle and Redstate have the skinny, as does Polipundit).

The Captain believes the Dems swept it. I disagree. The election reform initiatives in Ohio, all supported by Democrats, bombed big time. And though the loss of the governor seat in Virgina (actually, the Dems just kept it) is a hit, the Republicans picked up the Lt. Governor and the Attorney General seats. And Bloomberg kicked serious ass in New York.

Texas adds a gay marriage ban to the Constitution: " With about 550,000 votes counted, Proposition 2 was heading for ratification with 75.5 percent in favor." Wow. I'm not sure what to make of this myself. I've never cared what people do in their own homes, so I've never had a problem with homosexuality. However, the homosexual movement has been demanding acceptance for a long time. Well, guess what: No one has the right to be accepted. I'm sure many of these people would reject me for being Republican (and would do so in an election if I were to run). I think the results of this reflect the people's attitude that they don't want homosexuality shoved down their throat. Still, part of me thinks it doesn't really matter. With about 1% of the population being gay (according to some accounts, though to be honest there's no hard numbers on this) it's hardly sweeping the country. Maybe in time people will become more accepting of it. Still, I have a bit of apathy about it, probably because I'm not gay.

All in all, it was a wash. Republicans could have done better (particularly Kilgore who screwed up by running that add with Hitler in it). Turnout for Republicans was awful (Polipundit has some details in Calinfornia). This should be a wake up call to Republicans. Winning in 2006 is not guaranteed. Hope they heed the warning.