Clear mandate for Obama

In 2004, when George W. Bush won re-election with a paltry 286 electoral votes to John Kerry's 251, which was the narrowest re-election victory since 1916, he felt he had a crushing mandate compared to his Supreme Court-ordered gift in 2000.

Here are his modest comments from 2004: "I earned capital in the campaign, political capital, and now I intend to spend it. It is my style."

Compared to the 2004 election, President Obama has far more political capital to spend than W ever had. Obama will end up with 332 electoral votes after the Romney campaign graciously conceded Florida before all the votes were counted there.

Obama's victory was so decisive that Florida, and its 29 electoral votes, didn't even matter.

In other words, with the Senate still controlled by Democrats, President Obama has a clear mandate to govern the way voters elected him to govern. Tax the 1 percent and help the 99 percent.

And that bit about Oregon being a state in play. Well, Obama won 54 percent to 43 percent.

After listening to Rush Limbaugh, reading the Wall Street Journal and watching Fox News, Republicans were certain that this was going to be a Romney landslide.


With the unemployment rate at 8 percent, Republicans assumed that the race was over before it even started. They believed they would run away with the election.

Well, they can run, but they can't hide now.

They are now shell-shocked.

Here's a typical comment from the WSJ after a post-mortem column by Mitt cheerleader Peggy Noonan:

"A 2016 election is not even worth preparing for. The Free Republic that was the United States is now a thing of the past. The Land of the Free and Home of the Brave committed suicide on November 6th."

Yes, 48 percent of voters backed the Mitt-wit on Tuesday. Of the last six presidential elections, though, the GOP candidate has now lost the popular vote in five of them.

And, demographics are not favoring Republicans going forward.

The GOP's "big tent" will have a hard time filling up when the party hates blacks, Mexicans, gays, Muslims and women (who can forget those priceless comments about rape).

The Republican base, comprised of white, mostly male voters, shrunk to just 72 percent of the electorate this year. And Mitt is as white-bred as they come.

Romney won all the states with the most racists, rednecks and least-educated citizens. And, despite the noise those people generate, their numbers are dwindling, too, thank God.

Mitt also represented the uber-rich, who feel they can buy anything, be it love, sex or the presidency and are miffed when they're rebuffed.

This election is a rebuke to the 1 percenters and their ideology that tax cuts solve all ills.

They wasted billions on Mitt and other Republican candidates.

Spend your billions on creating real jobs in this country.

If not, then get out of the way, because President Obama is here for another four years.

Bend's GOP winners neutered in Salem

Thanks to their brutally effective negative ads, local GOP extremists Jason Conger and Tim Knopp easily won their races for the state House and Senate, respectively.

But, they were Pyrrhic victories in the sense that Democrats won control of the state House and Senate.

We also have a Democratic governor, treasurer and secretary of state.

Still, Democrats work with Republicans, but it's considered a sign of weakness for Republicans to even acknowledge the mere presence of Democrats in the room.

Conger and Knopp will be "creating jobs" by hiring family members to work in their offices.

Oh, and they'll introduce, yet again, anti-abortion and anti-marriage equality bills so they can show their wing-nut constituents that they're fighting their fight.

Nevermind, that they'll do nothing to create jobs in this state, let alone progressive policies.

We just elected two Republicans who will have no clout, whatsoever, in Salem.

Speaking of no clout, Republican Knute Buehler of Bend was crushed in his bid to unseat our Democratic Secretary of State, Kate Brown.

In a rare moment of unanimity, all of Oregon's major newspapers endorsed Buehler. Well, it appears that newspaper endorsements aren't worth the paper they're printed on. Actually, we've known that for years.

And, on the Bend City Council, it was great to see Kathie Eckman finally shown the door. She was a weak councilor. She needed to be ousted by Sally Russell.

Kudos, though, to Jim Clinton for winning re-election yet again. He's the only one on the council with integrity and intelligence.

Finally, it was great to see Democrat Alan Unger returned to office on the Deschutes County Commission. Unger, from Redmond, is one of our best public officials in the area.

Turnout was far lower than 2008. We managed just 80 percent this time, but had 87 percent in 2008.

Obviously, their was less enthusiasm for the president this time around and also for Mitt Romney in Deschutes County.

Park district bond passes

Bond included safe river passage plus whitewater play area

Surprisingly, the $29 million bond, put on the ballot by the Bend parks district, passed by 52 percent to 48 percent.

In these tough economic times, with huge, far more important bond measures -- schools, sewer, water -- facing property taxpayers next year, it was amazing this thing passed.

It doesn't really do much for park district patrons, although the river chute under the Colorado Bridge should save some lives. It also was a way for OSU-Cascades to get voter support for its Shevlin Center "campus" while not asking directly for it

Essentially, the bond is another way for the local construction/development industry to make a living off of the government.

And then, these same people turn around and complain about government spending. Classic hypocrites.

The park district bond spells trouble for the school district's bond and also the bond for an expanded sewer system. Most Bend homes are not served by the current sewer system. Also, the local beer industry is overwhelming the sewer system.

Anyway, it is what it is. The park district bond may enhance Bend's livability, but it comes at a steep price now, and down the road.

Oregon says no to pot, yes to estate taxes

There was mostly good news and some bad with the nine ballot measures facing Oregonians on Tuesday.

Unlike Colorado and neighboring Washington, the Beaver State said "no" to a flawed measure to legalize marijuana. National groups thought the Oregon measure was too broad and would not pass, so they withheld support. A more restrictive measure has a great chance of passing in the future. That said, federal law still says pot is illegal.

Oregonians affirmed their belief that estate taxes are necessary to help level the playing field in our society by rejecting Measure 85, which would have phased out the state inheritance tax. If it had passed, further cuts to public education, public safety and health care were inevitable.

It was great to see Oregonians back public education by passing Measure 85, which re-directs the corporate "kicker" tax refund to K-12 education.

We also rejected, as expected, the creation of non-Native American casinos in the state. That's the last thing this state needed.

Unfortunately, Oregonians passed Measure 79, which prohibits any real estate transfer tax in the future.
We don't have such a tax now, so there is no effect on government budgets. But, it also means that without the ability to broaden our tax base, the burden falls even harder on property taxpayers to make up the difference.

Oregonians have long been trailblazers by being the first in the nation to pass a bottle bill, sweeping land-use reform, assisted-suicide and vote-by-mail; all of which Washington state followed.


Our neighbors to the north, though, have taken the title of political leaders.

Washington affirmed same-sex marriage on Tuesday along with legalizing marijuana. Those are two measures Oregonians will face in the future.

We have some catching up to do, but I'm confident we will do it.

Forward.

Hope wins again; hate loses

President Obama swamps Mitt in electoral votes

As expected, President Obama easily won re-election with the race called about 20 minutes after 8 pm PST.

Yes, the overall vote is close, but that is irrelevant. The electoral vote is all that matters and right now, Obama is up to 290, when all you need is 270. If he holds onto Florida and Virginia, he'll reach 332 EVs. We're talking a beat-down here, relative to anything Bush II achieved.

While watching the various networks tonight, you could tell all the announcers knew the outcome, through exit polling, but withheld the news to maintain viewership throughout the night.

The editors at the Wall Street Journal knew the outcome well before the polls closed. The Rupert Murdoch paper's early editions ran an editorial titled, "The Republic Will Survive."

There was nothing but venom spewed at Obama from the Journal, Fox News, and hate-radio 24-7 for four long years. As noted before, hate is not a winning strategy.

This election is great on many levels, but the one I'll mention now is this: For four years, Republicans have been comparing President Obama to Jimmy Carter and calling him a one-term president.

Remember that video of the Mitt-wit deriding 47 percent of Americans as moochers? The one that help put the nail in Mitt's political coffin? Well, Jimmy Carter's grandson arranged the release of that video on the Mother Jones website.

Karma is sweet.

Forward.

Obama should win, pollsters say

Nate Silver's blog, fivethirtyeight, is the most bullish on President Obama's chances of winning re-election. Nate now rates the president's chances at over 91 percent. He also projects his electoral total to be 314.4.

He rates Ohio as the key state to watch. He predicts an Obama victory there, which means he wins re-election.

Over at Intrade, President Obama has better than a 67 percent chance of winning. Read this piece about a 29-year-old who has six figures riding on the outcome Tuesday.

Even the right-leaning website Real Clear Politics shows Obama taking 303 electoral votes.

Things we know before Tuesday is that the Romney/Ryan will lose their "home" states.

In Romney's case, that means Massachusetts (where he governed), Michigan (where he grew up) and California (where he has an ocean-front home with a car elevator).

For Ryan, his home state of Wisconsin will back the president.

Mitt will win Utah decisively and its whopping 6 electoral votes. This, in spite of Utah's largest daily newspaper backing Barack.

Still, pre-election day voting is showing a number of problems in the battleground states. In Ohio, untested and uncertified vote-counting software was installed at the last minute. 

It will likely be worse on election day.

But, the GOP is ready with their excuses if the Mitt-wit loses.

Forward with Obama, not backwards with Myth Robme.

Obama should win, but GOP vote fraud persists

President Obama is on track to capture 300 electoral votes, barring the usual Republican vote-fraud and vote-suppression schemes.

Here's a partial rundown of what the GOP is up to:

1) In Clackamas County, Ore., which encompasses many Portland suburbs, an election worker was caught completing unfilled ballots by marking blank them for Republican candidates. 

2) Ohio's secretary of state ignores court order and moves to destroy potentially legitimate ballots. Plus, volunteers for a voter-suppression group were installed as election officials in Ohio.

3) A Republican in Las Vegas is arrested for attempting to vote twice.

4) More GOP voter-suppression efforts in Wisconsin.

5) Investigation widens to focus on GOP firm after a Republican operative in Virginia dumped voter registration forms that were not Republican.

6) A story on GOP voter-suppression efforts in Florida and how they could turn the tide for Mitt Romney.

There is absolutely no doubt that the GOP is doing all it can to steal another election.

It's time for Democrats to get it back.

Vote.

Forward.