The Divided States of America

It is pretty clear that the U.S. of A is not all that united. The election results were uncomfortably close, with many states votes almost divided in half:

Virginia 51% Obama 48% Romney
Ohio 50% Obama 48% Romney
Florida 50% Obama 49% Romney
Nevada 52% Obama 46% Romney
Wisconsin 53% Obama 46% Romney

Of course we knew Romney would win Utah (he's a Mormon Bishop!) Obama 25% Romney 73%

Ryan lost his home State of Wisconsin, in the presidential VP race, - but kept his Congressional seat.

Hawaii, birthplace of the President,  71% Obama, 28% Romney (Kenya was not able to vote! )

Other quirky election results:

• "Legitimate rape" guy Todd Akin gets kicked to the curb

• Joe-the-plumber gets flushed out by Ohio voters

• Somebody call a Waaaaaaambulance for Karl Rove, he protested FOX's newzzz Ohio call for Obama

• Colorado & Washington State go to pot-- both legalized marijuana

• Maine & Maryland approve same sex marriage
MSN reports: In both Maryland and Washington, gay-marriage laws were approved by lawmakers and signed by the governors earlier this year, but opponents gathered enough signatures to challenge the laws.

The outcomes in the four states could possibly influence the U.S. Supreme Court, which will soon be considering whether to take up cases challenging the law that denies federal recognition to same-sex marriages.

• Michele Bachmann- Maybe money can buy you an election??

MSN reports: It was the nation's most expensive House race in terms of both money raised and spent by the candidates as of mid October, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. The candidates had raised a total of $22.7 million and spent $20.8, the center reported, but Bachmann had outspent Graves by more than twelve-to-one.

• Indiana Senate candidate Richard Mourdock  said "God intended" pregnancies that result from rape, lost the election.  Apparently god did not intend for him to be a Senator- neither did a majority of voters!

N.Y. Times reports: In this heavily Republican state, Mr. Donnelly became the first Democrat in more than a decade to win a statewide race. 

Cindy Sheehan made a pre-election prediction. She said the 1% ers would win the election. It is true that both candidates are 1%ers, but President Obama worked his way up the ladder of education, poverty, student loans, etc. One thing I have always admired about him was the fact that before he was in the spotlight, he chose to be a Community Organizer. He did not grow up with a silver spoon in his mouth, and knew firsthand what it is like to see his Mom struggle with health care coverage for breast cancer. He went deeply in debt to get a college education- which took him years to pay off. So he has walked the walk- he does have first hand compassion, and I think that is an important quality in a leader. 

I still have issues with the use of drones, and I want him to be saying he will vow to exhaust all diplomatic options before deciding to use military options. 

But I do know that Mitt Romney would have done more damage to this country, and being the top 1% of the 1%ers, his world view would be to look out for those interests & the remaining 99%, or 47% of those slackers would have paid a price too high to follow his narrow vision. 

There is still a whole lot of work to be done, and if we've learned anything, it should be that we can't just hope for change, we need to work at making it happen.