Well, At Least Spending Should Drop...

By Daniel P. Killeen | Thursday, November 9, 2006

As happens in New Hampshire, elections were a hot issue in Hanover yet again this year. The student population, in an annual renaissance of political awareness, became very interested in both the campaigning and election of candidates on both sides of the aisle. In the weeks leading up to the election, College Democrats and College Republicans held rallies with political figures, from New Hampshire representative challenger Paul Hodes spotted wandering through Novack to New York Governor George Pataki throwing back a few with College Republicans at the Dartmouth-Yale football game tailgating festivities. The “Get out the Vote” efforts were conspicuous on both sides. The Student Assembly again sponsored a transportation service from locations on campus to the polls at Hanover Middle School. The political atmosphere leading up to November 7 was, needless to say, highly charged.

Of most pertinent interest to students was the local congressional race between Paul Hodes, Dartmouth Class of 1972 and Charlie Bass, Class of 1974. Hodes, the Democrat, challenged Bass, the Republican incumbent for New Hampshire’s Second District seat in the House of Representatives. In a race that seemed to be well in Bass’ grasp until the few weeks leading up to the election, a huge effort both locally and regionally by Democratic pundits provided for a rather close race. In a race that saw higher than usual turnout at the polls on the 7th, Hodes had managed to beat the popular six-term congressman Bass by a margin of 53% to 45%. Although Hodes found incredible support from College Democrats on campus, Bass still carried Grafton County by a count of 51% - 43%. Dartmouth College Republicans, by turn, put visibly less effort into their campaign and Get Out the Vote initiatives.

Incumbent Democratic Governor John Lynch won reelection by a 3:1 margin statewide, a result nearly identical to that in Hanover.

Most believe that the results of these particular elections, along with other races across the country, were highly influenced by the negative effects of public opinion regarding President Bush’s policies and overarching Republican stances that have not been well-received in the minds of many Americans. The Republican-backed war in Iraq, and the overwhelmingly negative sentiment surrounding it, was certainly one of the foremost issues. Equally, if not more, damaging to the Republicans in 2006 were scandals that have ravaged the party since Bush’s reelection. Beginning with Tom Delay’s troubles with lobbyists in the wake of the 2004 election, the ethically questionable actions of Republican politicians have continued to mount. The implications of illegality by Jack Abramoff with Delay soon followed. The scandals of “Scooter” Libby and, most recently, Mark Foley served only to scuttle any hopes for a Republican retention of Congress.

This overall negative sentiment towards the Republican Party manifested itself in the loss of both the House and the Senate. All told, Democrats picked up 29 seats in the House, six in the Senate, and six governorships, in Arkansas, Colorado, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, and Ohio.

All is not doom and gloom, however. Conservatives handily won the majority ballot measures nationwide. Seventy-five percent of Arizona voters supported adopting English as the state’s official language. Seven states voted to ban gay marriage, and three denied initiatives to legalize marijuana. And most notably, Michigan approved a measure to amend the state constitution prohibiting all state entities from “discriminating against or granting preferential treatment based on race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin.” In short, Michigan becomes the first state in the nation to effectively ban affirmative action.

The Republicans hope, however, that this slight numerical Democratic victory will result in the Republicans securing the Presidency in 2008 after the country realizes that the Democrats are more inept than the Republicans, even with scandal, could ever hope to be.

Well, At Least Spending Should Drop...

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