Wednesday, November 07, 2012

Governor Mike Pence Will Have Super Majorities, But Will It Matter?

Given what happened in the national vote last night where President Barack Obama won re-election by a much smaller margin than he did four years ago and without any help from Indiana and Democrats easily retained control of the Senate, it may not make much difference what happens at the Indiana State House. Mike Pence won the governor's race by a much narrower margin than most pundits had predicted, beating John Gregg by a 50-46% margin. He'll also have super majorities in both chambers of the Indiana General Assembly. Republicans in the House bolstered their 60-40 majority to a 69-31 majority without any help from Marion County where the Democrats won every contested race. Incumbent Cindy Noe lost to Christina Hale, while Karlee Macer defeated Tim Motsinger to capture the seat of retiring State Rep. Phil Hinkle. Senate Republicans maintained their 37-13 advantage. Locally, Republican State Sen. Scott Schneider narrowly defeated Democrat Tim DeLaney with the help of the heavily Republican portions of Hamilton County in his district to offset the vote in Marion County.

Perhaps the most surprising statewide race was the defeat of incumbent State School Superintendent Tony Bennett, who lost by a 52-48% margin to Glenda Ritz, whose campaign had virtually no money on which to operate. Incumbent Attorney General Greg Zoeller performed the best of all statewide Republican candidates, easily defeating Kay Fleming by a 58-42% margin. His margin outperformed Mitt Romney, who easily carried Indiana by a 10-point, 54-44% margin. Joe Donnelly's 50% share of the vote in the U.S. Senate race closely mirrored Mike Pence's vote in the governor's race. Richard Mourdock won just 44% of the vote as Libertarian Andy Horning picked up 6% of the vote, performing better than Libertarian Rupert Boneham's 4% share in the governor's race. Indiana's Republicans congressional delegation grows by one with Jackie Walorski capturing Donnelly's 2nd district congressional seat after narrowly defeating Democrat Brendan Mullen. U.S. Rep. Larry Buschon turned back a strong challenge by Democrat David Crooks, winning 53-43% in the 8th District. Susan Brooks will join Walorski as one of Indiana's two female members of House of Representatives. Brooks easily beat Democrat Scott Reske by a 58-38% margin to hold the seat of retiring U.S. Rep. Dan Burton in the 5th District.

My pleasure with Indiana Republicans' State House victories is tampered considerably by the re-election of Barack Obama and the Democrats remaining firmly in control of the U.S. Senate. Although the House of Representatives will remain in Republican control, it is no match to President Obama's willingness to ignore the U.S. Constitution and rule the country by executive fiat. With the Supreme Court showing little willingness to rein in Obama's usurpation of his executive powers, the Constitution is for all intents and purposes dead. Obama will continue his mission to strip Americans of their wealth and freedoms and hand it over to his New World Order masters. As Obama assured Russia's prime minister earlier this year, "I will have more flexibility after the election." That unguarded comment by The One over a microphone he thought was turned off should have struck fear in the hearts and minds of all freedom-loving Americans. A majority of American voters increasingly dependent on the government gave us Obama and now the American dream is dead. I've never been more depressed and had more fear about my country's future than I feel this morning. I fully expect things to turn into a living hell in the coming months. Yesterday, we lost the Republic so many brave soldiers sacrificed their lives to establish and preserve.

1 comment:

M Theory said...

I'm most depressed about the defeat of proposition 37 (GMO labeling law) in California.

It did raise a lot of awareness about GMOs, however. I can't help but think some companies will label their products with "no GMO's" because there is certainly a consumer market for it.

On the bright side Gary, gold went up.