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I waited over an hour to vote yesterday (at 4:00, mind you) and I couldn’t have been happier. They were estimating a 70% turnout in St. Louis County (as of last night) for a midterm election. The all-time high was 68%. So not only did STL County reverse trend, it did it in a blowout.

Thumbs-up

• Democrats taking the House- I believe a split government is the best government. Democrats taking the House means that legislation should move back towards the middle, where it belongs, rather than being used as purely a partisan tool.
• Joe Lieberman’s win- I voted Green in 2000 partly because I am not a huge fan of Joe Lieberman. But I saw a danger in the “nutroots” taking over the electoral process in 2008 to get a left-wing candidate for President. This smackdown is exactly what the Democrats needed and I hope they learn their lesson.
• Missouri Amendment 3 Fails- As I posted, I voted against Amendment 3 because I didn’t believe this belonged in the Constitution. It failed, though I am afraid the Legislature will take this to mean that people don’t want the tax rather than people don’t want it in the Constitution.
• Missouri Prop B Passes- Missouri upped their minimum wage by a 3-1 margin yesterday. It’s a step closer to getting people a living wage. $6.50/hr still isn’t much, but at least it will be indexed for inflation.

Thumbs-Down

• Missouri Amendment 2 Passes- I voted against the Stem Cell initiative because I didn’t believe that Government should fund research that necessarily has to come from killing a human being. Proponents painting everyone that was against the amendment as wanting to kill sick people also turned me off.
• Democrats taking the Senate- If this happens it is a thumbs down for 2008 because the Democrats won’t be able to help themselves to doing some stupid things to hurt the 2008 candidate. I have little faith in the Democrats to keep themselves in check.

Overall, I was fairly happy with the results. Speaker Pelosi still gives me the heebie-jeebies.

Oh, and thank God for the filibuster.