New Jersey has an election that Christie is on track to easily win as the incumbent Governor.

Virginia has a closer gubernatorial campaign with a Republican, Libertarian, and Democrat. Just heard that Libertarian is doing well enough that they've pulled in Ron Paul to campaign for the Republican to try to shut that whole thing down. This one is being called a possible bellwether for 2016.

Bill de Blasio is on track to become mayor of New York. And of course NC has lots of city council, school board, mayoral races, various bonds, and other municipal races across the state.

Got any predictions? Thoughts about the results once they come in?

11/5/2013 9:20:18 AM

God I hope Mcauliffe loses. It would at least be a small start in the repudiation of the ACA. You've got a David and Goliath battle though, given all of the outside funding Mcauliffe has received from Bloomberg, Planned Parenthood and other outside sources.

11/5/2013 10:26:21 AM

Quote :

"You've got a David and Goliath battle though, given all of the outside funding Mcauliffe has received from Bloomberg, Planned Parenthood and other outside sources."

hardly, Cucunelli still raised over $20MM and that included groups outside of the state no different than Mcauliffe.

and how exactly would that be a repudiation of ACA? He didn't have anything to do with ACA except a campaign platform that some parts of ACA were not going to work for VA and he wants flexibility from the federal government. (Also, do you understand that polling on ACA has stayed pretty even despite the launch clusterfuck? A strong majority of people continue to want some form of it.)

And is there a single poll that does not have McAuliffe winning?

11/5/2013 11:02:38 AM

^^you can blame it on the money, which I'm sure is playing a factor, but lets try not to leave out the fact that Cuccinelli is freaking turrible:

-Made restoring VA's old sodomy law and a bunch of other anti-LBGT stuff an important part of his platform
-supports transvaginal ultrasounds for abortions, favors other abortion and contraception restrictions
-Questionably tied to campaign finance scandal
-His running mate has even scarier christian beliefs (Yoga is satanism, etc)
-the government shutdown hit republicans in VA especially hard

[Edited on November 5, 2013 at 11:18 AM. Reason : arrers]

11/5/2013 11:18:09 AM

Quoted from the current CNN headline;

Quote :

"Those numbers are similar to a Gallup poll conducted just over a week ago, in which 36% of Americans said they didn't think that in the long run the Affordable Care Act would make much of a difference to their family's health care situation. Just over a third said the health care law would make matters worse, and one in four said that Obamacare would make things better. "

11/5/2013 12:34:45 PM

let's not forget that Cuccinelli is also anti-blowjob

11/5/2013 12:40:46 PM

what does that have to do with the VA gubernatorial race?

( http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/11/01/healthcare-govs-botched-launch-didnt-change-public-opinion/ )

11/5/2013 12:42:02 PM

I was just referring to your poll referral. That's all.

11/5/2013 12:45:14 PM

which was in response to:

Quote :

"It would at least be a small start in the repudiation of the ACA."

how would it be a repudiation of the ACA? mcauliffe is leading in every poll, some by double digits, should we read that as support for ACA? By your logic: yes we should.

11/5/2013 12:46:37 PM

also, why do you take offense to Planned Parenthood backing McAuliffe?

there no Planned Parenthood's in Virginia?

11/5/2013 12:49:54 PM

Cucinelli's outside-funded campaign is trying to describe outside-funded Mcauliffe as a carpet-bagger because he receives funds from Bloomberg's PAC. It's a joke of course because Cucunelli receiving money from Koch is no different, but its the conservative talking point narrative that rjrumfel is parroting.

11/5/2013 12:52:25 PM

Quote :

"God I hope Mcauliffe loses. It would at least be a small start in the repudiation of the ACA."

I've heard some of this saying it was in some ways a referendum on that, in some ways a referendum on tea party shutdowns & obstructionism, in some ways a referendum on Cuccinelli's deeply regressive and anti-liberty views on social issues. But with all things considered, I think the main lesson of the night that pundits will take away is that moderation is a winning ticket with Christie's win in a blue leaning state.

"McAuliffe wins, swinging Virginia back into Democratic hands"
http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/mcauliffe-wins-virginia

"NBC News projects Chris Christie will win New Jersey Governor's race"
http://nbcpolitics.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/11/05/21322371-nbc-news-projects-chris-christie-will-win-new-jersey-governors-race

11/5/2013 10:17:02 PM

1st Republican Mayor of Fayetteville in 38 years...woot

11/5/2013 10:19:59 PM

Looks good for democrats and politicians pushing a strong bipartisan approach.

Tea Party further marginalized, bad news for current GOP.

11/5/2013 10:44:32 PM

Today Illinois also passed the critical vote to become the 15th state with marriage equality, joining another recent addition, New Jersey.

http://www.advocate.com/node/321839

Quote :

"The Illinois House of Representatives passed the state's marriage equality bill today, assuring that it will become law."

Quote :

"The bill passed in the state Senate in February, and Gov. Pat Quinn says he will sign it."

[Edited on November 5, 2013 at 11:04 PM. Reason : .]

11/5/2013 11:00:12 PM

Quote :

"Just heard that Libertarian is doing well enough that they've pulled in Ron Paul to campaign for the Republican to try to shut that whole thing down. "

1. WTF? Ron Paul acting against a libertarian in favor of a full-retard Republican?

2. They, uhhh, have ways of shutting that whole thing down?"


[Edited on November 5, 2013 at 11:16 PM. Reason : ]

11/5/2013 11:15:37 PM

http://goqnotes.com/25724/cannon-elected-in-tight-race-as-next-charlotte-mayor/

Quote :

"Cannon elected in tight race as next Charlotte mayor CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Democrat Patrick Cannon was elected the Queen City’s next mayor tonight, besting Republican opponent Edwin Peacock III. In City Council races, Democrats swept at-large seats, with several others easily winning in district races including openly lesbian incumbent LaWana Mayfield."

http://goqnotes.com/25726/gay-candidates-sail-to-victory-in-north-carolina/

Quote :

"Incumbent Chapel Hill Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt faced no opponent on the ballot this year, though some residents had mounted write-in campaigns. He caught 90 percent of the vote, with all precincts reporting. In nearby Carrboro, with all precincts reporting, incumbent town Alderwoman Lydia Lavelle garnered 96 percent of the voter in her uncontested race for mayor."

[Edited on November 5, 2013 at 11:27 PM. Reason : .]

11/5/2013 11:25:47 PM

I wonder if VA will manage to be viewed as an indictment of both Obamacare and the full-retard wing of the GOP?

11/5/2013 11:56:15 PM

http://www.businessinsider.com/virginia-governor-results-obamacare-referendum-2013-11

Quote :

"Tonight, We Had A Referendum On Obamacare — And Obamacare Won"

11/6/2013 12:02:27 AM

Quote :

"Edwin Peacock III"

holy mother of god

11/6/2013 12:10:17 AM

per rjrumfel, this was a strong referendum in support of ACA!!

11/6/2013 7:59:08 AM

This seems to clear out one of Christie's main potential opponents for 2016. Although Rand was never general election material, he's also had a lot of public squabbling with Christie, so he could have made a nasty primary opponent.

http://swampland.time.com/2013/11/06/newspaper-nixes-rand-pauls-column-after-plagiarism-charges/

Quote :

"Newspaper Nixes Rand Paul’s Column After Plagiarism Charges The conservative newspaper Washington Times announced on Tuesday that it will end a regular column by Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul amid several allegations of plagiarism in his speeches, columns and his recent book. Paul, a Republican from Kentucky, has faced a recent string of embarrassing allegations of plagiarism in the past few weeks. Buzzfeed reported that three pages of Paul’s book, Government Bullies: How Everyday Americans are Being Harassed, Abused, and Imprisoned by the Feds, were lifted verbatim from a case study by the Heritage Foundation think tank. Buzzfeed also reported that sections of an op-ed Paul wrote for the Washington Times were plagiarized from an article in The Week. Politico and MSNBC have made similar reports."

11/6/2013 10:50:30 AM

Rand Paul deserves all the misfortune that is headed his way. I would love to see him lose horribly in the Repub primary in 2016 though, and I think he will be running.

Some takeaways from last night.

-3 of 4 ballot initiatives in Colorado banning fracking passed. 1 of 3 in Ohio passed.
-Portland, Maine became the first municipality to decriminalize marijuana by ballot referendum
-Colorado passed at least 2 referendums to tax marijuana
-Washington state failed to pass a referendum requiring GMO foods to be labeled as such.
-New Jersey passed a $1 minimum wage hike bringing it to $8.25 with automatic annual increases due to cost of living. Interestingly enough, Gov Christie vetoed a similar bill last session.

With VA and NYC wins and the initiatives mentioned above it's a big win for progressives overall. The GOP has pretty much abandoned trying to win the urban centers and it shows.

11/6/2013 1:53:39 PM

Deblasio!!!!!!!

Apparently NYC is going to decend into hell. Giddy up.

11/6/2013 4:10:39 PM

Quote :

"Tonight, We Had A Referendum On Obamacare — And Obamacare Won"

I don't really think that's correct at all. I think Obamacare is half of why it wasn't the ass-kicking it should have otherwise been (with the other half being the government shutdown).


^^Also, I hate the term "progressive". If you're a "fucking liberal", why not just own it?

[Edited on November 6, 2013 at 7:06 PM. Reason : ^^]

11/6/2013 7:06:19 PM

"progressive" is a PR term liberals adopted to make liberal policy seem "forward thinking" so they can use the term "regressive" in a negative connotation towards conservative philosophy.

11/6/2013 7:10:52 PM

Actually, progressive is a term dating back from the late 19th century. But considering how misinformed you are on basically everything, I wouldn't expect you to know that.

11/6/2013 10:36:22 PM

It's funny bc he teaches the youth of America.

11/6/2013 11:08:33 PM

Yes, hilarious.

11/6/2013 11:33:37 PM

I think I'm a libertarian socialist but I'd rather just say progressive. Liberal has kind of been a poisoned term here in NC so I avoid it.

11/7/2013 4:16:17 PM

don't respond to his dumb question, it wasn't not-dumb enough to warrant a response

[Edited on November 7, 2013 at 4:21 PM. Reason : PROGRESSIVE HERE, YOU REGRESSIVES CAN SUCK IT]

11/7/2013 4:21:18 PM

Also, a "fucking liberal" is not really the same thing as a progressive. Although similar and with several overlapping philosophies, there is a distinction to be made between the two. Liberalism is generally a belief that things should be free, socially and economically, whereas the base of progressivism is to utilize findings from the social sciences in order to create optimum policy. The main reason there is a distinction is probably to create distance between liberalism and neoconservatism, which is known as neoliberalism in all non-US parts of the world. Reagan and Bush II were neoliberals.

But it's not like I'm a poli sci major or anything.

11/7/2013 5:04:41 PM