There always seems to be plenty of bad news burdening people's spirits, so I thought it might be a good idea to counteract that and help put Democrats and progressives in a positive frame of mind for the new year by highlighting some of the many electoral successes achieved in 2012.
First and biggest of all, of course, was President Barack Obama's decisive re-election victory on November 6. The final outcome wasn't as close as many expected, with the President running up margins of 332-206 in the Electoral College, nearly 4 million in the popular vote, and 4% in the popular vote percentage. The Obama-Biden ticket pulled in over 51% of the total vote, while, in delicious irony, Republican challenger Mitt Romney and running mate Paul Ryan garnered...you guessed it...47%! See all the final results here.
Congress will be more friendly this session too. Democrats had to defend 23 Senate seats to only 10 for the GOP. Democrats annihilated the opposition, winning 25 seats to only 8 for the GOP. Consequently, the Democratic majority in the Senate will expand by two, to 55-45. In the House, Democrats prevailed too, taking 1% more of the people's votes nationally than the Republicans. GOP monkey business with District "gerrymandering" kept Democrats from taking control of the House, but they still picked up 8 seats, 4 of them here in California.
Here in California, Democrats set the table in 2010 by winning every statewide office from Governor down to Secretary of State. Thanks to the people's nonpartisan reapportionment commission and the Republicans' increasingly out of touch stands on the issues, Democrats finished the job in 2012 by rolling to 2/3 majorities in both the State Assembly (55-25) and State Senate (30-10). These super majorities mean the Republicans will no longer be able to block the budget as they have been doing for years now, returning state government to functionality for the first time in years.
Progressivism also prevailed in the balloting for state initiatives. The schools were saved from additional devastating cuts courtesy of the voters' solid approval of Proposition 30. The public also saw through and turned down repugnant special interest efforts to silence the political voice of workers while leaving those of corporations and the wealthy untouched (Prop 32, the Koch brothers) and to fleece auto insurance customers (Prop 33, Mercury Insurance).
What's more, around the country there were other important progressive victories in direct democracy. For the first time, same-sex marriage was approved by the voters. The first states to share the distinction of voting for marriage equality are Maine, Maryland and Wisconsin. In addition, Minnesota turned down an initiative that would have prohibited gay marriage.
There were also successful ballot measures in Montana, Colorado and the city of Chicago to declare that corporations do not have the rights of people and to direct their states to draft a constitutional amendment overturning the Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling.
All in all, it was a satisfying year at the ballot box for progressives in 2012, making it all the easier to keep a positive and optimistic attitude for the coming year. A Happy New Year to one and all!
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