Interesting Election night

CNN projects around 11PM that the Democrats will take control of the House of Representatives after twelve years of Republican control. It's still too close to call in the Senate, but I don't think the Dems will be able to pull off three more seats, leading to a divided Congress for the first time in a long time, which I don't necessarily think is a bad thing.

So what does it mean that Democrats take control of the House? Well, it means that W is likely to have to find his long-misplaced veto pen, which I think has only been used once in his entire term and a half as President. It also means that the opportunity for retributionary investigations and impechment bullshit could rear its ugly head. I would like to think that if the two houses remain yet divided that would be less of an issue, as the Representatives are stuck working to get re-elected every two years and have less time to get mired in that kind of ugliness than Senators do.

It does mean that Democrats would be in charge of all the committee chairs, and likely those chairmanships would go to long-time Congressmen and women, like the appointment of Nancy Pelosi as the country's first Speaker of the House. Now while this is just the way things are done, it might not be the smartest move, since a lot of the seats being picked up by Democrats are by new-breed conservative Democrats, who look a lot more like the Republicans of 40 years ago than they do Democrats. Heath Shuler is a great example of that, dumping a long-time Republican Congressman from western NC while working on a very conservative platform, supporting gun rights, refusing to debate on Sundays to avoid conflicts with church and other similarly conservative ideals. Now if you'r the Democratic party and you've just gained control of the House on the backs of these new Conservative Democrats, how do you turn around and put old Ultra-liberal Democrats in leadership positions everywhere through the House?

In other news, my earlier decision to run for President was half-joking, but I'm pretty seriously considering a run for Congress in 2008. Right now the incumbent Republican Rich White Guy who hasn't worked a day in years Robin Hayes is still leading dark horse Larry Kissell, but Kissell put up a good race. My district is kinda oddly constructed, encompassing a piece of Charlotte (very metropolitan) and also some very rural areas of the state as well, so the structure of the district is very diverse, and I don't feel like Rep. Hayes listens to people in his district unless they come to him with checkbook in hand. So if he is re-elected, I'll be looking for a campaign manager. And maybe somebody to bury a LOT of embarassing photos of me in various drunken stupors.