Gubernatorial Results Thread

[Deano963]

I do hope (I can't analyze since I don't know MN all that well) that Pawlenty maintains his small lead and is reelected. He's basically the last thing standing against the total demolition of the GOP in the Northeast/Upper Midwest, especially since Talent lost ...

The GOP still controls state legislatures in Michigan, Ohio, and Missouri right?

... and the NY state senate

I'm inclined to argue that it doesn't really matter, as far as Congress goes, since when redistricting rolls around, the Democrat governors will have a veto over any GOP incumbent-protection district the state legislatures come up with.

Do governors elected in 2006 get to be involved in redistricting for 2010? Or does it go over to 2011? I can't tell because in 2000, the key year was obviously 1998.

Only if they are reelected in 2010 as redistricting takes place in 2011.

[Rob]

Well, the final result in Texas isn't surprising, but the distribution of the vote is. Bell finished a strong second with 30 percent of the vote, with Strayhorn well behind at 18 percent. Perhaps most surprisingly, the joke candidate finished a distant fourth with a humiliating 12 percent. You got your ass kicked, Kinkster- happy now?

Anyway, Bell did quite well. He carried Austin, Dallas (!!), most of the border counties, and a few Plains counties. It's just too bad that Kinky played the spoiler with his vanity run.

[Joe Republic]

Freudenthal takes every county in Wyoming.  Not too shabby.

[Sam Spade]

Well, the final result in Texas isn't surprising, but the distribution of the vote is. Bell finished a strong second with 30 percent of the vote, with Strayhorn well behind at 18 percent. Perhaps most surprisingly, the joke candidate finished a distant fourth with a humiliating 12 percent. You got your ass kicked, Kinkster- happy now?

Anyway, Bell did quite well. He carried Austin, Dallas (!!), most of the border counties, and a few Plains counties. It's just too bad that Kinky played the spoiler with his vanity run.

The joke candidate probably took more votes from Perry than Bell.  The real one you should have told to leave was Grandma.

Just from a random quick overview of Texas, I'll do more later:  Senate went as predicted, 1 GOP gain.  House, I think the Dems picked up a couple of seats there, but I need to examine the numbers more thoroughly.  Republicans sweep the major statewide offices, as predicted.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

I had a quick look at some of the Texas county results last night and IIRC Friedman did best in very Republican areas.

[Rob]

That's odd. Wasn't it the CW that Kinky hurt Bell and "Grandma" hurt Perry?

[Bdub]

At least there is some good news.  Floridians made the right choice and elected Crist as governor.  Its a great day in Florida.

[Sam Spade]

That's odd. Wasn't it the CW that Kinky hurt Bell and "Grandma" hurt Perry?

The CW is often wrong.

When Kinky started talking about jailing the "New Orleans thugs" and the TTC, I knew his numbers would go up immediately with Republicans (dissatisfied)...

Grandma had the support of the Democratic trial lawyers in Texas until the last couple of weeks when they saw Bell was the candidate to back and abandoned her.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

In other words, the Democrats need to get Kinky to run again, but also run a better candidate of their own next time?

[John Dibble]

No surprises in the Georgia race - Perdue won as expected. Though he is the first Republican governor in Georgia to get a second term. As an elected official I find him decent, though not spectacular, so I'm not dissapointed with this.

Governor - Georgia 3160 of 3293 Precincts Reporting 
 Name Party Votes Pct
 Perdue , Sonny (i)  GOP  1,142,914  57.72 
 Taylor , Mark  Dem  761,673  38.47 
 Hayes , Garrett  Lib  75,504  3.81 


Looks like the Libertarian candidate did pretty well as far as Libertarians go - not the 8% as seen in the polls but that was expected. I'm pretty happy about that at least.

And now the Lt. Governor, again no surprises, and the Libertarian did decent.

Lieutenant Governor - Georgia 3161 of 3293 Precincts Reporting 
 Name Party Votes Pct
 Cagle , Casey  GOP  1,056,750  53.99 
 Martin , Jim  Dem  830,585  42.44 
 Buckley , Allen  Lib  69,951  3.57 
 

[Storebought]

Congratulations, Gov. Pawlenty.

Holding the 2008 convention in MN may be the one smart thing the GOP has done in the past two years.

[Alcon]

Congratulations, Gov. Pawlenty.

Holding the 2008 convention in MN may be the one smart thing the GOP has done in the past two years.

My one mis-call this year.

Oh well.  The Republicans need something to maintain their spirits.

[Verily]

Heineman and Lynch nearly tied for biggest victory. I think Lynch won a slightly higher percent, but Heineman had a wider margin.

[Sam Spade]

Pawlenty surviving was a surprise (even though it was one of my few correct predictions), considering the upper Midwest was not a good place for Republicans last evening. 

Probably had to do with Hatch's dumb remarks.

[Ban my account ffs!]

The one thing that sets Pawlenty apart from most other Republicans, is that he isn't in your face about religion.

He said "I'd like to thank, first of all, my smokin' red hot wife" In about the worst Minnesota accent you can think of (but not nearly as bad as Carol Molnau's)...

He then goes on to brag about Carol Molnau beating Jesse Ventura in a kickboxing contest and winning arm wrestling contests...

Well, at least when the Republican convention comes in '08, they'll have 2 people to parade out on state (Norm Coleman and Tim Pawlenty).. but that'll be about it.

[Storebought]

Well, at least when the Republican convention comes in '08, they'll have 2 people to parade out on state (Norm Coleman and Tim Pawlenty).. but that'll be about it.

They'll also model newly-minted Rep Michele Bachman ...  then the MN GOP will be spent.

But that is actually the point. The GOP is dying in the Midwest (it is already defunct in New England and NY in practical terms); hosting the 2008 convention there is simple triage.

[Sam Spade]

Well, at least when the Republican convention comes in '08, they'll have 2 people to parade out on state (Norm Coleman and Tim Pawlenty).. but that'll be about it.

They'll also model newly-minted Rep Michele Bachmann ...  then the MN GOP will be spent.

But that is actually the point. The GOP is dying in the Midwest (it is already defunct in New England and NY in practical terms); hosting the 2008 convention there is simple triage.

I disagree with that analysis in part (New England and NY I agree, Midwest I don't).  One must be careful to separate anti-Bushism from anti-Republicanism, in the same way one needed to separate anti-Clintonism (which was less strong then) from anti-Democratism in 1994.  The two ideals are distinct and will impact play on future elections.

Maybe I'll write something on this in a few weeks when I have the time.

[Nym90]

I see Minnesota still isn't called, though Rhode Island finally was. Anyone hearing anything about this race? Are there provisional ballots or absentees still out there? It would appear Pawlenty is ahead by enough to be secure, but I would assume CNN and others have some reason for not making a call yet.

[Storebought]

I see Minnesota still isn't called, though Rhode Island finally was. Anyone hearing anything about this race? Are there provisional ballots or absentees still out there? It would appear Pawlenty is ahead by enough to be secure, but I would assume CNN and others have some reason for not making a call yet.

It doesn't matter: Hatch has conceded

[Nym90]

I noticed CNN is being very cautious with their calls. There were several races where the candidate had given a concession speech and they still weren't calling the race yet. Obviously Hatch wouldn't concede if there was any chance of a comeback.

[Sam Spade]

I noticed CNN is being very cautious with their calls. There were several races where the candidate had given a concession speech and they still weren't calling the race yet. Obviously Hatch wouldn't concede if there was any chance of a comeback.

The outstanding numbers did not favor Hatch at all.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

I was actually worried about that early in the night, when Hatch was up by 7, but most ballots were from Hennepin and Ramsey counties.

The problem was was the comparison to the other statewide candidates. Hatch was far behind them and Klobuchar. I knew it would narrow though I expected all the other statewide candidates to win, and Hatch's margin was too narrow. Looks like I was right. Oh well. That was the only disappointment of the night. Otherwise it was incredible. Plus Pawlenty is much weaker now than he was in his first term.

[The Dowager Mod]

Doyle is the first Democrat to be elected to a second term in Wisconsin in 30+ years.

[ElectionAtlas]

Gubernatorial election county maps and data are now available for most states.

[Storebought]

Gubernatorial election county maps and data are now available for most states.

There are wrong numbers for the CO race:

Bill Ritter, Jr.     Barbara O'Brien     Democratic CO     7,697,230     56.24%
Bob Beauprez    Janet Rowland             CO Republican    5,608,470    40.98%

The final "0" should be truncated