More election digestion.

While I was disappointed in the outcome of the Presidential race, I have to say that this election season was quite gratifying when it came to Minnesota’s US House delegation.

With long-time Congressman Jim Ramstad retiring, the Democrats looked to seize CD 3, a district that has been a GOP stronghold for more than thirty years. As such, national money was coming in to this district in an effort to help DFLer Ashwin Madia defeat Republican Erik Paulsen for the open seat. Nothing would have made Minnesota Dems more tingly than to give credence to their endless nattering of how the third was going blue. But Paulsen ended up winning somewhat comfortably (7.5% to be exact), a surprise given this race had been considered too close to call for weeks.

For the second straight election cycle, left-wing loons painted a huge target on the petite frame of Michele Bachmann in CD6. Bachmann won by eight points in 2006 and looked poised to be re-elected with a double digit victory this time around. Her opponent, empty suit El Tinklenberg, was nothing more than the proverbial speed bump. Ah, but then came Bachmann’s appearance on MSNBC’s Hard Boiled Hardball where she had the audacity to voice concerns about Barack Obama’s questionable associations. Bachmann found out the hard way that you don’t question “The One.” From there, the maniacal left (locally and nationally) poured insane amounts of cash into E-Tink’s campaign in an effort to unseat what had become the biggest threat to them this election year: a strong, outspoken woman. But as is Bachmann’s modus operandi, she weathered the storm and emerged victorious!

While the Republicans nationwide suffered a net loss in the House, I take solace in the fact that my state GOP at least managed to maintain their delegation. That was far from a sure thing leading up to election day.

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