Election Day Winners and Losers

Today's print column

WINNERS

Democrats - Hey, remember what it's like to win, celebrate, swig tear-free beer? Losing Senate District 18 would have been a major disaster for Dems. Winning means holding the Senate and putting the brakes on GOP mojo.

Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal - The man Republicans can't stand remains standing in their way.

Unions - Labor labored hard for Senate 18 winner Liz Mathis, with hopes of holding off GOP efforts to curtail public sector bargaining rights. But labor issues can be a minefield for a moderate swing district Dem.

Marriage rights - If only the Values Voter Bus crusaders who came to Marion Monday had stuck around long enough to see how little voters valued their views.

Gov. Terry Branstad - Counterintuitive, I know. But I think a divided Legislature with shared partisan responsibility and risk provides his best shot at real property tax and education reforms.

Downtown Cedar Rapids - City Council hopefuls who were sore at the core were shown the door.

Early voters - Absentee early votes carried Mathis, erasing Republican Cindy Golding's lead in Election Day ballots. I hear tell these youngsters are more open to this early voting fad. I think they heard about it on the Twitter.

SD 18 mail carriers - No more (beeping) mailers.

People who like to say “Snooks Bouska” - New Marion mayor of Dairy Queen fame has an unforgettable name. It's almost as fun to say as “Peanut Buster Parfait.”

LOSERS

Senate Republicans - New political playbook rule: Don't schedule a divisive, momentum-sucking leadership coup in the midst of a critical campaign. Call it the Dix Doctrine.

Cedar Rapids' Outraged Opposition - CR smells? Maybe. But voters turned up their noses at the candidates you backed.

Folks worried about money in politics - The cost of the SD 18 race to capture a $25,000 job will probably top $1 million when the dust settles. Mathis raised a whopping $690,000 as of this week. Golding was more frugal. Maybe it's because my column provided her with so much free ad copy. And because of our superb disclosure system, we won't know the full money story until January.

Robots - If there's one thing we can all agree on, red, blue, independent, it's that we loathe robocalls. It's time we rid this state of phone-dialing robots once and for all. Who's with me?

Trees - So many (beeping) mailers.

Me - Do I really have to care about what Rick Santorum says now? Sigh.

Editor's Note: Comments on this post have been disabled due to an off-topic discussion and personal attacks