The GOOD and the bad of the election news

So overall YEA!!!! Democrats took the White House and extended their majorities in Congress. And the first African American President! Restores a little of my faith in America.

The bad:

My Senate race is too close to call, which means the nasty brawl between Franken and Coleman will continue. The ads in this campaign were almost overwhelmingly negative, and they were also ubiquitous. Made me glad that I watch most TV from recordings, so I didn't have to listen. Original results have Coleman ahead by less than 500 votes out of nearly 3 million. So there will be an automatic recall and it will be weeks if not months before the result is final. D**m you Independence Party! Once again, your candidate stole our votes!

California voters chose to end gay marriage. And 2 other states also chose to define marriage as between a man and a woman. I feel very sad for all those committed couples who no longer have the choice to make their commitment in such an open, public, recognized manner. I do have hope that the tide will turn eventually, as there are indications that kids in high school and college are much more tolerant. But for now, there is still inequality. Obama's stand on this issue also disappointed me - he said he did not support gay marriage, but thought they should have equal legal rights. Geez, you'd think that if anyone understood the soul-destroying implications of "separate but equal", it would be Obama.

GOOD again, though:

Victory for the pro-choice side! We have a pro-choice President and pro-choice gains in Congress. South Dakota defeated an abortion ban for the second time - this one included more exceptions, but the voters still said no. California defeated a parental-notification measure. And to me, the most important win was in Colorado. That initiative would have defined a fertilized egg as a person, and could have made many forms of contraception illegal. Would have made me very sad if my former state had not rejected that extreme measure.

As I said, definitely a celebration moment. I can't expect all the races to go the way I think they should. But all the states where I have lived - Virginia, Colorado and Minnesota - are blue this year! And Virginia and Colorado have been quite Republican in the past.

I hope that Obama didn't wake up yesterday thinking Oh no, what have I done! Though with the issues facing him, I wouldn't blame him. Still, I have confidence that the calm, disciplined, thoughtful, strategic approach that helped him run such a perfect campaign will help him work with Congress to bring us solutions. Dave Letterman certainly spoke for me last night when he said, "I think I speak for most Americans when I say, anybody mind if he starts a little early?"