Arizona: Democratic

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The Affordable Health Care for America Act was supposed to be the first time since Medicare was enacted in 1965 that health care was reformed to move the country closer to universal medical coverage for all of its citizens.

Instead, the bill was hijacked by anti-abortion activists to enact the most regressive anti-reproductive freedom of choice for women provision in the past 30 years. Apparently conservatives in both political parties don't want government run health care except forwomen so that government can dictate their reproductive health care choices. (Also to dictate all of our end-of-life decisions, aka"death panels" and Terri Schiavo government intervention).

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Hours after President Obama exhorted Democratic lawmakers to "answer the call of history," the House hit an unprecedented milestone on the path to health-care reform, approving the Affordable Health Care for America Act late Saturday night that seeks to overhaul private insurance practices and guarantee comprehensive and affordable coverage to almost every American.

Democrats have sought for decades to provide universal health care, but not since the 1965 passage of Medicare and Medicaid has a chamber of Congress approved such a vast expansion of coverage.

After months of acrimonious partisanship, Democrats closed ranks on a 220-215 vote that included 39 defections, mostly from the party's conservative Blue Dog ranks.

by David Safier
The bloggers' code (which I had to swear to uphold before they'd teach me the secret handshake) requires me to air my inexpert opinions about Tuesday's elections. Here they are, for what they're worth.

Republicans earned bragging rights. They picked themselves up from the 2008 losses and scored some significant wins around the country. In Tucson, no matter how the City Council races turn out, the challengers made them two of them close and may pull out a win in either or both (AZ Blue Meanie said Kozachik has semi-officially beaten Trasoff, but Uhlich is squeaking out a victory) -- in a heavily Democratic city.

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

How do you take the textbook definition of a "safe" Republican district (a Democrat has not represented the region since 1854), a no-brainer that the Republican will win by default against token Democratic opposition, and lose the seat for the first time in 155 years? By caving in to pressure from the far-right extremist fringe Teabagger Taliban and the Mighty Wurlitzer of right-wing conservative "entertainment" personalities.

Blue Dog Democrat Bill Owens, the token opposition, won a stunning victory in the special congressional election in New York's 23rd congressional district only because the GOP Taliban and the conservative "entertainment" personalities declared civil war against GOP moderates and the GOP establishment, demanding ideological purity to conservativism - as they have defined it.