Why you should give a Hoot about the mid-term elections

This column will appear in next month's Hooter's Magazine. Enjoy

The 2010 mid-term elections will go down this November, and as with most mid-term elections, the President of the United States Barack Obama will get his first report card. Typically the mid-term elections that occur two years into a president’s first term serve as a barometer as to how the President is doing nationally. If the American people like his performance thus far into his term, usually his party receives a big boost in the make-up of the Senate and the House of Representatives. If the citizens feel that the President is lacking, the opposite party usually gobbles up a few of the up-for-grab seats as well as some of the weaker held seats of the President’s party. This year, the Senate will have 36 seats up for grabs in the Class III election while the House of Representatives will have all 435 seats in play. So how will Obama’s first report card look? Will his wife put it up on the fridge or will he hid it under the couch?

In the Senate, 34 seats will be six-year terms while the two other seats are shorter (four years in Delaware and two in New York). The current seats up for election include 18 currently held by Democrats and 18 held by Republicans. Each party though will lose some incumbents as six Democrats are retiring while seven Republicans are calling it quits.

One of those “retiring” or choosing not to seek reelection is Roland Burris (D). The Illinois Senator was appointed to the seat by former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich after Obama was elected President and resigned from the seat. Blagojevich was arrested by the FBI after allegedly selling the seat, though that hasn’t stopped “Blago” from appearing on reality TV. He made a run on The Apprentice and watched his wife scream, “Help, I’m a celebrity! Get me out of here!” (A very liberal use of the word celebrity if you ask me.) The Senate Democrats eventually allowed Burris to have the seat, but Burris decided not to run for reelection as he still faces an investigation by the Senate Ethics Committee. Kind of hard to serve in the Senate from a jail cell, just saying. Three men will go for the seat including the state treasurer Alexi Giannoulias (D), US Congressman Mark Kirk (R) and LaAlan Jones, a football coach that will run on the Green Party Ticket. Jones isn’t the first football coach to run for public office, just the first that no one has ever heard of.
Vice President Joe Biden’s former seat in Delaware will also be up for grabs as appointee Ted Kaufman announced he would not be a part of the special election to take place this November. Hopefully whoever wins this seat won’t drop the F-Bomb on national television or ask a man in a wheelchair to stand up.

Another interesting race featuring a retiring Senator will take place in Kentucky where Jim Bunning will retire rather than seek a third term. Bunning narrowly won his last time out, and the Republican Party decided to go in a different direction, that of Rand Paul. Rand is the son of Ron Paul, a 2008 Republican Party primary candidate from Texas and overall “crazy person,” and Paul, for what it is worth, has the support of Sarah Palin, the very attractive former Republican VP candidate from 2008. No word out of Tina Fey camp if she too is endorsing Paul.

Two other interesting races will take place in Utah and Pennsylvania as Democrat Arlen Spector of PA was defeated in a Primary Nomination and Republican Bob Bennett of Utah was also defeated in his Primary. Spector was a five-time Senator in Pennsylvania who left the Republican Party in 2009 to become a Democrat, however the move backfired when he lost the Primary to US Congressman Joe Sestak. Sometimes karma bites you. Sestak will be opposed by Republican candidate Pat Toomey, a former US Congressman. The race is considered by most experts to be a tossup that could go either way. Utah meanwhile has been considered a Republican stronghold by most political pundits, and despite Bennett’s loss, the state is still likely to swing to GOP candidate Mike Lee.

As far as Democrat incumbents, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will seek re-election in Nevada, though he is considered a vulnerable seat and his bid may come up snake eyes. Barbara Boxer, seeking a fourth-term in California, will also see some competition from the right in the usually left-leaning state. Both New York seats are currently held by Democrats though Chuck Schumer seems like a surer bet than Kristen Gillibrand, who was appointed to Hillary Rodham Clinton’s spot when the former First Lady was named to the Secretary of State post. It is not known at this time if either tried (and failed) to lure LeBron James to the Knicks.

Notable Republican incumbents seeking reelection include Richard Shelby of Alabama, a former Democrat that is aiming for another term in the GOP, as well as Johnny Isakson of Georgia and John McCain in Arizona. McCain was the Republican Presidential candidate in 2008 though he faces some early competition from his own party in a primary before going up against a Democrat in November. The current immigration situation in Arizona is likely bringing down McCain’s ratings right now as the state is getting a black eye nationally for its stance. McCain is likely bullet-proof out there though because he is old, just like the snowbirds that will be voting for him.
Early predictions have eight seats “locked up” for the Republicans with four “penned in” for the Democrats. Of the other races, eight appear to be in favor of the Republicans while five lean towards the President’s party. That leaves eleven seats up for grabs that could decide the next few years of President Obama’s administration.

In the House races, all 435 seats are up for grabs to serve in the 112th Congress. Seventeen incumbent Democrats are retiring while twenty Republicans will retire as well. The Democrats have controlled Congress since the 2006 election and the 2008 elections strengthened the Democrats hold on the numbers. Currently the Democrats hold 59% of the seats with 257 while the GOP hold 41%, or 178 seats. The US House of Representatives loses members every election to “retirement” as many members choose to pursue a run for US Senate or to take a stab at a gubernatorial race. Four Republican seats will be open as incumbents aim for the Governor’s seat in each state while one Dem will seek his state’s highest office. As distinguished as a spot in the House is, everyone sort of understands it is a stepping stone to a better gig.

Most of the House seats up for grabs, at least according to the political experts, are currently occupied by Democrats. As many as 29 seats could swing over to the Republicans, though that would still leave the Democrats in power as the GOP would need 39 seats to gain control of the House. The only two Presidents to lose 39 seats in his first mid-term election were both Democrats: Bill Clinton and Harry Truman, something that clearly won’t go unnoticed by the Obama camp. We are still not sure to this date though if Clinton even noticed he lost those seats as he might have had visions of blue dresses dancing in his head.

And that is what the mid-term elections all come back to: Obama’s job performance. The President has a four-year term and the mid-term elections after his first two years are clearly a way for the American people to grade him on how he has done. The two camps of Democrats and Republicans are seemingly always at odds; however in 2010, the chasm seems the widest it has ever been. Loyal lefties claim that Obama has done the best he can with the situation he was handed while those who stand in the party of Lincoln, aka the Republicans, wonder aloud where all the “CHANGE” is that was promised. If you support the President and his policies and actions, get out and vote to make certain that, yes, he can continue to uphold his promises of change. On the flip side, if you are fed up with the current climate, nothing can be a stronger statement than to cripple his power in the House and the Senate. Get out this November and let your voice be heard. Participate in the American process of voting and send a message that we care what our leaders do. Plus you get a cool sticker whenever you vote!