Great, More Gridlock.

Our democratic electoral system works fairly well, IF there's a clear margin of victory. Unfortunately, sometimes the elections are close. Then, all the little mistakes that inevitably happen get pushed to the forefront, and people have something to argue about.

Joanne Kloppenburg seems to now have lost. In the past, close races like this have resulted in the initial seeming winner to loudly maintain victory anyway, tell the other candidate to have class and bow out gracefully, and stop fighting the political process. Also, when voter corrections seem to consistently favor only one candidate, someone tends to scream foul, citing how suspicious it seems that all the "corrections" seem to be going one way.

We saw this pattern with Al Franken in Minnesota recently in 2008. Over and over again, Al was told to step down. He didn't. When his opponent claimed victory, he didn't give up. When the final votes showed that Franken won, Republicans whined that he'd stolen the election. We saw something similar in 1974 when, after several recounts, Republican Louis Wyman beat Democrat John Durkin for the U.S. House of Representatives. Congress called for a re-election, which Durkin won. In the Washington Gubernatorial election of 2004, Republican Dino Rossi appeared to defeat Democrat Christine Gregoire. A recount confirmed Dino Rossi had won. But a second recount declared Christine Gregoire the winner.

My take on all this is simple. I choose to lead by example. Instead of whining how Prosser "stole" the election, or some other nonsense like that, I will champion the democratic process, imperfect though it may be. If I hear any bitching or complaining from the Democratic party about it, I'll voice my opinion against it, and stand for what's right, even though it's contrary to my own personal wishes. I do this, because that's what Republicans should have done with Franken in 2008, with Gregoire in 2004 and with Al Gore in 2000. That's what both sides should always do whenever a race is close.

Still, you never can tell with these recounts.

Meanwhile, the budget battle on Capital Hill continues. My take on that is simple:

Planned Parenthood is worth shutting down the government to protect. Period.

And the health care reform funding is non-negotiable.

By the way, Obama's going to win re-election. How do I know?

Let me put it this way: Donald Trump? Seriously, Donald Trump?!

That's all for now.

Eric