It was extraordinarily gratifying to see Jon Corzine lose in New Jersey. That alone made last night beautiful. Aside from the fact Corzine is a corrupt scumbag, the fact Obama lost his “best partner” made it so much better. Obama suffered two big loses last night. McDonnell’s victory in the Virginia gubernatorial race was huge. It is very telling that a year after Democrats won big with independents they swung back in support of Republicans. For those of you who think Obama is a moderate, tell that to genuine independents.

Owens victory over Hoffman was a disappointment, and a bit of shock, considering the polls leading up to the election. But, with Scozzafava’s 11th hour departure, endorsing of Owens, and remaining on the ballot… there wasn’t enough time for Hoffman’s momentum to carry him to victory. The national Democratic Party invested over a million dollars in the final weekend alone.

Anyway, local races.

Erie County

Sheriff Tim Howard was reelected – despite the smear campaign waged against him. Howard is a good guy, and I congratulate him. That’s pretty much all I can say that about that race due to a professional conflict.

There were three GOP pickups in the Erie County Legislature… So, there was some good news for Chris Collins last night. In my district, Lynne Dixon won handily. Kevin Hardwick easily defeated Michele Iannello. I’ve known Kevin Hardwick for a little over a year now. He was kind enough to invite me on his radio show on WBEN several times. He was always committed to fairness, and the Erie County Legislature is lucky to have him on there.

Poloncarz defeated Kadet for Comptroller, so that was a setback for Collins, who invested quite a bit in Kadet. But, overall, the evening was a good one for the GOP.

Amherst

It was nice to see Alice Kryzan get put in her place again. Let’s hope she doesn’t pull a Jon Powers and go missing for a while then run away out-of-state.

I offer personal congratulations to Richard “Jay” Anderson and Steven Sanders, who were both elected to the Amherst Town Board. Both Jay and Steven have made appearances here on The Bean, so I was thrilled to see them both elected.

Buffalo

Hey, Buffalo deserves what it gets. I am still bitter that the Buffalo Republican Party didn’t get someone to face Byron Brown in the general election.

New Voting Machines

They suck. Call me old school, but I prefer traditional voting booths and the old lever machines. Folded cardboard dividers are no subsitute for a real voting booth, and as much as I believe voters should be smart enough to fill out those scan-tron ballots, everything ought to be as simple as possible.

Oh yeah, and at my polling place we didn’t get a receipt. So, what was the point, really?

Fusion Voting

Seriously, can we put an end to this madness? This, more than anything made the already bad ballot design even worse. I don’t see how it helps anyone but lawyers who get involved in the inevitable lawsuits that arise out of these minor party lines.

So, I guess there isn’t all that much to say about Tuesday that hasn’t already been said. It is obvious from the results New Jersey, Virginia, and elsewhere that the Democratic Party has major cause for concern. News today that the unemployment rate broke into double-digits only adds to their problems, since Obama and the Democrat-controlled Congress own the economy.

Good times ahead. We’re taking the country back.

The county’s two elections commissioners Wednesday said the Independence Party primary for Erie County comptroller has landed in a tie because they cannot settle some outstanding issues.

As it stands now, 937 votes each went to Michael J. Abramo of the Independence Party and Philip C. Kadet, a Republican seeking the Independence line.

“Amazing, isn’t it?” Kadet said later.

Dead heats are rare, and this one hinges on the scrapping of a half-dozen votes because of quirks at two polling places.

The two commissioners—Republican Ralph M. Mohr and Democrat Dennis Ward — agreed the candidates can now go to court in their attempts to obtain the Independence line for the Nov. 3 election.

As long as this “fushion voting” exists, candidates will continue to waste time pursuing minor party lines, or creating their own minor party line… and it seems like those pursuits usually end up being debated in court. From Alice Kryzan wanting the WFP line after Jon Power lost the Democratic primary, Kathy Konst creating her own Integrity Party, or the equally meaningless Taxpayers First Party, belonging to Chris Collins.

Waste. Of. Time.

Isn’t it about time we put an end to this madness? Even Massachusetts voters were smart enough to reject it in 2006.