Timing is everything. The election is Tuesday and it could not come at a better time for Republicans who have run a campaign based on convincing people the country is headed in the wrong direction and the only way to set things right is to toss Democrats aside. It appears as though the tactic has worked well. Many Republicans will be swept into office. The interesting thing is that much of the data does not support the claims made by the GOP.
Who will Get Burned?
Yesterday, Iowa Budget Director Richard Oshloprojected that the state’s budget will end the fiscal year in June with $300 million dollarsmore than previously projected. If you trust the Culver Administration, this means Iowa will have a more than $900 million surplus. Even most experts who discount this rosy political projection admit the state appears to have turned a corner. Listen to the Terry Branstad folks and you might think the state will plunge into economic oblivion if Chet Culver wins reelection.
This morning, the third quarter economic numbers were released showing the GDP improved at a faster rate than it had last quarter. This nearly met or exceeded many economists’ predictions. Don’t get me wrong, there are too many people out of work and there is much to be done before we will be able to say our economy is healthy. But, the political rhetoric of the season spun a tale based less on facts like these and more on scare tactics.
The election will be over Tuesday and the torch of leadership may change hands. The question for those who will lead is whether will they light the way to the future, use it to flame their opponents or get burned themselves.
Many new people will take office in the days and weeks to come. Regardless of their party affiliation, the reality these officials will face and the problems with which they must deal are different than what most of them talked about out on the stump. Moreover, most every poll taken in recent weeks does not indicate voters support one party platform over another. In fact, it shows they do not think highly of either. As the latest Selzer/Bloomberg poll shows, what voters want more than anything else is for their elected officials to work together and to seek compromise and consensus.
Before the newly sworn in start passing laws to overturn the ones passed by those who came before them, they would be wise to take an honest pulse of the people they were elected to lead. Tuesday’s election results will not be a mandate on policy, but a message that voters want more cooperation across the party aisle and less bickering. After the 2010 campaign slugfest, I am not too convinced many are interested in or capable of heeding this call.
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(Graham Gillette can be reached at grahamgillette@gmail.com)
This entry was first published as a Des Moines Register blog entry.
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