If you read my ‘endorsements’ then you know the election didn’t exactly turn out the way I would have preferred.  Here is my analysis of the winners and losers.

Barack Obama wins Presidency.  Being a pessimist, I fully expected this to happen and it did.  I am glad that the margin of victory was large enough that there can be no doubt that the majority of Americans chose him to lead the nation.  The last thing we needed were doubts or worse yet, a legal battle.  Do I like the outcome?  No.  I think many people didn’t vote for Barack Obama as much as they were voting against the Republican Party.  I think it is terribly short-sighted to do so but that was their choice and President Elect Obama will have four years to show us what he can do.  He made some pretty big promises – primarily on domestic issues – and I don’t expect he will be able to accomplish many of them.  The economy of course now is working against him and any tax cuts are going to be very difficult to accomplish.  Second, the Republicans were able to thankfully prevent a super majority in the Senate thus ensuring there are some checks and balances to the process – his agenda is going to have to meet their approval before going far.  In the end, I am pretty amazed that Americans chose Mr. Obama who will be the least experienced president to have ever held the office.  I think there are too many question marks about him and his policies are far left of what this nation truly believes.  His economic policies if implemented could almost certainly bring an already shaky economy to its knees – a bigger welfare state and increasing taxes on the businesses that fuel the economy would do more harm than good.  However, while I am nervous and have my doubts, I am also willing to step back and give the man a chance – as every American should do.  Let’s see what he’s got. 

Mark Udall wins Senate seat.  No big surprise here.  Bob Schaeffer’s performance in the debates and his lack of “smoothness” really hurt him.  He would have been a good counter to the Democrat majority in the Senate but it wasn’t meant to be.  If you believe all the ads leading up to the election, Mark Udall is portrayed as some sort of a Boulder-left zealot but his track record does prove otherwise in some cases.  Does he lean left?  Absolutely.  However, he also has shown much more sensible and reasoned approaches on a number of issues.  His challenge as he moves to the Senate will be to represent Colorado – a right of center state – and not just go along with the Democratic majority on Capitol Hill.  He needs to remember he represents all of Colorado and not just the left wing.  I hope he does. 

Jared Polis wins Congressional District 2.  This of course was expected as I commented on in my ‘endorsements’ before the election.  While I may have preferred Scott Starin, I do not believe that Mr. Polis will be a bad representative – quite the contrary.  Despite some of the rhetoric on his website catering to the far left, Mr. Polis has shown to be quite pragmatic and much more centrist in his views than might be believed otherwise.  As an Internet entrepreneur he is certainly pro-business and his stance on school choice definitely are in defiance of his party.  His philanthropy is legendary and he is a man who has not forgotten where he came from and has been incredibly generous in giving back to the community.  I find that alone extremely noteworthy.  I have spoken with Mr. Polis and he has assured me he will represent the entire district – not just the left-wing western part in Boulder.  He is much more moderate than one might think otherwise and I believe he will be fine representative of Thornton, Adams County and our congressional district.  I very much look forward to watching him work.