Election 2012: Recipe for action - or more gridlock?
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EUGENE, Ore. - The division of power in Washington, D.C., remains the same after the 2012 election, but Democrats regained control of the Oregon legislature.
Democrats defeated four Republican freshmen in the Oregon House to break a 30-30 split.
The Democrats also kept their slim majority in the Oregon Senate.
So after a tough campaign, is it a recipe for action - or more gridlock?
The mudslinging may dog lawmakers as they get to work: 2012 may go down as the year of a new low in attack ads by candidates.
By his assessment, political science instructor Steve Candee at Lane Community College
said 80 percent of all campaign commercials were attack ads.
"Eighty percent - that's unheard of," Candee said, "so I think people are reacting to that and they're blaming both parties."
Candee said lawmakers will have to get past that campaign rancor to get business done.
As Democrats take control of both chambers of the Oregon legislature, Candee said "what the people are expecting are policies that again address their concerns."
A state House leader from Eugene thinks that will be the case with the end of the 30-30 split.
"I think it changes it a lot," Democrat state Rep. Phil Barnhart told KVAL News on Election Night, "because the things I described - about education, about jobs and the economy and infrastructure - are things we'll actually be able to do now."
The lawn signs will be coming down soon; no more TV attack ads for a while, but Candee said from this election, the voters have made their message loud and clear: Voters got their belly full of negative advertising.
"They don't make any sense," Eugene voter Victoria Biedron said, "and I don't like the attacks on other people and it's a waste of money."
Same ol' Same ol' ,decline, downward spiral into a freedomless total control police state third world country.
"Election 2012: Recipe for action - or more gridlock?" That will be up to House Republicans and their Tea Bagger lap dogs. Prior to the 2012 elections, the self-seeking Republican-Tea Bagger coalition blocked any legislation that would cost their mega-wealthy keepers a single dime without any consideration for the damage they were doing to the rest of the country. That position was one of the most important reasons Romney lost the election--that and the fact that he is a shallow, self-seeking, and two-dimensional buffoon. Unless they change their behavior, the same thing will happen in the next Congressional elections. They have to relearn that the country belongs to all Americans, not just the super-rich. Only time will tell if they learned from their mistakes.
@mackenzie0158 - Can't ya just wait til the rest of the world realizes that Americans like you and I (you know, the 99%) are the 1% to every other nation on this earth! Won't that be a great day? When "they" begin taxing "us" at outrageous rates so folks in other nations can afford to buy the latest I-Phone (which I can't afford today anyway)? And last I knew, "tea bagging" connotated a very derogatory term...none of which has anything to do with the constitutional beliefs of the Tea Party. None of my employers have ever been considered poor...nor would I ever wish to punish someone for their success in business!