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Citizens, your role in the 2008 elections is done. Electoral College delegates will go through the motions, and judges will administer the Oath of Office for new public officials, but you have no more choice in the matter. Your role now is to pay attention to what your elected officials are doing, and to think ahead to the next election.

In the case of Congress the next election will be in 2010. Every one of the hundreds of members of the House of Representatives will face re-election, but only one third of the hundred senators will do so. Fourteen of the current senators who will have re-election campaigns in 2010 are Democrats.

We have been keeping track of the significant legislative activities of these Senate Democrats, with a scorecard over at Progressive Patriots. Sorted according to their percentile scores, which show how often they’ve supported important progressive legislation, we get the following list:

The cream of the crop:

Patrick Leahy of Vermont 81
Russ Feingold of Wisconsin 81
Barbara Boxer of California 75
Christopher Dodd of Connecticut 75

Not great, but tolerable:

Barbara Mikulski of Maryland 56
Charles Schumer of New York 56
Ron Wyden of Oregon 56
Harry Reid of Nevada 50
Patty Murray of Washington 50

Disappointing Democrats:

Byron Dorgan of North Dakota 38
Daniel Inouye of Hawaii 38
Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas 31

Desperately Needing Primary Opponents:

Evan Bayh of Indiana 19
Ken Salazar of Colorado 13

There will also be U.S. Senate races for the seats in Delaware and Illinois, to fill the vacancies left by Barack Obama and Joseph Biden. We have yet to see the quality of their temporary replacements, much less whether they’ll actually be running for re-election in 2010. Now is the time, however, for progressive Democrats in the states of Colorado, Indiana, Hawaii, Arkansas and North Dakota to begin to organize challenges to their disappointing incumbents in the Senate.

Barack Obama was elected President! Yeah! Oh, and there was this other branch of government too. Did it have elections too?

Yes, there were congressional elections too.

The good:

Elizabeth Dole lost to Kay Hagan.
Dan Maffei beat Dale Sweetland.
Eric Massa kicked Randy Kuhl out of the House.
Chris Shays has left the building.
Marilyn Musgrave is finally out of the House of Representatives.

The not so good:

- Ted Stevens actually won re-election in Alaska
- Mean Jean Schmidt defeated challenger Vic Wulsin in Ohio’s 2nd district, where they just love to hate.
- Kooky, spooky Michele Bachmann will be going back to the House, where she can launch that investigation into which members of Congress are anti-American.
- Down in Georgia, extremist Paul Broun is coming around for another term in office, so that he can offer more constitutional amendments to shut down liberty for everyone but people like himself.

Yesterday was not a revolution for America. It was an evolution.

Today I’m in Asheville, North Carolina to meet up with some dear old friends, and I’m interested to see a large number of 6 inch tall, two feet wide Obama-Biden lawn signs. Over in Columbus, Ohio I haven’t seen a single one like that; we have signs that are about that wide but at least twice as tall. Also here in Asheville I’ve seen more than one Obama car flag, but haven’t seen a single one of those in Columbus.

Is this a sign that the Obama gear supply chain, like the Obama campaign generally, is locally based and responsive to what is locally wanted and available?

Forget the stock market. Let’s look at some more reliable economic indicators. Let’s look at the sales figures for Virgin Mary apparitions.

Times are hard for the hawkers of spontaneous Catholic relics. It wasn’t too long ago that the image resembling the Virgin Mary on a grilled cheese sandwich sold for 28,000 dollars. No more.

Over 2,800 people have been to EBay to take a look at an oyster shell that believers say looks like Virgin Mary. So far, however, the highest bid is only 43 dollars.

It seems that a miracle just isn’t worth as much as it used to be.

Traditional theology holds that divine truth is constant, but the waning price of these found Virgin Marys suggests that miracles from God have a changing value that is subject to the whims of market forces.

I’m off to Kmart. I hear that the Holy Ghost is on sale for just 36 dollars on a Blue Light Special.

Being married to a health care worker means I occasionally find the darndest things lying around the house. Today’s find, between the couch cushions: a 3×5 card with the picture of a smiling pig, entitled “Reasons People Suddenly Die.”

An organizer with the Columbus, Ohio GOP just emerged from the Capital Center where John McCain and Sarah Palin will appear later today. She came bearing a plie of t-shirts for sale at $20 apiece and told the fifty or so of us in line (with less than an hour to go before doors open) that proceeds would go to “bringing young people to Ohio to canvass, because numbers in that are not great.”

Overheard in line for the McCain-Palin rally here in Columbus, Ohio (110 minutes until doors open and twelve people are in line… Quel enthusiasm):

“I don’t know who they have advising her, but whoever it is, they really need to give her some new advice. I’m sure if she becomes President she’ll be surrounded with some great aides.”

Postscript: The people staffing the merchandising booth I’m standing next to say they’re licensed with the McCain campaign. The shirts they’re selling are made by Gildan.

When I went to the Columbus Barack Obama rally in February 2008, people began lining up the night before. Showing up two hours and ten minutes before the McCain-Palin rally here in Columbus, I hopped right to the front of line. Right now, I am the line.

Oh, look. Here comes someone else.

You’re either really annoyed or you’re kind of annoyed. Pick one.

It’s more than 15 minutes into the Sarah Palin speech now, and so far, there hasn’t been a single bit of substance to her speech. No policies. No suggestions for what ought to be done to get America out of its current mess.

Just a bunch of platitudes - like saying that farmers love America, and her husband is good at snowmobiling.

Where is the substance?

Sarah Palin looks like an empty pantsuit.

What would you do as Vice President, Ms. Palin? What is your policy vision, if you should become Vice President upon the death or disability of the elderly John McCain?

Update: Over five minutes later, there’s still no substance, just superficial talk, such as that we should “leave this nation better than we found it”.

Did George W. Bush and his Republican followers leave this nation better than they found it?

“We will paint the entire Mississippi Watershed red!” - Senator Norman Coleman

More pollution from the Republicans? That’s nothing new.

“John McCain has a face that says ‘Yes’” - Senator Coleman

John McCain also has a face that says that we have to invade Iraq as quickly as possible because Saddam Hussein has massive arsenals of weapons of mass destruction.

John McCain also has a face that says that George W. Bush is a great President.

John McCain also has a face that says that Sarah Palin should be our Vice President.

It’s the next morning, and the “speech of Bill Richardson” that Politico is presenting to the world is still the speech that Bill Richardson didn’t actually give.

Bill Richardson delivered an entirely different speech — a kick-ass speech that mentioned Guantanamo, mentioned torture, mentioned the Bill of Rights, mentioned the Constitution, mentioned domestic spying by the government, mentioned civil liberty. This was a speech that demanded the next President of the United States of America on “his first day in office will say this: I will follow and uphold and respect the Constitution of the United States. And then actually does it!”

Why, it’s as if the staff at Politico weren’t actually aware of the disconnect, as if they didn’t actually watch the convention, as if they weren’t really reporting, but just converting the press releases of the DNC and other PR sources into its “news.” Hm!

Update: Two days later and Politico still is publishing the speech Bill Richardson didn’t give as if it was the speech Bill Richardson did give.

As the Democratic National Convention of 2008 begins with a faith-based panderfest, the crackdown is beginning outside, with law enforcement confronting the danger of… bicyclists. No kidding. The Associated Press reports that “Denver police also asked area law enforcement to be on the lookout for caches of supplies that could be used by violent demonstrators, such as helmets, nails, heavy protest sign handles and even bicycles.”

Bicycles? Bicycles are now signs of impending violence?!? I can see how the executives of big oil corporations might think so, but for the local police to regard a bicycle as a legitimate reason to suspect someone of conspiring to commit acts of violence is a sign of how far into paranoia Homeland Security has gone.

A bicycle is not a weapon. A bicycle is a peaceful tool that builds healthy bodies and preserves clean air and water. A bicycle is a quiet thing. It does not roar. It does not burn. It does not bash.

I think the Denver Police ought to take a look at Bikes Not Bombs to have an idea about the kind of people who may be riding a bicycle outside the Democratic National Convention this week. Bikes Not Bombs explains its mission by saying,

“Lasting peace and social justice require equitable and sustainable use of resources. BNB provides community-based education and assists development projects with recycled bicycles, related technologies and technical assistance, as concrete alternatives to the militarism, over-consumption & inequality that breed war and environmental destruction. Our organization is part of a worldwide movement for peace and responsible stewardship of the earth.”

I wish that the leaders of the Democratic Party would take a look too. It doesn’t send a positive message that Democratic Party officials are getting special police protection from bicycles. If I were head of the Democratic National Committee, I’d make sure to issue an official statement condemning the paranoid police pursuit of bicycles - and I’d tell the Denver Police to back off.

Of course, I’ll never lead the Democratic National Committee, but the point isn’t about me. It’s about the best direction for America. We need more bicycles on our streets - not fewer. If every household in America had and used a bicycle on a daily basis, we would be a more prosperous and peaceful nation.

(Bicyclists for Peace Tshirt)