The elections of 2004 (and 2003) for President, Senate and Governor were important elections and the Republicans (conservatives) won the Presidency and Senate and broke even in the governor's races.
State Elections in 2003 do not appear to have significantly affected the presidential election of 2004. Only a few Governorships and other state offices were at stake in 2003 elections. The 2003 elections did not provide additional presidential candidates for the election of 2004 but they provided a few additional candidates for U.S. Representative and U.S. Senate elections of 2004. All in all, the 2003 elections gave little indication as to who would win the election of 2004. However, the elections of 2003 were very closely watched in states where the elections mattered.
California Recall Election, Gov. Gray Davis, and Schwarzenegger. Due largely to the horrific California state budget deficit, the worst political crisis in that state's post-World War II history has developed in that state. A recall election was called for October 6, 2003.
Arnold Schwarzenegger, actor and a moderate Republican, entered the race and was the favorite. Schwarzenegger was backed by multi-billionaire Warren Buffett who handled his campaign financing. . The only major Democratic candidate was Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante.
Arianna Huffington, political commentator and an independent also entered the race but had no impact. Other candidates include Hustler publisher Larry Flynt and former child star Gary Coleman. A large number of other colorful though minor candidates also entered the race including a porn star and a 100 year old lady. The most popular Democrat in the state, U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, opted out of the race calling the election a "carnival." A mistake for the Democrats since it left the field clear for a Schwarzenegger win.
Arnold Schwarzenegger easily won the election and is now the governor of California. The election showed that California voters were tired of the old crowd and wanted a fresh face. Arnold is much more of a moderate than most of his fellow Republicans who seem to have all gone over to the ultraconservative camp. Good luck Arnold!
(Recent reports from California indicates that Schwarzenegger is doing a good job as governor. He is a moderate and he is not afraid of working with Democrats.)
The 2003 governor's election in Louisiana ended with a Democrat, Kathleen Blanco, winning. She is the first lady to ever be elected governor of the state.
Over a dozen major candidates entered the 2003 governor's race to replace outgoing Republican Governor Mike Foster. In the runoff, it came down to Democrat Blanco against Republican Bobby Jindal, a young, rising conservative star. In a very civil election (unlike normal Louisiana elections), Blanco was able to eke out a win over Jindal..
The Republicans picked up a governorship in Kentucky in 2003. The outgoing Democratic Governor had, a la Louisiana style, apparently got himself caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Although he could not run for reelection, his behavior cast a cloud on the Democratic ticket and a Republican congressman, Representative Lee Fletcher, won the governorship.
Incumbent Democratic Governor Ronnie Musgrove faced former Republican National Committee Chairman, Haley Barbour in the November 4 general election. Governor Musgrove had been very aggressive in seeking out businesses to move to Mississippi and had brought thousands upon thousands of new jobs to the state. Musgrove, despite his great work for Mississippi, seems to lack the social niceties that would guarantee him staying in office. Sort of a bull in a china shop.
Barbour, a native Mississippi country boy who can still talk Mississippian country talk although he a millionaire many times over due to his lobbying work for the big corporations, pushed the standard Republican agenda of tax cuts and tort reform. It was the right formula for Mississippi which is becoming increasingly Republican over the years and Barbour won the election. The good news for Louisiana: if Governor Barbour pursues the standard Republican agenda of chasing liberals and welfare queens instead of jobs, maybe Louisiana can beat out Mississippi on the jobs front.
Summing up the three governor's races, Republicans won two of the races and have to consider that an overall victory for the year. However, 2003 state elections were a mere warm-up for the fireworks to come in 2004.
The Senate elections of 2004 were almost as important to the Democrats as the Presidential election of 2004, particularly in as much as the Republicans retained the presidency. Selection of federal judges - including justices of the Supreme Court - throughout the land must pass through the Senate. The loss of several seats in the Senate by the Democrats could mean a flood of conservative judges being appointed.
Approximately one-third of the nation's 100 US Senate seats were up for election in 2004. The Republicans came out of the election with 54-45-1 edge in the senate with the one independent senator who generally votes with the Democrats. The senate seats that were up for election in 2004:
ALABAMA. The incumbent was Republican Senator Richard Shelby who faced Democrat Wayne Sowell. Shelby won .
ALASKA. The incumbent was Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski. Former Democrat Governor Tony Knowles faced her. Senator Murkowski was appointed to the seat in 2002 by her father, Governor Frank Murkowski. Leaned Democratic in polls but Murkowski won.
ARIZONA. The incumbent was Republican Senator John McCain who faced minor opposition in Democrat Stuart Starky. Senator McCain, the most independent Republican in the nation and a very popular national figure. McCain won.
ARKANSAS. The incumbent was Democratic Senator Blanch Lincoln. Republican Jim Holt ran for the seat. Senator Lincoln prevailed.
CALIFORNIA. The incumbent was Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer. Senator Barbara Boxer faced state Secretary of State, Bill Jones (R). Democrat Boxer won easily.
COLORADO. The incumbent was Republican Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell who has announced his retirement. Republican Pete Coors, businessman, faced Democrat Ken Salazar, Colorado Attorney General in November. Salazar won the seat. Pick-up for the Democrats.
CONNECTICUT. The incumbent was Democratic Senator Chris Dodd who faced Republican Jack Orlucchi. Senator Dodd won.
FLORIDA. The incumbent was Democratic Senator Bob Graham who retired. Graham would have been a virtual certain winner for the seat had he run for reelection. Well-known Republican (former Housing and Urban Development Secretary) Mel Martinez faced Democrat Betty Castor. Martinez won. Pick-up for the Republicans.
GEORGIA. The incumbent was Democratic Senator Zell Miller. He retired. Republican Isakson faced Democratic US Representative Denise Majette. Isakson won the seat. Pick-up for the Republicans.
HAWAII. The incumbent was Democratic Senator Daniel Inouye. He faced Republican Campbell Cavasso. Inouye retained seat.
IDAHO. The incumbent was Republican Senator Mike Crapo who faced Democrat write-in candidate Scott McClure. Crapo won.
ILLINOIS. The incumbent was Republican Senator Peter Fitzgerald who is retiring. Democrat Barrack Obama had a virtual shoo-in when Republican candidate Jack Ryan got caught in an allegedly sex scandal and had to withdraw. But the Illinois Republicans finally got well-known Allan Keyes of Maryland to run for the seat. He won the election easily. Obama has become a national phenomena and is being heard from in 2008. I Democrats gained a good one here.
INDIANA. The incumbent was Democratic Senator Evan Bayh who was at, one time, also being mentioned as veep nominee. He ran against Republican Marvin Scott. Bayh won and will be a factor in the presidential sweepstakes of 2008.
IOWA. The incumbent was Republican Senator Chuck Grassley. Arthur Small was the Democrat in the race. Grassley won reelection.
KANSAS. The incumbent was Republican Senator Sam Brownback who faced Democrat Robert Conroy. Brownback won.
KENTUCKY. The incumbent was Republican Senator Jim Bunning who faced Democrat challenger Dan Mongiardo. It turned into a close, tough race but Bunning, the old baseball star won.
LOUISIANA. The incumbent was Democratic Senator John Breaux. Senator Breaux did not seek reelection in 2004. This race drew some of the State's heavyweight politicians from both parties. US Representative David Vitter won and looked good in his post-election comments.
Of course, Senator Vitter has since become involved in a prostitution scandal and doesn't look as good as he once did.
Pick-up for the Republicans.
MARYLAND. The incumbent was Democratic Senator Barbara Mikulski. E. J. Pipkin was the Republican candidate. Mikulski won.
MISSOURI. The incumbent was Republican Senator Christopher "Kit" Bond who faced Democrat Nancy Farmer. Bond won a new term.
NEVADA. The incumbent was Democratic Senator Harry Reid who faced Republican Richar Ziser. Reid was reelected.
NEW HAMPSHIRE. The incumbent was Republican Senator Judd Gregg who faced Democrat Doris Haddock (Granny D). Gregg won.
NEW YORK. The incumbent was Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer. Howard Mills was the Republican candidate. Schumer was reelected.
NORTH CAROLINA. The incumbent was Democratic Senator John Edwards who retired. Democrat Erskine Bowles (former Clinton aide) faced US Representative Richard Burr (R). Burr won. Pick-up for Republicans
NORTH DAKOTA. The incumbent was Democratic Senator Byron Dorgan. Mike Luffrig was the Republican candidate. Dorgan won.
OKLAHOMA. The incumbent was Republican Senator Don Nickles who retired. Formerly called for Republicans (Tom Coburn) but officially became rated a toss-up as US Representative Brad Carson (D) made a fight of it. Coburn won.
OHIO. The incumbent was Republican Senator George Voinovich who faced the well-known Democratic challenger Fingerhut. Voinovich won.
OREGON. The incumbent was Democratic Senator Ron Wyden who faced Republican Al King. Wyden won.
PENNSYLVANIA. The incumbent was Republican Senator Arlen Specter. Specter faced Democrat Joe Hoeffel. Specter won.
SOUTH CAROLINA. The incumbent was Democratic Senator Ernest "Fritz" Hollings who retired. The state is rapidly moving Republican and US Representative Jim DeMint (R) was the favorite against Democrat Inez Tenenbaum. DeMint won. Gain for the Republicans.
SOUTH DAKOTA. The incumbent was Democratic Senator Tom Daschle. Born-again Republican John Thune gave him a fight. Thune won. Pick-up for the Republicans.
UTAH. Republican Senator Robert Bennett was the incumbent. He won reelection over Democrat Paul Van Dam.
VERMONT. The incumbent was Democratic Senator Pat Leahy. He won against Republican Peter Moss.
WASHINGTON. The incumbent was Democratic Senator Patty Murray who faced Republican US Representative George Nethercutt. Senator Murray has made her share of mistakes but managed to win here.
WISCONSIN. The incumbent was Democratic Senator Russ Feingold who faced Russ Darrow (R). Feingold won after a tough campaign.
Analysis - Senate elections of 2004: A gain of 3 for the Republicans. But the Democrats can be proud of new senator, Barrack Obama, who is becoming a national figure.
At first, I felt pretty bad about the results of the 2004 Senate races. Being from Louisiana, I felt bad about losing a Senate seat to the Republicans since no Republican had been elected there since Civil War reconstruction days. But, on those days when I am really down and I have lost all hope for my native state of Louisiana ever climbing from the bottom rung among the states, all I have to do is look at Oklahoma and Kentucky and see the senators they elected in the Senate elections of 2004, and I realize that all is not lost - Louisiana can still move up. There will always be an Oklahoma or Kentucky that Louisiana can climb over.
As listed below, the governorships were not a major factor in the election of 2004. Only 11 states had governorship elections.
DELAWARE. The incumbent was Democratic Governor Ruth Ann Minor who faced Republican Bill Lee. Minor won in a fairly tight race.
INDIANA. The incumbent was Democratic Governor Joe Kernan who succeeded former Governor Frank O'Bannon who died in office in 2003. Governor Kernan faced Republican Mitch Daniels in November. Daniels won the race fairly easily. Pick-up for Republicans
MISSOURI. The incumbent was Democratic Governor Bob Holden. Holden was dumped by the Democrats. State Auditor Claire McCaskill (Democrat) faced Secretary of State Matt Blunt (Republican). Blunt won. Another pick-up for the Republicans.
MONTANA. The incumbent was Republican Governor Judy Martz who did not run for reelection. Republican Secretary of State Bob Brown faced Democrat Brian Schweitzer, a farmer. Schweitzer won. A pick-up for the Democrats.
NEW HAMPSHIRE. The incumbent was Republican Governor Craig Benson. He faced Democrat John Lynch. Lynch won. Pick-up for the Democrats.
NORTH CAROLINA. The incumbent was Democratic Governor Mike Easley. Patrick Ballentine was the Republican candidate. North Carolina is a Republican state but Easley won handily. Not a pick-up but a great win for the Democrats.
NORTH DAKOTA. The incumbent was Republican Governor John Hoeven. Joe Satrom was the Democrat in the race. Hoeven won in a walk.
UTAH. The incumbent was Republican Governor Olene Walker who succeeded former Governor Mike Leavitt who resigned in 2003 to head the EPA. Governor Walker was eliminated in the Republican caucuses. Republican John Huntsman faced Democrat Scott Matheson for all the marbles. Huntsman won easily.
VERMONT. The incumbent was Republican Governor Jim Douglas. He faced Democrat Peter Clavelle in November. Douglas won easily.
WASHINGTON. The incumbent was Democratic Governor Gary Locke who was not seeking reelection. Democrat Attorney General Christine Gregoire faced Republican Dino Rossi for all the marbles. After two or three recounts, Gregoire won. What a race!
WEST VIRGINIA. The incumbent was Democratic Governor Bob Wise who did not run for reelection. Instead Republican Monte Warner faced Democrat Joe Manchin. Manchin won in a walk.
1. Politics 2008. The midterm elections are over. The Democrats captured both the Senate and the House of Representatives.
2. Presidential Candidates. President Bush, Senator Kerry, and a host of third party candidates faced off in the 2004 presidential election.
3. Political Issues 2008. Many political issues remain to be decided in this country. Hopefully, the upcoming 2008 presidential elections will help in those decisions.
The Republicans won the presidency and gained three Senate seats in the elections in 2004 and the races for Governor broke even. Despite the overall Republican victory, it should be noted that the Republicans elected some questionable Senators in the elections in 2004 and the Democrats may be able to eventually recover those seats.
Last Updated: 10/10/09
e-mail me @ vanc13@cox.net