It's a good morning to be a progressive --- and a Democrat. Independent, too. Gay not so bad either. Not so much a Republican, a party in which reasonable voices with potentially useful ideas about economic and other issues have been stifled by religious zealots.
It's still not clear if Democrats will mantain a slim lead in the Iowa Senate, but Mike Gronstol, the most significant legislative voice for marriage equality, won re-election handily in his district. Democrats also made gains in the House, but had little hope of retaking the majority there. We'll see.
The vote to retain Supreme Court Justice David Wiggins is a clear demonstration of Iowans' common sense and fairness --- and a clear rebuke of the hateful Bob Vander Plaats and his pseudochristian allies, as was Gronstol's victory.
Marriage equality success in Maine, Maryland and Washington point to the future --- as do the victories in their states of Wisconsin's Tammy Baldwin, the first honest gay person elected to the U.S. Senate, and other LGBT candidates.
But defeat of the anti-equality constitutional amendment in Minnesota probably has more significance for Iowans, where a similar amendment most likely remains at the top of the state GOP agenda. The wins in Minnesota as well as in Maine, Maryland and Minnesota are a stinging rebuke of alleged Christians who have left themselves little but hate to cling to, in particular the all-male Roman Catholic hierarchy.
It was good to see Iowa unambiguously in the blue camp with our relatively few Electoral College votes contributing to President Obama's vicitory. Four more years!
Too bad about Leonard Boswell in Iowa's First House District. But Republican Tom Latham, transplanted from north Iowa to the overwhelmingly Republican southwest, was the stronger candidate. And re-election of the odious Steve King, whose power base is northwest Iowa, probably was inevitable.
It was a good day, a great night and a hopeful start for a new day.
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