What You Should Be Watching For This Election

By Megan Carpentier, Air America Media. Posted November 3, 2009.

While most of the country remains blithely unaware that Election Day occurs once a year, rather than just on leap years, voters in a few states know that even the odd-numbered years can bring hot political action to the voting booths. This year, that action's all along the eastern seaboard, but even a cold autumn wind won't chill anyone out.

Maine's Same Sex Marriage Referendum

In the northern-most state on the east coast, Governor John Baldacci made more than a few progressive hearts warmer when he signed into law a bill legalizing same sex marriage in the state. Almost immediately, anti-equality activists (many from outside the state) tried to throw cold water on Maine's recognition that the state has no business dictating who its citizens choose to spend their lives with -- what happened to "small government," anyway? -- and got a repeal on the ballot for tomorrow. Polls show that the race remains neck-and-(red)neck, and, like California's Prop 8, voters in favor of marriage equality will have to vote against the same sex marriage ballot question in order to vote for equal rightsfor their neighbors.

New York's 23rd Congressional District

While New York's a true-blue state, few people of the liberal persuasion (other than Hillary Clinton) have done particularly well in the state's most nothern voting booths. When President Obama nominated Congressman John McHugh to be the Secretary of the Army, few thought the 23rd would be a Democratic pick-up, even with Rahm Emanuel likely whispering that in the president's ear.

Fast forward to October and conservative teabaggers could yet hand Rahm Emanuel his sweetest fantasy. Local Republicans chose moderate Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava as the heir-apparent to McHugh's seat, but New York's Conservative Party wasn't down with Scozzafava's moderate positions on everything from reproductive rights to marriage equality, Emanuel's big-tent strategy be damned. They nominated the out-of-district Dan Hoffman and let the teabaggers (and the intellectual duo of Michele Bachmann  and Sarah Palin) try to plaster up some of Hillary Clinton's 18 million cracks about which Palin once spoke so adoringly.

See more stories tagged with: rahm emanuel, marriage equality, sarah palin, michele bachman

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