Florida Finally Called; Dem’s Hold Senate; GOP Controls House - The Road to the White House - Election 2012 - Week 45

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Category: Beltway Insider

Published on Saturday, 10 November 2012 22:06

Written by Janet Walker

President Barack Hussein Obama, the nation’s first African American President, has again made history this week by winning re-election over Republican presidential challenger Mitt Romney in a bitter and deeply divided race.

According to Gallup, President Obama’s Job Approval, over the past week, gained three percentage points, breaking the fifty percent mark for the first time since the Democratic National Convention, to 52% of those polled who approve of his effectiveness as President and those who disapprove of his effectiveness dropped seven percentage points to 42%.

Although the election was called early, after the California polls closed and the 55 Electoral votes went Blue, it was four days later that the final votes were tallied in Florida with Obama declared the winner by a mere 74,000 votes. Those near misses for the Romney campaign were echoed through much of the ten swing states with only North Carolina, a stunning upset for the Obama camp and testament to the strength of the GOP message, voting Romney.

President Obama won 332 electoral votes, and took 51% or 61,814,180 votes; Romney took 206 Electoral votes and won 48% or 58, 586, 318 votes.

The Democrats remained in control of the senate by a 53 to 45 margin and the Republicans control the House of Representatives 194 Democrats to 223 Republicans with 218 being the majority.

Same Sex Marriage

Tuesday’s election proved to be historic for Gay Rights advocates as Same Sex Marriages laws were approved by voters in three states, bringing the total to nine states that allow gay and Lesbian couples to marry.

Maine, Maryland and Washington become the first three states to legalize Same Sex Marriage through voter approval. The six other states allowing same sex marriages are New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont, New Hampshire and the District of Columbia, received the rights through judicial intervention and legislation.

Advocates of Marriage Equality believe all states, should recognize the rights of same sex couples to marry, as it now stands thirty-eight states have revised their state constitutions to deny same sex couples to marry, defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman. Six other states have not issued a definitive statement on marriage and have not legalized same sex unions.

Cannabis Becomes Legal

Legalization advocates across the country are rejoicing over Tuesday’s vote in Colorado and the state of Washington as they approved, without restriction, the legalization of marijuana.

Unsure how these laws will affect the drug war, and it is also important to understand legalization in these two states does not allow for interstate travel as laws in each state differ.

Cannabis legalization could be considered one of America’s greatest natural resource that has gone untapped. Legalizing and placing a hefty Recreation, Cigarette or Unhealthy Lifestyle tax on purchase and consumption could easily produce state revenue that will provide much needed tax dollars to benefit both social programs and capital projects.

States should consider Cannabis legalization as our elected officials attempt to balance bloated state budgets full of redundancies instead of slashing social programs or worse placing another personal tax on an already overburdened middle class. The legalization of cannabis with accompanying taxation is an important step in providing necessary state and possibly federal dollars. The benefits of legalization far outweigh the concerns.

California is the only other state that allows the use of marijuana for medical purposes after examination and physician prescription.