The Progressive Democrat got some major readership during the election. Not sure how much of an effect it had, but certainly in some of the smaller races where I cover Progressive Majority candidates I think I make a bit of a difference.

Progressive candidates did very well in Washington State and Minnesota. Not so well in Pennsylvania or Colorado. Virginia and New Jersey governorships switch to Republican. NYC continues to be dominated by political machines and developer money. I would say that the elections were NOT a referendum on Obama, who remains very popular everywhere but the South. Rather it is a referendum on the Democratic Party which has been tending to do what it always does--water down its message until it no longer seems to stand for anything. This always happens for good, logical reasons. But people don't vote for good, logical reasons. They vote for a strong message that they feel attracted to and the Democratic Party is not delivering that right now. Obama often is, but the party as a whole is not. That is what is happening.

November 3rd is election day. PLEASE VOTE!!!! I highlight candidates in several states like Minnesota, Washington State, NYC, and Pennsylvania. I also highlight the elections in Texas, Virginia and New Jersey. Voter turn out will be low so PLEASE read up on these elections, make your choices and vote. I should note that many more places have elections than I have been able to cover, so even if I am not covering your local elections, please vote.

For other states I continue highlighting the same facts and figures on healthcare reform that I have for weeks. I want to keep these handy for everyone until we have a bill passed. Keep up the pressure!

I hear some on the left complaining that Obama has done nothing and is just as bad as Bush. I understand a certain amount of frustration with the slow pace of reform, though I wasn't surprised that it would take time to change 8 years of disastrous policies. But I think it is borderline insane to ignore the many areas that have improved since Obama took office. Here is one example:

EPA Denies Permit for Infamous WV Mountaintop Removal Mine

This week, because of increased readership, I am expanding my coverage in Georgia and Virginia. Right now NY, CA, TX, VA, GA and NJ are the states where most of my readers live. I consider that quite an interesting mixture.

Last week I ended my introductory statement by saying, "It may not always seem this way, but things have been moving (slowly) in the right direction." This last week adds a great deal of emphasis to my statement. Looked at from afar, what Obama has been doing is amazing. Of course there is the Nobel Peace Prize, which I discuss in this week's newsletter. Whether or not you think Obama has earned it, it is a sincere expression of just how relieved the world is that America has a good President again and of how hopeful the world is that Obama can turn things around. But the Nobel Prize is just the most obvious expression of this. Simply put, almost every nation in the world views America better thanks to Obama. From Reuters:

I am still not in the full swing of things in regards to the newsletter since I am preparing for a conference next week and Jacob's birthday was this last week. I will say that in the NYC runoffs, the candidate I expected to win (John Liu) did win, and the candidate I hoped would win but didn't expect to win (Mark Green) lost. I will have endorsements for November soon. We sure have a lot of ground to cover in NYC elections, don't we?

Despite my lack of time, I am still keeping things fairly up to date here, complete with calenders, news articles, highlights of progressive candidates, etc. in many areas I cover. So keep reading and keep up the activism. It may not always seem this way, but things have been moving (slowly) in the right direction.

Things have been busy for Joy and me. Joy defended her dissertation and is now Doctor Joy Romanski. NYC elections were typically nasty and disappointing. On the sad side, our cat died last weekend. We knew it was coming, but we are still sad to see him go.

This week I have a lot for my NYC readers: a rundown of election results, reminders about David Yassky's corruption, and discussions of the Comptroller and Public Advocate runoffs. But I am also returning to my coverage of the rest of the country.

Here is this week's newsletter:

I have spent some time tracking down the endorsements of various groups and papers that represent a broad cross section of NYC...or as broad as I could. I generally selected groups I have respect for or contact with for other reasons or that I consider of some importance to New Yorkers in general. This is not comprehensive and I am not sure I even tracked down all the endorsements from some of the groups. I should also note that I am not covering the mayoral primary largely because I am fine with either Thompson or Avella. I am also only covering a sub set of City Council races that I consider most important. It would be impossible for me to cover them all. I include my own endorsements first, though of course you are free to consider my opinion as useless and skip to the real endorsements. I hope this is helpful to all New Yorkers still undecided about who to vote for in Tuesday's primary. Some polling info and predictions can be found at the end.

I am drowning in local politics. Several very close races right in NYC that are critical sucking me in. I expect most of them will be resolved on Tuesday, but I know at least one, and maybe two of them will go to runoffs. So the end is not yet in sight.

Meanwhile I try to keep, for the rest of my readers, a focus on healthcare reform. And I have added links for several states to ways of supporting Robb Miller in South Carolina, the Democratic opponent of the idiot who called President Obama a liar during his address to the joint session of Congress. We have so far raised over $800,000 towards defeating this Republican idiot. I donated to Miller and I hope you do as well.