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It’s tempting to focus on the historic takeover of the US House by a Republican majority, but we here at GiN march to a different drummer, for the most part at least.  Just as the three most important characteristics of real estate are location, location, location; the three most important characteristics of GiN’s political focus are local, local, local.   Consequently, we’ve spent the wee hours of the night mulling over state, county, and local elections here at GiN, and we’re ready, if somewhat less than eager, to share our thoughts with you.  Overall, we consider results to be mixed, at least as pertains to those races and candidates we’ve mentioned here on the GiN website in the last several days.

Before we get to the results, though, we’d like you to ponder an old rhyme showing that small actions can result in large consequences:

What does this have to do with yesterday’s elections?  Simply put, the lion’s share of the contests that were truly up for grabs yesterday were won or lost by a mere handful of votes.  If you voted yesterday, your vote was clearly critical in determining the outcome of some of the most hotly contested state and local races we’ve had in recent memory.  If you did not vote yesterday, the absence of your vote was, most likely, the “nail” that was wanting.  The eventual scope of the harm caused by your absence at the polls will only be able to be seen in hindsight.  As the rhyme indicates, the magnitude of the harm caused by the neglect of even simple things, like a single vote, can be very great indeed.

And voter turnout was abysmal.  Only 39% of the registered voters in Lancaster County showed up to cast their ballots.  Turnout was even worse in Douglas County (36%).  Clearly, increasing voter turnout among Constitutional, limited government types by even a few percentage points could have made a dramatic difference.

Links to both statewide and county results can be found on our Election 2010 GiN “Racing Form” page by clicking HERE.

In GiN’s WIN column: We at GiN congratulate Jim Smith and Lydia Brasch, whom we had noted as worth a look for seats in the Nebraska Legislature.

In addition, Brent Smoyer scored an important victory in his quest for a seat on the  Lancaster County Board:

Although he prevailed by a 52% to 48% margin, the percentage totals are misleading.  The difference between the candidates’ vote tallies was less than 650 votes.

We are particularly pleased at the outcome of this race considering Smoyer’s opposition was well-funded and used that funding to print and distribute mailers containing patent falsities.  Sometimes the truth does prevail. The Butcher campaign also had a wealth of volunteers, judging by the sign-wavers one GiN member reported passing on a corner about a 1/4 mile from her polling place on her way to vote yesterday.

We were also pleased to see that Amendment 2, which we urged voters to reject, was soundly defeated by roughly a 62% to 33% margin.

In GiN’s LOSS column: From the “thrill of victory” to the “agony of defeat,” as the saying goes.  And the loss of these races was painful to witness, given how truly close they proved to be.

Chad Wright, a local businessman, lost his race to unseat incumbent Senator Danielle Conrad in District 46 here in Lincoln by only 90 votes.

Unseating an incumbent is never easy, but Wright’s task was made more difficult by the amount of money special interest groups like the Nebraska State Education Association (NSEA) poured into Conrad’s re-election bid.  Word on the street was that, in the final days of the campaign and thanks to financial support from the NSEA, Conrad’s “volunteer” forces were bolstered by persons paid $20 per hour to walk precincts distributing Conrad’s campaign literature.

In the Omaha area, legislative candidate John Comstock lost his District 8 race by a mere 36 votes.  His loss is truly ours, given that Comstock shares many of the principles and values GiN holds dear.

Finally, Amendment 1, passed by just 5,000 votes at 50.62% for to 49.38% against. We were decidedly against this measure.

If you actively supported candidates this election cycle with your fortune, your personal efforts on their behalf, and your votes, we at GiN are truly grateful.

If you did not, we have to challenge you –  “My friends, the time has come to start acting to bring about the great conservative majority party we know is waiting to be created. . . .  The job is ours and the job must be done. If not by us, who? If not now, when?“