I just returned from voting at the Flathead County fairgrounds, where everything seemed to be going smoothly and a pretty high number of people were streaming in and out. It looks to me like pretty good turnout, based on the fact that it was mid-afternoon. It’s only likely to get more crowded when the workday ends. Most pundits, forecasters and prognosticators believe election results are likely to be deeply favorable to Republicans, giving them control of the U.S. House, a few seats in the Senate and a number of gubernatorial victories. On Slate.com, Christopher Beam predicts the people and factors on which Democrats are likely to blame their poor showing. Key among those? Montana’s own senior senator, Democrat Max Baucus, and his handling of the health care overhaul.
From Beam’s report:
Health care might not have happened without Sen. Max Baucus of Montana. Then again, it might have happened a lot faster. Over the course of four months in 2009, Baucus made one compromise after another—scrapping the public option, killing the employer mandate—in order to attract Republican votes that never materialized. That gave Republicans time to demagogue the bill and ate up valuable time on the congressional calendar—time that could have been used to pass legislation like immigration reform or an energy bill (which, of course, would probably have hurt Democrats, too).