Democrat faithful: Down, yes, but now attention turns to '12
By Kenneth Fine
Published in News on November 3, 2010 1:46 PM
Local Democratic leaders were not particularly surprised by the results of Tuesday's elections.
"It's like a wind blowing. We knew it was coming," said Bronnie Quinn, chairman of the Wayne County Democratic Party. "And there was nothing we could do about it."
But despite the fact that Republican gains were expected, it doesn't make the final numbers any easier to wake up to.
"We lost some good people for Wayne County -- people who have worked hard for Wayne County," Quinn said. "We just caught a bad wind."
Dissatisfaction with health care reform and misinformation about just what change has, in fact, come to the country during the first two years of Barack Obama's presidency likely had the greatest impact on voters, he added.
"Personally, I think the health care is going to be one of the greatest things that ever happened to this country," Quinn said. "But a lot of people don't read at all and they just count on television -- or one particular network -- to get their news. I think they're not getting a well-rounded view of the world."
And so the general public had simply become "disillusioned," he said.
"I think the public really just wanted to get rid of the people who were in office," Quinn said. "But that's politics -- happens every two years."
So instead of getting caught up in negativity, Quinn said local Democrats will look toward the future, toward the next election when -- because Repub-licans and Democrats will share responsibility for decisions made over the next several years -- simple change won't be the only criterion voters consider.
"Now you're going to have to compromise to get anything done," Quinn said. "So it's like I said yesterday. I went home, I dusted myself off and went to sleep. And when I woke up this morning, it's a new day, a new game."