Gotta say, the narrow victory for Lancaster Mayor Rick Gray really surprised me. I figured he’d win - but by more than a mere 313 votes.

That was pretty close to a repudiation. Dunno if Gray sees it that way - but he should.

The Donegal thing is kind of sad, too. The tax increases - $117 yearly for three years - would have been pretty steep, especially now. But if you’ve ever been in the high school, as I have a few times, you know the place needs help. The trailer situation - no parent wants his or her kid’s school to have to use trailers on a permanent basis. It bespeaks a lack of commitment on the part of the district, and its taxpayers, toward the students. And for those who say, just renovate - how can anyone have confidence that taxpayers would approve that bill? I really get the idea that there are people in Donegal who think the trailers are just fine. And so for kids and their parents - they’ll have to be.

Nationally the governor’s races in Virginia and New Jersey went to the Republicans. Lots of talk about What It All Means, with the prevailing narrative being “The GOP is back, baby!” Whatever. Don’t know much about Virginia; in New Jersey, Democratic incumbent Jon Corzine is a former CEO of Goldman Sachs. Hell, I’d have voted against him on that basis alone.

But what intrigues me is that upstate New York race, the 23rd District, in which the Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman - who actually called Glenn Beck his mentor and was the favorite of the teabag crowd - lost. He lost to the Democrat Bill Owens; that district has been a Republican stronghold for generations.

The Teabag Great White Conservative Hope lost. And I’m sure the teabag crowd doesn’t see that as a repudiation.

But it was.