Obama’s victory a warning to Republicans, say North Dakotans

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This article was published 07/11/2012 (5052 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

GRAND FORKS — No surprise, really, when you think about it.

That’s the general reaction here today the morning after U.S. President Barack Obama won another four years in office.

Die-hard Republican supporters might not like it, but they don’t like the way their party has swerved so far to the right in the political spectrum.

“What a battle,” Daryl Bragg said this morning over eggs and pancakes at Darcy’s Café in north Grand Forks. “I knew it was going to be close, but not this close.”

Bragg, a local garden owner, said last night’s outcome should serve as warning that the Republicans, led to defeat by Mitt Romney, have got to get their house in order to recognize the new America.

“Us old white males are not going to dominate elections in the country again,” he said, adding by continuing to ignore women and minorities, the party is doomed.

Kenton McGregor and wife Marilyn echoed that.

Both said they’re staunch Republicans that can’t abide Obama and the freewheeling spending of his Democrats.

But they also said they stand by and watch the Republicans continue to ignore America’s growing ranks of the poor.

“I don’t think they realize how much the poor have gotten poorer,” Kenton said over his stack of pancakes. “Our minimum wage is $7.25 and it hasn’t changed in years. Medical insurance has gone up. The cost to fix your car has gone up. How do you meet that at $7.25 an hour?

“So I agree with the Republicans’ ethics, but not their economics.”

Last night’s vote in North Dakota, and its three electoral college votes, all went to Romney.

The one surprise was Democrat Senate contender and former North Dakota attorney general Heidi Heitkamp’s win over Republican Rick Berg. The vote was close enough for a recount. The winner could potentially hold the balance of power in the U.S. Senate, according to reports.

North Dakota also defeated a measure that would have created a felony penality for malicious cruelty to a dog, cat or horse.

Across the Red River in Minnesota, that state’s 10 electoral college votes went to Obama.

Minnesotans also defeated a measure that would have banned same-sex marriage in the state’s constitution.

 

bruce.owen@freepress.mb.ca