10 - Indiana: The "throw out the insiders" bunch just elected Dan Coats, "the consummate insider, a six-figure-income lobbyist with "only second homes" in Maryland and North Carolina." to the Senate. He's on record from BEFORE the election as opposiing an extension to unemployment benefits. Coats replaces Evan Bayh, a loathsome corporate Blue Dog who would no doubt have voted with the Republicans anyway. It's a wash, but Coats' opponent, Brad Ellsworth, just voted FOR H R 6419 - the Emergency Unemployment Compensation Continuation Act.
9 - Ohio just elected John Kasich (killer of a job-creating rail project) to be their governor over incumbent Ted Strickland, and kept incumbent Republican Rob Portman in the Senate. Portman buys into the Republican "Give Rich People Enough Tax Cuts and Let Them Do Whatever They Want And They'll Create Jobs Even If No One Has Money To Buy What They Make doctrine, but at least he favors allowing states with high unemployment rates to access additional funding without Congressional action -- an odd stance for the Teabaggers' choice.
8 - Georgia just elected as Governor Nathan Deal, a guy who had to resign his Congressional seat back in March 2010 after:
...the Office of Congressional Ethics released its report anyway, concluding that Mr. Deal appeared to have improperly used his office to pressure Georgia officials to continue a vehicle inspection program that generated hundreds of thousands of dollars a year for his family’s auto salvage business.
He got 53% of the vote. Perhaps Georgians without jobs believe that if they Just Work Hard Enough, they too can go to Congress and strongarm state officials into enacting programs that will allow them to stuff their pockets. The throw-the-bums-out sentiment didn't apply in the state's Senate Race either, where incumbent Republican Johnny Isakson won 53.8% of the vote. In June 2010, Senator Isakson had to apologize for referring to the unemployed as "unwashed." In July he voted again against an extension of unemployment benefits. He is, however, going full-bore now on an extension of tax cuts for the top 1%.
7) Michigan's new governor is Rick Snyder, who is going to Washington this week but refuses to say if he will ask for an extension of unemployment benefits for his long-beleaguered state. Over 180,000 Michigan residents will run out of benefits in the next five months. Neither of the state's Senators was up for election.
6) Florida took a turn to the Very Hard right, electing health care fraudster Rick Scott as governor and teabagger favorite Marco Rubio to the Senate. Without a previous record of votes, we can't tell for sure what Rubio will do, but in July he said he would stand with Republicans in opposing any extension to unemployment benefits -- but of course he favors tax cuts for the wealthy:
"At some point someone has to draw a line in the sand and say we are serious about not growing debt," Rubio said.
However, when it comes to offsetting the costs of an extension of the Bush Tax Cuts that Rubio wants made permanent, his campaign couldn't give an answer to CBS4.com's Tim Kephart.
Meanwhile, governor-elect Rick Scott is planning a lavish inaugural celebration for which he's seeking donations of up to $25,000. The more you pay, the more access to him you get. If you like trickle-down economics, you'll LOVE Florida under Rick Scott.
5) Illinois' new senator is Mark Kirk, who only seems moderate when compared to the extremists who now dominate the Republican Party. But on extending tax cuts for the top 1%, these don't have to be offset by spending cuts...whereas unemployment benefits extensions require offsets:
4) We usually think of Texas as having weathered the economic crisis relatively unscathed. with a comparatively "low" unemployment rate of 8.2%. But with 127,900 losing benefits before December 31, it remains to be seen whether relatively robust job creation will offset this. Texas didn't have a Senate election this year, but Texas is represented in the Senate by John Cornyn and Ron Paul. In July, Cornyn blamed Democrats for a failure to extend unemployment benefits. Like other Republicans who believe that the revenue reductions from tax cuts for the wealthy don't need to be offset with spending cuts but that unemployment benefits do, Cornyn wanted drastic spending cuts and tax cuts in return. We already know about Ron Paul's views on anything government does.
3) Pennsylvania: This is a state that could have elected Joe Sestak to the Senate, but instead chose to send über-wingnut Pat Toomey. In July, Toomey said that any unemployment benefits extension must be offset with spending cuts. Toomey favors ending ALL capital gains and corporate taxes. This means that even if "rich people" "created jobs", the wages of said jobs would pay the entire national tax burden, while those whose income comes from investments while they sip margaritas in the Caymans would pay none.
The top two spots are occupied by New York and California, which at least had the good sense to eschew the insane Carl Paladino and the greedy, too-cheap-to-hire-a-housekeeper-she-couldn't exploit Meg Whitman.
So there you have it. The states with the most people at risk of being cast out without a penny are states that voted in these lunatics. I'd be tempted to shrug my shoulders and say "You get what you pay for", except that 30-49% of the people in these states DIDN'T vote against their own interests. And they will be swept in the street right along with the idiots.
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