By James Hall
This election with disappointing results, should not come as a surprise to anyone who tries to stay on top of things political, in the local, state and federal arena.

Locally in Rutland County, thanks to all who worked hard for the prize, the results were much better than the neighboring counties. Yes, Chestnut-Tangerman made a comeback reality, but we put three County Senators back in Montpelier, two of whom are newly-elected-first-timers. Congratulations guys, and good luck indeed as we wind our way through the menagerie of stuff that will show up on your seat desks as time moves on.

This accomplishment came through hard work in the campaign and leaving no stones unturned. There is a Rutland House District recount scheduled for later. Traditionally, those sorts of exercises don’t move the needle at all. One or two votes one way or another, and then quite often any benefit thought to be forthcoming is usually cancelled by changes for the opponent.

So all in all, the end result proves that the local clerks and their poll workers, and BCA’s are doing fantastic work in making sure the votes are counted, and handled properly. Before I go any farther, I will defer in commenting about the situations with the State Republican Committee until after all the work pertaining to this election is in the record books for archival use. It would just not be appropriate any other way.

The National Scene: The Red Wave did not materialize as had been hoped for. The critical leadership in that effort was lacking at the RNC, there are still some races to be determined around the nation, but they are winding down.

It is time for Ronna McDaniel to be shown the door, her work since she has been the Chairwoman, has been a big fat failure of the first order. The successes gathered up by the R’s across the country should have been much more significant than the record shows, but with the local committees responsible for their own makings, things came out pretty well. Florida, for example, takes the prize with the resulting positive fallout beginning to catch on around the country. This is a classic example of pulling oneself up by the bootstraps in every nook and street in the state to cover the ground, inform the people and continue doing it to the end. It worked.

The RNC chose to bombard people like me with 5 or 6 emails per day asking for money. This happened every day of the week to the end. But the worst of it was, no one answered any of MY messages, not one…. Of all the years to have an election, this one should have been a slam dunk for the R’s in both the U S House and the U S Senate for takeover, but it did not happen, and will not until a housecleaning is accomplished at RNC.

More on that in the next 2 or 3 weeks, along with some highly exposed weaknesses right here in our own state that just have to be dealt with for any future positive results that mean anything. Have a great Christmas, and remember the reason for the seasons, Christmas and Hannuka. God Bless as we head toward the seasons and the New Year.

The author is a Center Rutland resident and active area Republican.