Future of Politics Republican Reactions
By: Jessica Schaer
Updated: November 7, 2012
JOPLIN, MO.--- The votes are in and results are posted leaving both Republicans and Democrats with big local victories.
"Peter Kinder won for Lieutenant Governor. Tom Schweich won 2 years ago, so we still have our constitutional officers," states Nick Myers, Newton County Central Commission Chairman.
"Here we were particularly proud to see State Treasurer Clint Zwiefel, Chris Koster the Attorney General, and a new up and comer Jason Kander as Secretary of State," states Jordan Overstreet, Southwest Missouri Democrats.
While they're happy with how things went last night, they know there's work to be done before voters return to the polls.
"So we probably need to do a little better job in the state as a whole when everybody's voting, although we did very well with Mitt Romney," states Myers.
"We need to continue to make a concerted effort to find, groom, and run the correct candidates and make sure they can get their message out," states Overstreet.
On the national level, local political analyst say it's not what needs to happen in individual parties, but how those parties work together.
"I guess what I find a little bit troubling is that some of the more moderate members of Congress did not do particularly well. Although, in fact, actually you could say in Missouri, that a moderate in McCaskill won, which hopefully is healthy for the institution," states Dr. Mark Peterson, PSU Assistant Proffesor of Political Science.
His cause for alarm is the recent disagreements in congress.
"That level of polarization between the parties has reached levels that I have not seen in my time as a political scientist or in my lifetime," states Peterson.
He says, if both parties don't act quick, the entire nation could be in trouble once a fiscal cliff comes at the beginning of 2013.
"Where you have the Bush tax cuts ending, the Obama payroll tax cut is ending as well as these cuts in the military and discretionary. Well if we hit that, 600 billion dollars will essentially be sucked out of the economy next year," states Peterson.
To avoid that, he says parties will have to learn to work together.
"If no accommodation occurs, then you hit that cliff, In other words, these changes will happen if we don't come to some sort of agreement," states Peterson.
It's important to point out Mark Peterson's analysis of this year's election was specific to the national level. He says his remarks could also carry to the local level as it's our local candidates who will help make decisions once those tax cuts come around.
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