I first used Harold Lloyd hanging from the clock in Safety Last as the campaign notes featured image in 2018. We’re all still hanging on for dear life but there were genuine signs of hope on Tuesday.

I’m approaching elections differently than in the past: It’s all about the big picture now. My First Draft colleagues are doing a good job handling the day-to-day slog of political news. I’m stepping back and looking at the long run, which has nothing to do with The Eagles but when did that ever stop me from posting a tune?

Joe Walsh’s slide guitar sends me. Don Henley is an asshole, but I dig his politics. That makes him our asshole. Beats the hell outta having Kid Rock on your side.

Back to Tuesday. It was a good day for Democrats. It’s what I expected but the Chicken Littlers, doomers, bedwetters, and Nervous Nellies were out in force. Repeat after me: Donald Trump’s approval ratings are in the terlet. The fakakata ballroom and cover-up of the Epstein files are unpopular even with his voters. Team MAGA can dismiss everything as “fake news” but they’re in deep shit and sinking. It’s slower than one would like but they’re sinking, nonetheless.

My favorite moment on election eve was when it became clear that Mikie Sherrill was headed for a landslide win in New Jersey. Her opponent gave Gov. Phil Murphy a scare in 2021 but that was caused by post-Covid agita. The Garden State is big on agita. In the end, Sherrill won by a larger margin than her fellow national security mom, Virginia’s Abigail Spanberger.

This one is dedicated to New Jersey’s governor elect:

It always pleases me when the smarty-pants know-it-all political newsletter pukes have their noses bloodied. They remain in the thrall of Washington GOPers, who they still think are masters of the universe. JD Vance and Mike Johnson are malakas and minions, not masters. Vance is a troll, and Johnson is a guy whose stock answer is “I haven’t heard anything about that.”

Here’s a reenactment of a Speaker Yellowbelly press conference by TV’s Sgt. Schultz:

The New York mayoral race is finally over. I’m glad Mamdani won and Cuomo lost. I think the significance of the win to national politics is being overstated. Being a big city mayor is one of the hardest jobs in the world. They’re consumed with potholes and other hyper local issues, so few big city mayors go on to higher office. Besides, Mamdani cannot run for president or veep, so he can’t be the future of the Democratic party. His campaign tactics, however, can be used by other Dems.

Some of the anti-Mamdani vote was based on his foreign policy views. They have bupkis to do with mayoral duties, but it happens every time in NYC. Mamdani will be the first Muslim mayor of the capital of Jewish America. He’s already mending fences with those who voted for other candidates. It’s what smart politicians do. In contrast, the Insult Comedian is whining and issuing garbled threats.

Andrew Cuomo is being a pig in defeat. It’s past time for him to fuck off. The malakatude, it burns.

In contrast, Mario Cuomo knew how to concede:

“Now, my greatest hope, my, my greatest hope for this state and — and maybe even for the nation beyond, the reason — the reason we wanted to run, the reason we thought it was important is that we sensed all across this nation a negativism, a harshness, a divisiveness, a willingness to pit people against one another, even a cynicism that we didn’t like. It’s not appropriate for this country and it’s certainly not appropriate for this great state.

We’ve been given too much, we have been too fortunate to become bitter and negative — that’s a dangerous thing.”

Sounds like a description of his son’s 2025 campaign.

In California, voters backed Gavin Newsome’s redistricting initiative. They understood that the trimmer was right and the terminator was wrong. The trimmer is Gavin, and the terminator, of course, is Arnold who urged a no vote. FYI, as the former mayor of San Francisco, Newsome is the rare big city mayor elected to higher office. But he had an 8-year apprenticeship as Jerry Brown’s Lt Gov to round out his CV.

Let’s talk titles. I selected Groovy Tuesday because it’s  by my favorite Jersey Boys, The Smithereens:

It was indeed a groovy Tuesday, but my political coreligionists tend to get too high with victory and too low with defeat. I’ve known people who are manic depressive. It’s no way to live. It’s best to stay on an even keel, especially when fighting fascists. To paraphrase that Sixties pied piper and philosopher prince, Jimi Hendrix: Political manic depression is a frustrating mess.

The last word goes to Jimi Hendrix: