Brendan Doherty, Mark Binder and even, to some extent, Mitt Romney, all made Rhode Island progressives nervous throughout the 2012 campaign season. But once the campaign was over and the votes were counted, it turned out to be a great election day to be a local liberal.

Easily the biggest victory was Congressman David Cicilline handily disposing of Doherty. I must admit, I was nervous yesterday … but in the end, the inexperienced Republican was probably done in by two things: he ran a confusing campaign – the two prevailing themes of it were integrity and negativity – and Rhode Islanders don’t like his politics. And even if he’s half as moderate as he claimed to be on the stump, which me and Don Carcieri don’t buy for one second, he failed to convince voters of this.

Ironically enough, the CD1 race was a trust election, and voters didn’t trust Doherty.

Cicilline and his staff deserve a lot of credit for running a great campaign – especially given that it often seemed as if he was running against the local media as well as the entire Republican party. He kicked Doherty’s ass in progressive Providence, and won handily in Newport and Woonsocket. Cicilline sticks up for the working class, and in return the urban areas of his district stuck by him.

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse capturing more than 64 percent of the statewide vote and Abel Collins getting almost 10 percent in CD2 are important wins too. Whitehouse, the unofficial leader of the local progressive community now has a clear mandate. And Collins’ strong performance shows that his progressive message resonated with Rhode Islanders. I’m certain Jim Langevin, already a solid liberal, will take note.

The second biggest victory of the 2012 election cycle for local progressives belongs not to a candidate but an issue. With big victories for Ryan Pearson, Cathy Cool Rumsey and Stephen Archambault, there’s a new landscape for marriage equality in the state Senate. Given that House Speaker Gordon Fox promised to pass the bill (that I’m guessing will bare his name) through the House early, there’s going to be tons of pressure on Senate President Teresa Paiva Weed. I believe this is an issue whose time has come.

Fox’s victory is another big win for progressives. Besides marriage equality, he also said he’ll reconsider the state’s voter ID bill and even indicated he’ll go into the session with an open mind on tax increases for the rich. (I literally have no idea what Ted Nesi is talking about when he writes Fox stumped for tax and pension cuts.) The challenge for progressives will be to convince Fox to govern like he campaigned. His district will want him to do so, but now that the election is over, the pressure will be coming from elsewhere…

Perhaps the biggest local loss of the night belongs to American Legislative Exchange Council, the ultra-right wing bill mill that had gained a toe hold in the General Assembly. Both state chairs – Jon Brien and Frank Maher – lost. Unless others step up – and they will – one of the most conservative outside influences on the legislature has been all but eliminated. Good riddance!!

Brien’s defeat also means the legislature’s DINO caucus is on notice.

We’ve also got another four years of Obama, as opposed to Mitt Romney, and both chambers of Congress moved left.

Across the board, local progressives have reason to celebrate.

Without further adieu, here’s some video of his victory speech:

His fellow Rhode Island progressive Senator Sheldon Whitehouse also won, handily beating Barry Hinckley 64.3 to 35.5%. I’ll have video on that race shortly…

I was surprised how candid he was about the negativity in Brendan Doherty’s campaign.

In this one he talks about the casino referendum, the clean water and open space bonds (which he didn’t really want to talk about!) and whether or not he supported any Democrats this election year.

Let’s hope the David Cicilline fares better in the 1st District than Obama did in Dixville, though it could be as close. It’s really the only statewide campaign that is still in doubt. Dan McGowan says , which is a good point.

Let’s also hope it isn’t too close to call … the Ocean State might not be able to handle that.

Speaking of hope … remember four years ago when us progressives were filled with hope? It’s not quite the same feeling this year, is it?

But there is good news … forget what the pundits and the national polls are telling you – and the Dixville results, for that matter – the presidential race isn’t nearly as close as it may appear to the lay observer. Numbers guru Nate Silver says Mitt Romney has only an 8 percent chance of winning today … roughly the same odds as drawing an inside straight in poker.

Now, remember, people do pull inside straights in poker, so it’s not over yet. And even if Obama is very likely to win, it doesn’t mean he’ll win by a lot and it also doesn’t mean we’ll know particularly early. Consider the country, and yours truly, lucky if we know who our next president is by the time we all go to bed tonight. Assuming of course Romney doesn’t pull an inside straight of electoral politics.

ProJo columnist Ed Fitzpatrick looks into the controversy surrounding Silver’s projections ginned up by GOP talking heads who are understandably trying to stave off a self-fulfilling prophecy. Still, it’s worth pointing out that Republicans have resorted to ignoring the laws of science, economics and now math to push their agenda … how can this be good for America??

In case you are very much unlike me and are going to miss the 2012 campaign season, you can review the 10 best moments of it here.

I can’t add enough links to this post to capture all the great stuff Rhode Island Public Radio bloggers Ian Donnis and Scott MacKay have cranked out over the past couple days … if you, by chance, aren’t a regular reader of their stuff, it’s all right here.

The ProJo helps you figure out “how and where to cast your vote.”

Ted Nesi breaks down how many people vote in Rhode Island, and who they are … and how the number of people who show up today could swing the Cicilline/Doherty campaign.

I know many of you moderate Rhode Island Democrats have forgotten why the labor movement is your ally, so here’s a practical reason to stop crapping on unions: if and when Obama wins his second term, it will be organized labor most responsible for the win in Ohio.

I disagree with today’s ProJo editorial arguing that all the negative ads and smear campaigns we’ve had to endure are actually a sign of a healthy democracy … while they are a part of our Democracy, that doesn’t mean they are a good part of it. Fixes for this problem aren’t easy to come by, but that also doesn’t make it a good thing.

On this day in 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected president.

Intergrity. Really? INTEGRITY.

Mr. Doherty’s latest attack ad on television towards Congressman David Cicilline is loaded with insinuation, negative innuendo, a bit of or no truth at all. Remember, Mr. Doherty approved this divisive negative ad.

I was also recently subjected to a robot-call – a female spewing half-truths and innuendo in a very snide tone of voice – that, though it was generated by the National Republican Campaign Committee in support of Brendan Doherty, required his approval for publication. The call was disgusting.

So I ask you, integrity? Mr. Doherty has run a spiteful, negative campaign. Where is his integrity?

I am not surprised that there would be animosity between a retired state police colonel and an attorney whose job it was to provide representation to those accused of alleged criminal activity. Criminal attorneys tend to represent those accused of committing crimes as prosecutors tend to pursue convictions of those crimes. It is the job of these attorneys to do just that – represent one side or the other. This is a fundamental process of fair representation; a tenet of the freedoms granted by our
Constitution. An attorney representing the accused is not guilty of his client’s crimes. Mr. Doherty’s campaign has repeatedly alluded to just that. It is wrong and unbecoming of an individual touting his integrity. Mr. Doherty knows better.

And, to infer that Congressman Cicilline did more than state, though erroneously, that the City of Providence was in good financial state – to raise the aura of corruption without a basis to do so – is pure theater and utterly irresponsible.

Though I have tried to learn more about Mr. Doherty, his negative campaign has taught me only one thing. Integrity is one thing Mr. Doherty can use more of.

Since the beginning of campaign season, RIFuture has taken the lead in exposing shenanigans of various political campaigns, such as the story about Anthony Gemma’s suspicious social media practices. The story would eventually be picked up locally by WPRO, the Associated Press and Politico, among others.

Interestingly, it seems that the Brendan “Uncommon Integrity” Doherty campaign has employed the same social media shenanigans as did Anthony Gemma. I couldn’t help noticing a spike in Doherty’s Twitter followers from around 800 to over 11,000 in a matter of days.

Upon seeing Brendan’s inexplicable boost, I began skimming over who some of his followers were. I noticed that many of them weren’t in the US – and that a lot of them who are in the US are apparently rap artists who aren’t in Rhode Island.

I then decided to use the same service, Status People, that WPRO used to show that Anthony Gemma’s Twitter followers were mostly fake. Here are the results:

In case Brendan needs help with the math, 8% of 11,000 is 880.

In honor of all you hard working members of the political class who will spend this seemingly gorgeous weekend knocking on doors, making phone calls and fighting with reporters, we dedicate this Jimmy Cliff classic to you this weekend!

And this one, we dedicate specifically to progressive champion Congressman David Cicilline, who has to endure a historically negative campaign being waged by Brendan “Says-He’s-Got-Uncommon-Integrity-But-Runs-A-Dirty-Campaign” Doherty:

Specifically, of course, because of this verse:

Well the officers are trying to keep me down
Trying to drive me underground
And they think that they have got the battle won
I say forgive them Lord, they know not what they’ve done

You can sign up to help campaign for David Cicilline here.

All best everyone … and may the best candidates for the Ocean State prevail!!

Brendan Doherty, on the other hand, has experience in political ads that bear almost no resemblance to the truth, contradicting his campaign slogan of “uncommon integrity.” He has also allied himself with Mitt Romney and the GOP platform. This includes an infrastructure bill that has been described by Transportation Secretary, Ray La Hood (a former republican) as the worst he’s seen in thirty years of public service. Doherty’s description of Romney as “fantastic” within a week or so of the viral disclosure of Mitt’s infamous 47% diatribe burned his bridges with many of the Democrats for Doherty.

My endorsement goes to David Cicilline.

Speaking of local journalism … thank heavens for the local debates so we can hear the candidates actually discuss the issues that we should be making our decisions on. Both networks deserve credit for their investment in these commercial drains. Last night WJAR hosted all three CD1 candidates and it made for a much better conversation on the issues than the false narrative of only two viewpoints that the WPRI debates fostered. You can watch the whole thing here if you missed it or read the ProJo’s account here.

Their back and forth on energy policy, I think, is interesting to note: Doherty’s idea is to drill baby drill, a disastrous idea from an environmental perspective.Everyone short of Sarah Palin and Dick Cheney pretty much agreed on this until we started realizing how poor we are back in 2008/09.

Cicilline, on the other hand, had a much more nuanced approach that doesn’t make for as a good as sound byte. He spoke of a bill he introduced that would better regulate Wall Street trading of oil. After all, it isn’t supply, which is down, that is driving up the price of oil, it’s quite literally the stock market’s need to maximize money-making on all trad-able commodities. More drilling would serve Big Oil and Wall Street  more than the consumer. More regulation would serve the consumer more than Big Oil and Wall Street.

In a nutshell, that’s the big policy difference between Doherty and Cicilline: the Doherty, whether he even understands this or not, would serve the 1 percent while Cicilline would represent the rest of us.

Speaking of the Cicilline Doherty campaign, and local media bias … the entire Democratic party came together to call out Brendan “Uncommon Integrity” Doherty for his historically negative and misleading campaign. And it hardly got covered at all. This is actually a very important component of what voters should know about Brendan Doherty, who is asking us to trust that he won’t be a shill for the GOP if we elect him to Congress … but what we know of his campaign is that he represents himself differently from how he behaves. If local political reporters truly believe it is part of their jobs to call balls and strikes, they should be doing so on this issue.

Aaron Regunberg writes an excellent piece in GoLocal today about Gordon Fox’s come-to-progressive awakening this campaign season. Here’s the comment Regunberg, one of the best local opinion writers and thinkers around, made on my Gordon Fox endorsement. By the way, read all the comments to see how disappointed some RI Future readers are with my supporting Gordon Fox over Mark Binder…

Narragansett Patch has a fun story about a recently-returned Charlie-O’s flag that was stolen from the popular bar with URI students, mysteriously enough, during my days as an undergrad and Charlie O’s patron… (Sorry Steve Greenwell – some mysteries are better left unsolved…)

Speaking of URI, the Rhody Rams mens hoops team opens its exhibition season against the Coast Guard Academy tonight in the Keaney Closet. Being the biggest publicly-financed sports team in the state, the URI Rams are, in my humble opinion, the official athletic squad of the local progressive community!

And speaking of sports … we’re suing Curt Schilling. I’m glad from an informational perspective and it’s certainly necessary from a legal liability point of view, but I’m also worried this whole thing ends with Big Schill putting some sort of Ruthian hex on the Ocean State.

I’m glad the Rhode Island Democratic party is finally coming together to renounce the incredibly negative campaigning the Republicans have been resorting to. Let’s hope the media picks up on this story.

In my biased opinion, it’s the biggest meta-narrative of the local campaign this year, but I think it has a lot of merit for my brothers and sisters in the unbiased side of the industry as well.

Today at 1pm at Slater Mill all the Democratic heavyweights in the state – Sheldon, Jack Reed, Cicilline, Elizabeth Roberts, Gina Raimondo, Mayor Taveras and Ed Pacheco, among others (Langevin will be taping the WJAR debate) to call upon their Republican counterparts to stop slinging mud and start talking about issues.

It seems like every day either Brendan Doherty, Barry Hinckley or their operatives release a new dirty and misleading advertisement. Hinckley was just given a Pants on Fire by Politifact today for an untrue ad. Doherty’s ads make a pants on fire rating seem like a gold star though. They have literally been among the most atrocious I’ve ever seen. AP writer Michelle Smith does a nice job of summing up the ad here. She writes:

House Republicans are airing a TV ad in Rhode Island linking freshman Democratic Rep. David Cicilline to a child molester and a murderer he defended when he was a lawyer two decades ago.

A Doherty spokesman told Ian Donnis of RIPR earlier in the week that the campaign decided to go negative because Cicilline did first. Tim White chided Doherty when he offered this same flawed logic during a WPRI debate, saying, “you’re basically saying he started it.”

I think it’s laughable that Brendan Doherty calls himself a man of uncommon integrity and then runs this kind of dirty campaign. There’s no reason unbiased political reporters shouldn’t be calling out a candidate for such an obvious contradiction.

This kind of gutter campaigning isn’t good for anybody and Republicans should be held accountable for resorting to such dirty tactics. But, I suppose if they had a message that would resonate with Rhode Islanders, they’d be ringing that bell instead.