The Year of Black Republicans (Getting Their Asses Kicked)

The GOP's bad year keeps getting worse, doesn't it?*

A judge overturned the state auditor's election Thursday after a recount showed the Democratic challenger had actually beaten the Republican incumbent by 102 votes.

It was the first time in Vermont that a statewide election was overturned in a recount, the state archivist said.

That sounds incredibly minor, but fun fact: Randy Brock, the ousted auditor, was one of the few, proud black Republicans holding a statewide office. At the beginning of the election cycle, Republicans had six black officials, including Brock, holding some sort of job statewide. As I wrote for Radar, RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman boasted that 2006 would be the "year of the African-American Republican," with two black candidates running for governor (Pennsylvania, Ohio) and two for Senate (Maryland, Michigan). It was a great, much-hyped story. And when all is said and done, Republicans have… two black officials holding office statewide. Take a bow, Texas Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams and Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson!

*This doesn't mean I'm enjoying it, by the way. Defeating pro-war Republican senators who vote on civil liberties and U.S. foreign policy? OK. Replacing Republican state officials with liberal Democratic ones? Less OK.