Welcome to New Year’s Eve 2010. Time to continue my look back at the paucity of posts here at bRight&Early. October was no exception. I did tell everyone about a new site I had created – The Polk Family Fun Guide. It is a directory for local family friendly businesses, and something I will be spending quite a bit of time on in 2011 as we get closer to the opening of LEGOLAND® Florida in October of 2011. One of the other posts this month was related to Legoland as well, pointing to a series of post I did at The Brick Blog regarding the Media Hard Hat Tour. Between those, I did manage to take a look at the mid-term elections that were still two weeks away.

The pace of posting finally went up in November. As you might suspect, many of the posts were related to the mid-terms. I particularly liked how things turned out here in Florida. One post that was well received was Obama’s (Imaginary) Address November 20, 2010. I finished the month by posting my favorite Thanksgiving video (As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly) and my thoughts as I turned 55.

Part of this month (December) was dedicated to looking at blog comments. I think that the three posts I did on that topic were pretty interesting, and informational. A few days before Christmas I noted that I have posted the text of the United States Constitution on a page. As promised, I have started to add anchor tags to the individual sections, but it is still a work in progress.

Well, there you have it — my look back at 2010. Yes, I see that the posting has been light at times. Yes, I’d like to do better. Still, 2010 has been a very good years in many ways. I hope that it has been a good year for you as well. No matter what, we are only hours away from the beginning of a new year. I wish for all of you a very productive, satisfying, successful, and Happy New Year.

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Wow. Looking back like this can be very eye opening. I only made four posts in July, including one for the 4th that was posted the day after, one about an update to my Legoland Florida Brick Blog, and one mentioning Chris Muir’s annual Day by Day fundraiser. On the 29th I posted one promising to post more. Let’s take a look at August and see how I did.

Yeah, about August. There were four more. But, they were four pretty good ones, I think. I pointed out a video featuring Ronald Reagan produced by the Republican Study Committee, my look ahead at the Florida Primaries, Two books I wanted (and still want) to buy, and a link to the Ustream feed for Glenn Beck’s Restoring Honor rally.

September was going to be better, for sure. I went from four posts all the way up to. . .three. I looked at the End of Blogrolling, The Pledge to America, and a humorous, but sadly accurate, look at how some on the left view Independence. I do like that last post, and I encourage you to go read it, if you didn’t the first time around.

I am almost embarrassed to offer up this look back, but things are what they are. I knew I was not writing as much back then, but I didn’t realize how little it really was. All I can say is thank you to the ones who have hung around in spite of the lack of posts.

I don’t want to spoil the anticipation, but October and November weren’t exactly post fests either. In any case, I hope you’ll check back tomorrow for a look back at the end of the year.

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Good morning. Let’s continue our look back at 2010 as it was here at bRight&Early by seeing what I posted about in April, May, and June.

As we got into April it was clear to see that the 2010 political season was well under way. By the end of the month we would find out that Governor OoompaLoompa, Charlie Crist, had decided to run with no party affiliation. He also decided to run with no conservative support, no back bone, and no moral compass, but that wasn’t part of the official announcement. Earlier that month I had also taken notice of the Florida district 22 house race, eventually won by the impressive Lt. Col. Allen West. In the middle of the month I was able to attend the Lakeland TEA party. Here is my favorite picture from the event.

I started May with a post that gets to the heart of what I really like about Marco Rubio and his message of conservatism. It is embodied in this quote from his FNS appearance:

Conservative thought is the mainstream position in America. What is not mainstream in America is the belief that we should spend money that we don’t have. What’s not mainstream in America is the belief that we should take this crazy complicated tax code and make it crazier and more complicated. What is not mainstream in America is this belief that somehow if America weakens its position in the world, the world will become a safer place. These are the positions that quite frankly the policies coming out of Washington would create. That’s well outside the mainstream of American political thought. So I believe that what political pundits describe as conservatism and I embrace as conservatism is mainstream thought in America.

That short paragraph says a lot.

We also found out that the 2012 Republican Convention will be held in Tampa. I suggested a big blogger get together, and the idea is still there. Thoughts?

I was a real slacker in June, but I did take time to note the SC primary victories of Nikki Haley and Tim Scott.

That takes us through the first half of the year. You can read about January, February and March in Part 1.

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One very cool thing that happened to start this year was the announcement of LEGOLAND® Florida coming to what is practically my neighborhood. It is a story I followed all year, and it even inspired me to start two new sites: The Brick Blog and Polk Family Fun Guide. The park is scheduled to open in October of 2011, so you can expect more stories next year.

In February I shared the news that my old place of business had been purchased by another company. Many things have changed, and I can honestly say it’s been good changes. One thing I didn’t know at the time were the number of regulatory hoops that had to be jumped through before the merger could be completely complete. The final pieces should all be in place on the one year anniversary of the announcement, Feb. 3, 2011.

In March I, along with the rest of the nation, was looking at the bill we had to pass to know what was in it — the Health Control bill. Well, they passed it, we see what is in it, and most of the nation hates it. It has been challenged in court and is probably one of the key contributors to the legislative successes we saw last month. Expect it to be a key focus of the 112th Congress.

One other post from March that I believe is worth reading is a long excerpt from Atlas Shrugged. How I hope that it doesn’t describe the path we are on.

Well, that takes us through the first quarter of the year. Tomorrow I’ll look back on April, May, and June.

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Let me provide a crystal ball into the way President Obama is going to lead for the next two years by way of an analogy:

Imagine, if you will (my Florida readers should have no troubles doing this), the driver with out of state plates you’ve been following for two miles down the highway who has their right turn blinker on the whole way. That will be the President. We’re going to hear plenty of “right turn rhetoric”, but the only movement from the current direction will be a last minute left into Denny’s for the early bird buffet.

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As happy as I am about the results across the nation in Tuesday’s elections, I am thrilled with the outcome here in Florida! Nineteen of the twenty five U.S. House seats are now held by Republicans. Floridians flipped four, including some really outstanding pick ups.

Steve Southerland over Allen Boyd in district two, and Sandra Adams’ defeat of Suzanne Kosmas in Fl-24 were two great wins. But the other two seats flipped by the Republicans really stand out.

The election of retired Lt. Colonel Allen West in House district 22 over Ron Klein was a big win for conservatives. What has impressed me as I watched his campaign, was his no nonsense, clear vision commitment to core conservative values. I get the impression that this man has a very low BS tolerance. His win has already helped him to (symbolically) keep his campaign promise to get Nancy Pelosi to “Give me that damn gavel“.

The other flipped seat may be the most gratifying. All Floridians should be thrilled that the win by Daniel Webster in House district 8 removed the embarrassment that is Alan Grayson from representing us in Congress. While his comment that the Republican’s health care plan amounted to getting the sick to “die quickly” endeared him to the hard-core left, it did not sit well with Floridians and the voters in his district. Former Florida House Speaker Webster will be a much better representative for the state. I expect that he will advocate the same themes he championed as Speaker, smaller government and tax cuts, when he gets to Washington.

The most exciting win of the night was Marco Rubio defeating soon to be former Governor Charlie “which way is the wind blowing” Crist for Senate. Rubio, and his clear conservative vision, is going to be an excellent addition to the U.S. Senate. His compelling story, his outstanding ability to articulate his values and positions, and his natural leadership qualities are going to be a huge asset to Florida and the country. And don’t think that the nation hasn’t noticed. Rubio has attracted attention far beyond the borders of the Sunshine State. I’m convinced that his career in Washington will only increase that notice. Even as a freshman Senator, I expect his abilities to garner national attention.

That’s it for now. More thoughts later.

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Time’s up. The ads will (finally) stop interrupting your TV viewing and filling your mailbox. Polls opened here in Florida about five minutes ago. I’ll be voting before I go in to work. Today you can go renew your bitch license — if you don’t vote, I don’t want to hear you bitch and moan.

After all the rallies, debates, town-halls, and other campaigning, it’s important to remember that all of that doesn’t mean a thing if you don’t exercise your right and vote. The polls don’t count today. If your candidate is ahead in the polls, that’s nice, but totally meaningless if you stay home. Even if your favorite is behind, it is only the people who are energized enough to haul their butts to the polling place that really matter. Today is all about voting and getting others to do the same. Many races are so tight that a few votes will make all the difference.

One of those could be yours.

On the other hand, if you plan on voting for the Obama, Reid, Pelosi, more of the same, sell out our country party — just stay home. The rest of you — Vote!

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I’ve figured it out – this feeling I’ve been having for a couple of weeks. This is far from my first election, but this one feels different. I just couldn’t put my finger on what it was that made it feel that way.

Then it hit me. This is the way I used to feel when I was a little kid when Christmas was on the way. It wasn’t that I knew what gifts were going to be under the tree, but the knowledge that there would be gifts. I don’t know what “gifts” will be under the tree when the wrapping starts flying off tomorrow night, but my gut tells me it’s going to be good, and it’s going to be fun.

At this point, there are few, if any, saying that Democrats have any chance of retaining control of the house. It’s not a question of if, but of how many. If you want to play a drinking game tomorrow night (an why wouldn’t you?) how about a drink for every new description of the what this election is like. (Is it like 1994, the 20′s, or some other big swing year? You’ll hear them all starting right after dinner).

The higher the swing in the House, the more likely it is that we’ll see a change of power in the Senate. As I read somewhere (Hotair?) if we gain 70 or more seats in the House, would it then be possible to not take the Senate as well? I think that’s a good point.

But 51 or more seats in the Senate won’t be enough. We’ll have to wait until 2012 to get to the magic “60+”. We can start working on that on Wednesday.

But this isn’t about the math, it’s about the feeling, the atmosphere, the buzz. That all says that something is on the way. We’ll have to wait about 24 hours to find out exactly what it is, but for now feel free to shake the package and let me know what you think is in it in the comments.

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The 2010 election cycle starts in earnest today.

Voters go to the polls today in Indiana, North Carolina and Ohio in one of the busiest days on the 2010 primary calendar. The tri-state voting also will initiate a five-week burst of election activity that will see 23 states hold primaries and three states hold special House elections.

Today’s returns will provide the clearest sign to date of the mood of the electorate six months before the midterm elections as well as test the clout of the political establishment and the national parties that have promoted preferred candidates in some contested primaries.

Today, and in the weeks to come, we should get a sense of the real political mood of the country. It’s going to be an interesting 26 weeks.

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Lieutenant Colonel Allen West, running for Congress in Florida district 22, really does get it. Watch, as he answers a marine’s question.

Dealing with a threat requires understanding the threat. Is there any doubt that Colonel West understands? I didn’t think so.

(h/t Rick at Wizbang)

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