Keller @ Large: Massachusetts and New Hampshire do things their own way in elections
BOSTON - Let's face it - we New Englanders like to do things our own way.
On the coldest day of the year you'll find us nursing an iced coffee and wearing shorts.
We chant "Yankees S---" even when we're not playing the Yankees.
And even in an era of strict political partisanship we like to split our tickets, balance our power and send moderating warning signals to the partisans among us.
Check: New Hampshire Election Results
In New Hampshire Tuesday night, that meant making big winners of both Republican Governor Chris Sununu and Democratic Senator Maggie Hassan. (Thus proving Sununu's wisdom in passing on a challenge to Hassan.)
In Maine, it meant setting aside a strong conservative streak to give incumbent Democratic Governor Janet Mills a commanding lead over former Governor Paul LePage, "Trump before Trump."
Check: Massachusetts Election Results
And in Massachusetts, it's meant electing a string of Republican governors over the past 30 years amid a sea of blue, and even on a night when we broke that string, still putting a scare into the Democratic establishment on some of the touchier ballot questions.
The crowd at the Democratic victory party was celebrating the historic election of an almost-all-female slate of constitutional officers, and rightfully so. The glass ceiling crunches underfoot these days as we trudge to Dunkin' for the daily iced with skim and sugar.
But while they're all Democrats, check out the ideological diversity of these women. Gov-elect Maura Healey is considered a centrist on crime within her party, and is to the right of many of them on taxes. Ditto Treasurer Deb Goldberg. Auditor-elect Diana DiZoglio was one of the more conservative Democrats in the House and Senate. And Lt. Gov-elect Kim Driscoll is no knee-jerk liberal.
Both parties like to claim that a vote to moderate partisan power and its policies is a dangerous mistake, and that only the hard-core partisan ideologue can deliver needed change. We New Englanders begged to differ tonight.
That's the way we do things around here.
And as the weather finally turns icier, our coffee of choice will remain icy as well, no mater what the lower 44 states prefer.