Chavez Wins (Surprise!) but Venezuela loses

Powerline: The results are in. Hugo Chavez, Venezuela’s president-dictator (and would be president-for-life) has scored another knockout victory at the ballot box. While there may have been a slight fudging with the numbers, and the government was able to monopolize media time and draw on huge resources to get supporters to the ballot box, the outcome cannot be much of a surprise. Any government that spends over a decade doling out goodies to the needy, in a country where most people are poor or near-poor, cannot lose an election.