Running the Table

Man, what a night! Although the counting is still not over, it looks like the Dems will control BOTH the House AND the Senate--a point I haven't heard any of the newsies make--at least if the preliminary results in Montana and Virginia hold up. Since I don't have time for a long post, I'll bullet-point my thoughts on the dusk/dawn.

1) GOP spin has gotten a lot more humorous now that they've lost. Ex: "They came to Washington to change the culture, and the culture changed them" (McCain, et al.). Bullshit. They were corrupt from day 1 of the "Revolution." Does anyone really think that Gingrich and Lott were substantially more enlightened leaders than Hastert and Frist, or that GOP aims and tactics changed over the years? Nope. They came in to sack and pillage, and that's exactly what they spent 12 years doing. Down with the Huns!

2) Even the races the GOP thought would be close turned out not to be. Menendez (NJ) and Cardin (MD) both won by large margins (10 and 8?), even as Ken Mehlman was running around late last night screaming for the cable news stations to withdraw their calls for Cardin. Chaffee lost by a robust 6. Talent lost to McCaskill by 3--I didn't think we'd win there.

3) Goodnight Macaca. The GOP will pressure Allen to fight out a recount, if for no other reason than to stall the press from reporting that the Dems have seized the Seante. Delay the reckonning. But Allen is dead in 2008 no matter what. The clear beneficiary is Mitt Romney, who was smart to sit this year out. For me, beating Allen (if it holds up) is the most satisfying win of the night.

4) TN. The only Senate seat that seems to have gotten away, although it is a GOP hold. And note that we've replaced Bill Frist, a well-scrubbed right-wing wackadoo with the political instincts of a dung beetle, with Bob Corker, a good and decent man with a record of accomplishment and moderation. Let's hope he doesn't get corrupted by his party. The campaign was not reassuring, but I've got hope for him. In a side note, Ford was replaced in the House by Steve Cohen, who some of you TN ex-pats may remember as the farthest left-wing member of the state senate. Cohen has been known to smoke pot and has hard-core libertarian instincts, and he thrashed Ford's ne'er-do-well little brother Jake, who ran as an Indie. So that seat will move to the LEFT.

5) Gays in TN. One key reason Corker won is that the right-wing base that distrusts him turned out anyway to vote on an anti-gay marriage constit. amendment. The amendment was approved 81% to 19% (yes, I was in the 19%). This despite the fact that the amendment was purely symbolic, gay marriage already being specifically against the law in TN. (And, no, TN courts are not liberal like in NJ or MA.)

6) Despite a lot of blogger bitchin', I don't think there's anything wrong with the MSM spin that the new crop of Dems is "centrist." Whether or not it's true, it's a good narrative for us, and it counters the Pelosi demonization rag.

That's all for now.