You're right that he is not a rube, but plays one on TV.

He is a smug, smiling phony and a fake tough guy. I so hope that Webb holds on to defeat him!

He also had the Confederate Flag lapel pin in his HS graduation picture. The noose on display in his law offices, etc., etc.

S_A_M

I think I was closer than anyone else with this. And y'all had me spooked. I was going to say +5 Senate, +30 House, but I didn't want to get ahead of myself.

It's a bad showing for the GOP, but again, it is hardly a loss of historical proportion.

The good - gridlocked spending, more conservative Dems in the House and [probably] Senate, Allen's POTUS aspirations dead

The bad - to prove bi-partisanship, the Dems and Bush will now probably sign some bogus immigration reform

the ugly - the Dem leadership, unlike its new makeup, are a bunch of lunatics. Pelosi, Conyers, Rangel, Dingell, etc. Can they hold it together are will the KOS side take over? DU is already calling for impeachment.

I think you'd better send Bush another pen.

Historic Proportions
 

Let's see.

Loss of House, with a switch of about 30 seats.

Right now, losing the Senate.

Loss of at least six Governorships, mostly in big critical states. A majority of Governorships in Democratic hands.

Loss of 9 chambers in state legislatures, with 16 undecided. A majority of state legislatures now in Democratic hands.

Find another year when a party lost a majority in the House, Senate, state houses, and legislatures all at once.

Or find another year when a party couldn't get a turnover in any one Congressional seat, governorship or Senate Seat.

And, for the Dems, this means there have been net gains in Congress each of the last four years.

And, for the icing on the cake, John Kerry has been eliminated as a 2008 contender - now for the Rs, that has really got to hurt.

Historic Proportions
 

1994? Not to minimize the significant--it is--but 1994 was more so. The House switched for the first time in 40 years. And the Senate switched, albeit only 8 years after a previous shift. And governors too.

What made that more significant as well is that it was in Clinton's second year, not his sixth.

Historic Proportions
 

House and Senate were big shifts (bigger than this year), but I don't think there this kind of shift in the states. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. While the Rs took some more corner offices, was that a year that the majority of governships switched? I thought the Rs took the corner offices and legislatures first, and then took Congress (including with a number of redistricting shifts).

The shift in the states may be the most overlooked part of this election.

Historic Proportions
 

Before I posted, I think I learned Rs picked up 12 governorships in 1994. but that was a very quick review.

I agree on your last point. One caveat--in governors, the +6 isn't quite as big when half of that is Mass., NY and MD, which were more oddballs for having republicans in for as long as they did.

On legislatures, I did read an article before the election about its importance re redistricting in 2010--perhaps a bit premature, since that won't happen until 2 election cycles of state legislatures, but it's still significant. I suspect that's a secondary effect that will get more play in the coming weeks.

Historic Proportions
 

Check the numbers - it isnt small, but it's hardly epic.

One more point, now that the Dems are "in" - how soon before the soaring economy stops appearing on page 14 of the NYT and WaPo and all of a sudden is the top story?

Historic Proportions
 

They're both important years; 1994 was the year the Democrats finally lost the South, which had been a long time coming, and 2006 is the year the Republicans saw their already anemic Northern moderate wing take a blow just as fatal.

And it looks like the Governors offices did shift in 1994 - bad memory on that one. I don't know about the state houses.

You don't have to have short term memory problems to be giddy over that one. Every time I see it I laugh. I don't know who voted for the man, but most everyone seems to be dancing in the streets about the fact he is gone. Even here in conservative land. Heck my boss is wearing a blue tie and we did a little dance together. And neither one of us dances.

I would say as soon as Bush leads us to victory, I mean, democracy in Iraq.

They already have democracy in Iraq. Free and open elections.

I don't think you said what you really meant.

I guess my definition of democracy differs. That's cool, you're still tops with me.