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How about the stunning referendum over in your town about the last 16 years of mismanagement by Susan Mendenhall? A real candidate finally surfaced and thankfully an overwhelming majority of the voters recognized the incompetance coming out of Emerywood.

Not to worry, GSO has similar incompetance in its backyard, her name is Kris Cooke.

One note about the referendum issues: For the most part, they show there was still considerable conservative voting throughout the country yesterday. Some of these same voters were rejecting congressional Republicans while they were voting against same-sex marriage, affirmative action, legalized marijuana, etc. The Republican base was out, it just wasn't voting Republican.

Doug,

A correction...conservatives voted yesterday, they just didn't vote Republican. They penalized the Republican officeholders that they felt had abandoned their conservative principles. Many of those that were defeated weren't really conservatives or had lost their way. They basically gave Democrats a two-year try-out. If the Dems that ran on moderate or conservative basis govern to the left, the Dems will lose the next time around. It'll be interesting to see who controls the Dem Party the next two years. If they allow the left wing to control the agenda, then their candidate will go down in flames in 2008. As Bush said today, most of the races were won or lost on very thin margins. Things can swing back in two years.

I'm glad the Dems are in.
The war will be over in weeks, Osama will be captured, medical care will be FREE for all people, and there'll be tons of Mexicans to do all the work.
Of course, we'll have to sign our entire paycheck over to the government each payday, but what the heck...

Stormy,

Bush also said two years ago that he had won political capital on the same kind of slim margins...but it didn't matter to him then. It's hard to vote for staying the course when the torpedos are all about you in the water. Bush needed to take one in the bow to see that.

Columnist David Brooks, speaking at Guilford College last night, pronounced himself "sort of happy" with the election results because if the Republicans had not lost, "it would have been a failure of accountability."

At the next election, Democrats should be held accountable for what they do or don't do.

In Ohio, conservative Republicans voted 28% in favor of the very liberal Sherrod Brown for Senator. A message was sent to their party to change or suffer the consequences.

What did the Republicans in were:
1) The Iraq war 2) Scandals 3) Fiscal irresponsibility 4) Big government, and
5) Refusal to reign in entitlements

It definitely wasn't the economy. The 1994 Republican Revolution is over.

What's interesting is the Democrats run like Republicans to win elections, but the Republicans spent like Democrats to stay in power.

It will be awfully tough for the Repubs to take back the House in two years in light of the fact that many of the Dems voted in are conservative to moderate in their views. Example, the Shuler guy who won the House seat in the Ashville area, who is a conservative Christian. For the Senate, the Tester guy in Montana who unseated Burns has values that closely mirror his conservative constituency.

Could the Republicans be wandering in the forest for another 40 years? Hummmmm.

Jon, the "conservative Democrat" is like Bigfoot - you hear about them, but no one has ever really seen one. Like you said, they may act like Republicans during the campaign, but once they get to Capital Hill, I expect the money will start flowing to various give-away programs - and more of our tax dollars will flow to Washington.

But despite the fact I vote Republican, I find myself agreeing with David Brooks. The Bush administration has strayed away from the conservative principles that got him elected. During his six years, government actually has expanded, not shrunk. The various scandals were an embarrassment as well. Perhaps the GOP got a little too comfortable in the seat of power.

In addition, many Republicans (including me) feel the war in Iraq has been mismanaged, but not for the reason Democrats think. They want to bail out, while we don't feel that the current administration has devoted the manpower and resources needed to win the war. Instead of the Powell Doctrine of victory by overwhelming force, we've tried the Rumsfeld Doctrine of war on the cheap.

So I see Tuesday as a needed wake-up call, not a crushing defeat. They can get it back together for 2008 if they return to the same formula that worked from in 1994: smaller government, lower taxes and a strong national defense.

I'm of the opinion that the Iraq war was a huge factor in the election, but as Jon indicated there were other factors at work here. I agree that all the other factors he mentioned contributed.

And, if the moderate to conservative Dems that won by slim margins don't govern in the manner based on those principles, then they may not get their ticket punched for a return ticket. Actually, what happened is that these Dems were the one that swung the power of Congress back to the Dems, but it will be the old guard Dems in power, and they are the left wing; Pelosi, Reid, Kennedy, Kerry, Schumer, Clinton, etc. I really don't think that these new moderate Dems will have any influence there, so the Dems will govern in their traditional style from the left. The Shulers and Testers won't have any choice but to go where the leadership says to go. They are going to be in a bind between the party leadership and the people that elected them.

We'll see how the Dems govern now. As I said, they have a two-year window to convince the people before the big prize is awarded. Anyone want to bet that their candidate of choice reflects the values of the Shulers and Testers? I just don't think that the Dems can really nominate a moderate or at least one that appears to be, unless they have another Bill Clinton around.

More on Brooks: He predicted McCain over Clinton in '08. The Republican contenders are McCain, Romney and maybe Giuliani, if he starts gearing up soon. None of those can be considered very conservative. Brooks thinks the conservative revolution is over. No one is pushing for smaller government.

I'd like to see Hilary "run like a Republican" to try to win the race. Ha!

Brooks was very complimentary of Hillary: "She's just formidable. ...I've seen her win over people who thought they were going to hate her. ... Senators respect her for her work, her substance ..."

Pulling a prediction out of thin air:

Edwards/Obama will beat Romney/McCain in 2008.

(Steele losing cost the Republicans a VP candidate).

Hillary will shock the world and stay in the Senate.

Unless she's elected president, Hillary will remain in the Senate at least until 2012.