Well, it's looking like the majority of the predictions made by various "experts" have come true: the Republicans have lost the House of Representatives and may even lose the Senate, depending on the outcomes of the Virginia and Montana races. There will probably be recounts in at least Virginia, which will delay the final outcome for days.
There were some gratifying results last night -- I was glad Joe Lieberman hung on, just because I appreciate his courage on foreign policy. Some non-insane Democrats such as Chris Carney in Pennsylvania -- who took out an incumbent Republican -- have been elected to the House. And some undesirable Republicans lost, such as Rep. John Hostettler of Indiana and Sens. Lincoln Chafee and Mike DeWine.
I was sad to see Michael Steele lose the Maryland Senate race, as well as Jim Talent in Missouri.
There are lessons to be learned from these results, and many of them parallel the Canadian Liberal experience, especially with regards to the corruption and rudderlessness that creeps in when a party has been in power for a long time.
But the biggest lesson is one we should already know well: abandoning your base results in dire consenquences.
For a while it looked as though Republicans would keep winning forever. But the Democrats have shown, in the words of columnist David Warren, that all trends are reversible. We should always remember that.
UPDATE: By the way, there can be little doubt now that John McCain will be the Republican presidential nominee in 2008.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 9:23 AM
