For me the only body-blow is the loss of Rick Santorum --the lone brave man in the Senate. Seeing voters go for that cipher and popinjoy Casey over the kind of politician we all say we want is just sickeneing. Not winning Steele (who has yet to concede --maybe there will be an absentee ballot miracle, but it would have to be a miracle given how many votes separate him from Cardin at this writing) is a heartbreaker, but it's Maryland we're talking about. Everyone else ran truly stupid campaigns as far as I can tell --if you have an "R" by your name and don't run on tax cuts and judges, your loss is on your own head as far as I am concerned (and the reason I hold little hope for Allen, whose race is also not settled as I write). No whining or excuses allowed.
The silver lining (see update below) is that the cloning amendment went down in MO, and defense of marriage won in all 8 states where it was on the ballot. So don't pay any attention to the inevitable cry from the RINOS that social conservatives are dragging the party down. On the contrary, the Dems won precisely because they held their noses and allowed some of their candidates to run as pro-lifers. We'll soon find out how sincere they are. If they're being honest with us, Nancy Pelosi may find herself in a stiff race for Speaker. If she wins handily, we'll know it was window-dressing. Ninme's found evidence of window-dressing. From Mark Steyn:
Did you see Howard Dean on TV a moment ago? “Bob Casey’s claim to fame is not that he’s pro-life.” Now they tell us. Vote for a Democrat if you want Democratic Party policies but don’t vote for a Democrat because you’ve kidded yourself he’s a pro-life pro-gun pro-God fiscal conservative. For the most part, “conservative Democrats” shed their coats round about 10pm Eastern Tuesday night.
And from LGF:
Howard Dean is gloating hard on Fox News, and he’s completely dropped the pretense that he supports anything about Iraq, saying “we need to leave.”
Anyway, no whining. At least this'll be good for the careers of Ramirez and Ryskind. Live to fight another day.
UPDATE: Well, it's a silver-alloy lining. My morning paper had it wrong. The cloning amendment in fact passed, and the AZ gay marriage ban failed as well. What's very interesting is that an anti-affirmative action measure passed in MI --after several judges tried to foul the effort. See results for various social issues measures in various states here.
