While I didn’t think Dardenne would lose, it would not have surprised me. His margin of victory did surprise me.
The Democrats big victory, nationally, was in Nevada. Holding off challenges in WV, CT and DE was key to holding those majority positions in the Senate.
It’s all for naught if the economy doesn’t turn around. I agree with the conventional wisdom that little will get done, legislatively, over the next 24 months. The Republicans will be poised, politically, to run fully against Obama in 2012 (it worked, virtually everywhere it was attempted last night), while still controlling (comfortably) legislation in the House.
Obama is the big winner for the next 24 months. Unfettered by any constitutional restraints imposed by legislation (there won’t be any of any significance), he will be free to rule as a near sovereign, using his regulatory agencies and executive orders to accomplish much of the rest of his agenda. He has to see that he would have been voted out last night, if he had been on the ballot. I place his chances at re-election to be approximately 40 percent if the Republicans run any reasonable candidate but Palin (and then, all bets are off).
CenLamar 
While I didn’t think Dardenne would lose, it would not have surprised me. His margin of victory did surprise me.
The Democrats big victory, nationally, was in Nevada. Holding off challenges in WV, CT and DE was key to holding those majority positions in the Senate.
It’s all for naught if the economy doesn’t turn around. I agree with the conventional wisdom that little will get done, legislatively, over the next 24 months. The Republicans will be poised, politically, to run fully against Obama in 2012 (it worked, virtually everywhere it was attempted last night), while still controlling (comfortably) legislation in the House.
Obama is the big winner for the next 24 months. Unfettered by any constitutional restraints imposed by legislation (there won’t be any of any significance), he will be free to rule as a near sovereign, using his regulatory agencies and executive orders to accomplish much of the rest of his agenda. He has to see that he would have been voted out last night, if he had been on the ballot. I place his chances at re-election to be approximately 40 percent if the Republicans run any reasonable candidate but Palin (and then, all bets are off).