First off, none of these results is surprising…well Maine is a little surprising, but I think that’s been a trend too, peopel going to the polls to take away gay rights that have been granted by the state…not really surprised. Neither of the 2 high profile races that were lost were really ones which the Dems had a realistic shot at if you ask me. Basically, if the turnout had been the same as in 2008, sure Dems could have won, but 2008 broke all voting records for turnout, and off year elections usually break records for lowest turnout. And whose base is energized? The Republicans are mad and want blood, of course in Republican strongholds they’re going to win an odd year election, not a big thing.
Indeed, I see this as a VERY positive thing as a liberal. Why? Because it imbues the Republicans with a false sense of confidence…they are reading it as a referrendum on Obama when in no logical way can this be read as such. I think this will make them overconfident and cocky, which is why they lost power in the first place. I think they’ll be expecting an environment far more hospitable to their lunacy than what they will actually see in 2010. And add to this that neither Republican who won was exactly the kind of Limbaugh/Beck/Coulter/Hannity/O’Reilly/Steele nutjob who has taken the party hostage…at least neither campaigned as such. This will embolden the crazies who have been convinced that a government which offers services to its people is somehow a socialist regime that people are still on their side, that Obama was a fluke…they’ll keep trying to obstruct any progress Obama can make, and Obama, being slow and methodical, may in the short term piss off a lot of his base, but once the progress is made on things like healthcare, gay rights, the economy, etc. (which I’m personally going to be thinking twice if we’re in the same boat on all of these things come Nov 2010, and I’m as liberal as they come), I suspect you’re going to see Dems bucking the trend and increasing their congressional majorities instead of losing ground. By 2012, I believe Obama vs. whomever the Republicans nominate (probably Romney), you’ll end up seeing something along the lines of Reagan/Mondale ‘84 when the electoral results come in (only the map will be blue instead of red). Mark my words….I predicted Obama would be elected President in 2008 in February of 2007…you gotta have a long view on these things.