Blogger Ate My Homework

I spent a lot of time this morning writing a compelling, witty, and insightful recap of yesterday's election results (complete with numerous links) but Blogger ate it when I tried to post. I'm in no mood to try to rewrite it so here's the short version (which is not particularly compelling, witty, or insightful):

• 40% Turnout, better than most off year elections. Virginia actually broke records. Wow - engaged voters actually vote. Are we finally shaking off some voter apathy? I hope so.
  

• Lots'o incumbents got the boot. Incumbents need to do more than win an election -- they need to actually serve their constituency.

• Republicans outspent Dems in this election (even though Dems raised a record amount) and it didn't matter one bit. Message: Money can't buy you love.

• Rick Santorum went down in flames with only 40% of the vote in Pennsylvania. Looks like the #3 Republican guy overstepped on Family Values and the Culture of life. Telling gays who they can have sex with or marry is one thing but apparently dictating to the masses how they should live or die (a la Schaivo and stem cells) was a bit too much.
  

• Florida's Katherine Harris is gone. All that's left is her broomstick and a box full of makeup.

• Poor Harold Ford, done in by Corker's White Woman ad and his own ambition. I remember rooting for him when he challenged Nancy Pelosi for House Minority Leader (and lost) so I wasn't surprised when he tried to jump to the senate.

• The democracy experiment seems to have worked well for Lieberman in that uber-liberal petri dish of a state, Connecticut. The voters have spoken -- 40% for Lamont, 50% for Lieberman, and 10% for the Republican candidate. Chafee didn't fare so well in Rhode Island.

Democrats as a minority have been about as beaten down as an old yellow dog... for years they've had no ability to bring votes to the floor, no ability to drive an agenda, no ability to provide oversight, no ability to act as an effective opposition. We've given them some power back so let's see what they do with it. Americans decided the Republicans deserved to lose... now it's time for the Dems to prove they deserved to win.