With thirteen districts still outstanding, including one here in California where the Democratic incumbent currently trails his Tea-Bagging challenger by less than 100 votes, it looks as though my hell-in-a-handbasket predictions of a 65+ seat pick up for the Republicans came true in yesterday's mid-term elections. Any way you slice it, that is a rout.
Deep in my gut I knew it was coming the night Barack Obama was elected president. With the economy in a tailspin and predictions that it would take several years to repair the damage, and with the Democrats in charge of both houses of congress and the presidency, the outcome of the 2010 midterms was essentially pre-ordained on November 4, 2008. We just had to wait until the votes were counted last night to see how deep the losses would be.
The Republicans are up 61 seats in the House at the moment, and that number could very well rise to 65 or 70. In the Senate, the Democrats will retain control with 51 to 53 seats, depending on the outcome in Colorado and Washington State races. But with Harry Reid unexpectedly reelected and likely to continue as the chamber's leader, and with his proclivity to cave to Republican obstruction with 59 seats let alone 53, retention of a Democratic majority means nothing.
More on what this all means for the Democrats and Barack Obama's presidency throughout the day and week. For now, chin up, spirits high. This was just one election, and the victors have no game plan whatsoever. Governing, they'll find, won't be as easy as campaigning successfully on empty rhetoric about the founding fathers and the Constitution.
