Almost There

The polls are tightening up, which is normal, according to those who obsess about that sort of thing. But unless there's a major disaster for the Democrats in the next 48 hours, it looks like they are poised to take over the U.S. House of Representatives and at least win a tie in the U.S. Senate.

Okay, which cliche do you want to hear now? "It all depends on the ground game." "Turn-out is the key." "Rally the base and the rest will come along." And so forth. They're all true. And you know that the Republicans will be doing their best to get their forces out; they're already starting the phone-scams and the robo-calling dirty tricks; it also makes you wonder why they think they can't win the election on a level playing field.

So it all comes down to these last few hours. The time for winning the vote is over; if the sale hasn't been made, it's not going to be made.

There have already been a lot of parallels drawn between this election and the mid-terms in 1994 which led to the so-called "Republican Revolution" at the hands of Newt Gingrich and the anti-Clintonistas. They ran against the administration and got a lot of people to vote against the party in power without really having to come up with a reason to elect them except "we're not the other guys." If the Democrats can learn anything from 1994, it's not to delude themselves into believing that their wins will be wholly deserved because of their winning platforms and outstanding candidates. Frankly, given the disasters the Republicans have handed the Democrats, it would be an event of seismic proportions if the Democrats didn't win. (And in the back of my mind, I'm still harboring the fear that they could cough up the ball on the goal line. After all, I've been voting for the Dems for thirty-five years.) So the Democrats will have to prove that they are worthy of being more than just the lesser of the two evils.

If the Democrats take the House and tie up the Senate -- or even win -- then I will allow them and myself a day of celebration and even the occasional gloat, but that's it. We will have a lot of work do to. The Republicans will not go quietly (you can expect challenges and demands for recounts; they learn fast), and there is a ton of unfinished business out there that must be done. And since the 2008 presidential race will begin sharply at 8:00 a.m. on Thursday morning, there will be very little time to before we're back down in the silliness again.