Good Morning!

Updates below.

As the sun rises over America this morning, the voters have basically given the finger to the Republicans. Call it a repudiation, a rebuke, a slap in the face, or a kick in the ass, the country has had enough of George W. Bush and his politics, policies, and right-wing one-party rule. The Democrats have a solid win in the House and are very close to taking the Senate; Webb in Virginia and Tester in Montana are slightly ahead, which, if they hold their leads, would put the Democrats in the majority in the Senate.

The way I see it, President Bush has two choices. He can either suck it up, take it like a man, and make an attempt to work with the Democrats and come up with some solutions to the problems that face the nation, or he can circle what's left of his wagons and arrogantly defy the oversight and inquiries of the new House, leading to two more years of acrimony and gridlock.

My bet is that the president and his minions will talk the former but end up doing the latter. Nothing in the behavior of the White House and the former Republican majority over the past six years indicates a willingness to compromise -- Grover Norquist, one of the Bush spear carriers, once noted that "bipartisanship is date rape" -- so all the talk about working together in last night's concession speeches is going to last as long the air stays in the balloons that fell from the ceilings at the victory celebrations.

Right now I'm pretty sure that there are two men who are waking up this morning with nasty hangovers; Karl Rove is finding out that there's just one math, and Ken Mehlman, chair of the RNC, is probably wondering if he has a job after January. Losers find scapegoats, and the president has, at least constitutionally, job security for the next two years (and as long as he has a job, Karl Rove has one). But despite the glaring fact that the Republicans have no one but themselves to blame, they've got to pin it on someone, and Mehlman is expendable.

To completely chase the morning metaphor out onto the porch with a stick, dawn is always about soft light and bright hopes; it isn't until the harsh light of day that brings out the sharp contrasts and overcast skies. For now, let's enjoy the sunrise on the first day of the last days of the Bush administration.

Update: My condolences and best wishes to some of the candidates who deserved to win last night but didn't. I know my folks were behind Robin Weirauch in the OH-5 with all their hearts, but the lumbering machine of Paul Gillmor's sonambulant incumbency in a very large and rural red district was too much to overcome. Also, it looks like Heather Wilson (R) may survive in the NM-1 by the barest of margins against Patricia Madrid.

One bright note: the gay-marriage ban was defeated in Arizona, bucking the trend of the other states that passed them yesterday and in the past, and showing that the state that has proven to be contrary in some maddening ways (English as the official language? ¿Que pasó?) can still be contrary in a good way. Barry Goldwater would be proud.

Update 2: Jon Tester has won in Montana and the Senate is now tied 50-50, with the results still yet to come in from Virginia where Jim Webb maintains a small lead. Happy happy joy joy.