Election 2006

Well, it looks like the Democrats won big in the election this cycle.

They're taking the House of Representatives by gaining about 30 seats, and it looks like they'll take control of the Senate, also (three close Senate races aren't necessarily final, but none of them look promising for the Republicans).

So, as the results have shaken out, so do some questions.

*I ran across quite a few lefties claiming the "fix is in" what with the diabolical Diebold electronic voting machines. Did they mean that the fix was in to favor Democrats? Or did the Dems actually win a far bigger victory than the polls indicated? Or (cue spooky music) did the Republicans just not pull their nasty election-stealing trick this time so it will work better when Bush comes up for re-election?

*Given that the Democrats ran on an unspecified "new direction," what direction will the Democrats go? Will the moderates they sought to run this cycle go along with the war-losing "phased redeployment"policies that have crossed the lips of prominent Democrats over the past months?
I have in mind a political cartoon showing Pelosi and company peering at a moving board-game spinner as they prepare to decide on the new direction.

*What types of federal judges will we get over the next two years--if any?

*Can the Democrats unify around a set of coherent policies? Theirs is a fragile coalition--it pretty much had to be, since there wasn't much to the Democrat platform that had popular appeal other than a distaste for President Bush associated with unhappiness over the state of the Iraq War.

I see trouble ahead for the Democrats, and trouble ahead for the U.S.A. (hopefully more for the former than for the latter).
I seriously think that the country will be in greater danger after this election, with the sole saving grace being the possibility that terrorist efforts will be geared to help Democrats in the next election.
If that sounds crazy to you, you need to review the media treatment of the Tet offensive in light of the world media in the present millenium. It goes hand-in-hand with the new form of unaffiliated warfare.
The Democrats will find that they can no longer hide behind criticism of the folks in power--they've got a considerable share of the power, and they'll need to come up with some ideas. Once they come up with ideas, they'll be eligible for criticisms other than the fact that they've got no ideas.