Election night this and early analysis that is fine but my opinion of Tuesday’s results are deliberate, measured, and after deep contemplation. (Okay, my dinosaur of a computer was having hard drive issues.)
And the winner is: President Barrack Obama. (Somebody up there really loves him.)
If the Democrats did well in the elections, the party base would push harder for more of the costly change “we can believe in” but can’t afford—financially or politically. They would push for more traditional liberal candidates for the midterm elections next year and force actions matters that would embolden the far-right. However, the governors races in New Jersey and Virginia confirmed that the alliance that put the president in office is big but frail, constructed of people who are new to the glacier pace of public policy and based in large part on Obama himself being one great guy (not the party but Obama—glacier-cool rock star.) We are talking Rat Pack cool, Hemingway smooth, Sidney Poitier with a Havard Law degree.
The brain trust in Obama’s corner wants a reason to pull White House policies to the center but needed it done before the midterm election nightmare President Bill Clinton experienced—like a little nightmare during a cat nap. “We want to drive the good liberal agenda but we would lose the congress next year and the White House in 2012…to Palin.”
And the first runners-up are: Those Blue Dog Democrats. (Somebody up there really loves Obama and knows he needs them.)
As a result of the elections and the protest movement, the Blue Dogs get policies that makes better fiscal sense and they get to be the models for swing districts despite the far-left illusion that they are running America. Democrats need to sit down and learn from Al Gore. Clinton/Gore and the congressional Democrats broke their necks attempting to help regular folks but regular folks must turn into regular votes. The key to the elections next year will be success from Obama White House policies and some long coattails. They say young and minority voters don’t go to the polls for mid-term elections; those voters have never been asked by a young minority rock star.
Possible losers from Tuesday night: Michael Steele and the crew that fields GOP congressional candidates next year.
If Steele followed the blueprint he outlined while running for chairman, he would be searching for cooler, less bitter conservatives (Red Dogs.) But, Rush, Glenn and Fox News will pick some real firebrands who are perfect for the far-right but scary the daylights out of the moderates needed to win in certain areas. If they listen to Newt and Steele, they would be much better off.
Project Logic Ga 
No comment, but you might be interested in this blog entry:
Political Miscellany @ 11/4/2009: Is the Obama Coalition “Portable” to Other Democratic Races?
from the All Other Persons blog.
Lunch: Man, thanks for the info on Foxx…I have family in CLT and I will be spending a few days there next week. I remember Gantt and think the new mayor is the next step in leadership…seems like a good dude.
How the Democrats rushing to push the healthcare bill throught the House with the backing of the WH somehow signal a move to the center? If anything, it shows they are doubling down pushback be damned. As to Steele, he should learn that he cannot solicit the money the money of conservatives while at the same time pissing in their faces with dreck like Dede scozzafava. Do not expect them to roll over while the high mandarins in Washington pat them on their heads.