The Day After

AP is calling Virginia for Jim Webb, although others being more cautious considering the options his opponent, George Allen, has.

Democrat Jim Webb won Virginia's pivotal Senate race Wednesday, unseating Republican George Allen and giving the Democrats total control of Congress for the first time in 12 years.

After GOP Sen. Conrad Burns' loss in Montana, the Virginia contest was the last undecided Senate race in the country. Webb's victory gave the Democrats 51 Senate seats and majorities in both the House and Senate for the first time since 1994.

Control of the Senate hung in the balance for most of Wednesday as Webb clung to an excruciatingly small lead.

AP contacted election officials in all 134 localities where voting occurred, obtaining updated numbers Wednesday. About half the localities said they had completed their post-election canvassing and nearly all had counted outstanding absentees. Most were expected to be finished by Friday.

The new AP count showed Webb with 1,172,538 votes and Allen with 1,165,302, a difference of 7,236. Virginia has had two statewide vote recounts in modern history, but both resulted in vote changes of no more than a few hundred votes.

In all likelihood, however, the Senate is now controlled by the Democrats by a 51-49 majority (if you count the independents, who should vote with the Dems when it comes to organizational matters). A few observations ...

Many commentators have called this a victory for liberals (and Defense Secretary Rumsfeld is out). But if you look at some of successful Democrats, particularly in the Senate, they ran a Clintonesque campaign (Bill Clinton, that is). Webb in Virginia, Casey in Pennsylvania. Harold Ford did in Tennessee, as well, and if his last name had not be Ford -- and his family had not been so tainted with scandal -- he would be a senator-to-be today.Which is exactly what the Right Democrat has been saying all along.

2. If it was such a sweep for the Left, how do you explain Joe Lieberman? The Republicans who lost ... most of it had it coming. Santorum, Chafee, Burns, Allen, you won't be missed very much. But Lieberman? He is a good man. I'm glad he won, and I hope he continues to vote his conscience. We need 99 more like him.

3. Will we hear calls for bipartisanship and power-sharing, as we heard when it was the Republicans who had the 51-50 advantage in the Senate (Cheney has the tiebreak, and Jeffords switched without the benefit of an election)? I doubt it. But if the Democrats' only agenda while in power is to continue acting as if they are out of power, it will become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

4. Mark Tapscott said it best: "When Republicans worry more about staying in government than about limiting government, they get thrown out of government. That's the lesson of Nov. 7, 2006."

5. I wish Steny Hoyer would stage a coup and be the next House speaker. But, alas, our destiny is two years of screaching from Nancy Pelosi. Is it just me or does her medication seem off?

6. Trent Lott is still in our lives. So is Robert Byrd. At least Rebel Yell sales will remain strong in the greater D.C. area.

7. The libertarians had some strong showings. The Outright Libertarians have more. And this year, in a few races, they may have been the Naders to Al Gore. (Hat tip: Instapundit):

"Libertarians are a generally Republican-leaning constituency, but over the last few years, their discontent has grown plain. It isn't just the war, which some libertarians supported, but the corruption and insider dealing, and particularly the massive expansion of spending. Mr Bush's much-vaunted prescription drug benefit for seniors, they fume, has opened up another gaping hole in America's fiscal situation, while the only issue that really seemed to energise congress was passing special laws to keep a brain-damaged woman on life support."

My own ballot was split almost equally, and most of my guys (and gals) won. This should come as no surprise. I'm that middle 20 percent that both sides have to appeal to to win. Now that they are in power, the Democrats should remember that we can swing just as easily the other way two years from now.