Beltway Blinders and Other Tuesday Fallout

The narrative, of course, is "Big win for Republicans!" But that would have been the narrative almost no matter what, since the media needs to pretend the right hasn't gone collectively crazy and must be taken seriously.

The reality, on the other hand, is that the wingnuts cost the Republicans NY-23, a district they've held (by various designations, due to gerrymandering) for over a century. Even then though, Hoffman mostly lost because he was a carpet-bagging putz (as were far too many of his supporters) not because voters in upstate New York have rejected the teabagging lifestyle. I think Nate's right. Trying to draw national inferences from Tuesday's results is a fool's errand, which is probably why so many pundits are doing it.

The Virginia sweep was no shock, as the Dems have pretty much emptied the VA bench with Warner, Webb et al getting bumped up to the federal scene.

Similarly, Corzine losing was only a surprise in that New Jersey had a bit of a history of cock-teasing the Pubs without actually putting out. I suspect the morning after won't be a pretty one for the Garden State.

Maine was a disappointment though, as was the fact that Washington passed its referendum so narrowly. It's becoming clear to me that the pro-SSM forces badly need to re-frame that debate.

UPDATE: Over at the VC, Orin draws four lessons from Tuesday, while Kopel suggests Tuesday's big winner was... the NRA?

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