Rebuke

Rebuke

RealClearPolitics gives the Republican pickups as a minimum of net +6 U.S. Senators, +61 U.S Representatives, and +7 state governors. The senate races in Colorado and Washington remain too close to call, so there is still considerable hope for Buck and Rossi. The net Republican pickups in the governor's races included Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Wyoming, offset by Democratic pickups in California and Hawaii. Rhode Island now has an Independent governor.

The New York Times is calling it +60 House seats (11 undecided), and provides a good graphic of gains and changes from 2002 through 2010.

Gone: Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.), House Budget Committee Chair John Spratt (D-S.C.), House Armed Services Committee Chair Ike Skelton (D-Mo.), and 10-term Rep. Chet Edwards (D-Tex.). Pelosi (D-Ca.) still holds her seat but no longer will be Speaker of the House. Tea Party/Conservative GOP wins included new Senators Rand Paul of Kentucky, Marco Rubio of Florida, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, and Mike Lee of Utah. Tea Party Senate losers: Christine O'Donnell (Del.), Sharron Angle (Nev.), and (probably) Larry Miller (Alaska). Democrats Brown and Boxer won the governor's and U.S. Senate races in California, respectively, but the Moonbeam State will find it tough to cadge a bailout out of the new U.S. House. Reid (D.-Nev.) remains Senate Majority Leader but is beginning to make noises about how ObamaCare may need "tweaking." A small part of my disappointment over Reid's retention of his seat is offset by new Senator Kirk (R.-Ill.), who took President Obama's old seat.

The Senate party turncoat roundup: In the plus column, Arlen ("Dead to Me") Specter's ghost is put to rest as his post-apostacy Democratic primary challenger Sestak loses to new Senator Toomey (R-Pa.), a conservative who's been getting cold-shouldered by the Republican leadership for years. Similarly, Charlie ("Dead to Me") Crist, after playing footsie with the Democratic party, was annihilated by new Senator Rubio (R-Fla.) despite Crist's hope of overturning the results of the Republican primary in which his party faithful suggested he take a hike. On the other hand, Lisa ("Dead to Me") Murkowski seems to have an excellent shot at overturning the results of the Republican primary in Alaska by winning a disappointing write-in victory over Tea Party challenger Joe Miller. Murkowski denies recent rumors that she would consider caucusing with Democrats if she retains her Senate seat.

The Pew Research Center reported that the percentage of voters identifying themselves as conservatives increased from 32 to 34 to 41 percent from 2006 to this year. The portion of voters supporting the Tea Party reached 40%. Women split 50-50 between Republicans and Democrats. Independents backed Republicans by 55% to 40%. Republicans made gains among voters earning between $50,000 and $100,000 a year as well as among seniors.