Playing Chicken A Little

The Note: "God Is Not a Republican" [ABC]

• the discipline of the Rove-Mehlman team in keeping negative the-sky-is-falling quotes out of the papers today is remarkable (but just wait until tomorrow)
• if the Republicans can avoid mass retirements in Congress, even a politically weak Bush probably won't cost them control of either chamber (but they will obsess about all this for quite some time)
• the Washington Post Metro staff needs some deprogramming to get over its Mark Warner Stockholm Syndrome
• thank goodness that the Schwarzenegger political consultants aren't afraid of Maria Shriver
• Terry McAuliffe and Howard Dean are friggin'geniuses
• winning is better than losing
• if John Kerry could talk as comfortably about his personal faith as Tim Kaine can, he would be the President of the United States right now
• if Howard Dean could talk as comfortably about his personal faith as Tim Kaine can, he would have been the Democratic nominee in 2004
• and, one of the few positive trends in American political journalism is the vast curtailing of the practice of over-reading the results of off-off-year elections.

Everybody happy now?
Let's hope so.

Trying its best not to oversimplify the off year election results and what that may portend for 2006 and 2008 elections, ABC's the Note offers this wide-spray snippet. I think Tim Kaine will be tested by his Republican Lieutenant Governor. Additionally, whatever extent Tim Kaine was elected by coat-tails or continuity with Mark Warner, will be tested by Kaine's ability to work in a bi-partisan, moderate way. And to what extent those talents and inroads may run counter to the Republican conservatism, that at least in rhetoric, came out to challenge him and lost.

As in my previous post, this isn't the time to gloat. But it is a time to change.

The Note goes on to quote the Washington Post Editorial Board:

"Kaine's triumph in Virginia's gubernatorial race is a watershed — the victory of a southern Democrat who prevailed despite his principled opposition to the death penalty and his refusal to rule out new taxes."

And contrasts that with the Stu Rothenberg of the Washington Times attributing Kaine's win in Virginia to "a lack of enthusiasm and energy among Republicans."

Senators and Congressman can count themselves lucky for now. But we still have three more years to wear this President. And he's got a lot of stepping up to do.

See Also:

• President Bush's Walkabout [NYT]
• Vision Check for the Democrats [E.J. Dionne, Jr.]