It's too early to say for certain, but it seems this election has at least provided Democrats with an opportunity to build a lasting congressional majority. Whether they succeed in doing so will depend partly on whether they understand what made for their smashing success this November. Here's a hint: It had something to do with energizing their own base, but it had much more to do with winning over voters that historically have had a stormy relationship with the Democratic Party.

Sure, the consensus around town was that the president performed dismally, coming across as snappish, defensive, hostile, surly, and combative. But give the guy a break: He's had precious little experience with public displays of humility and graciousness of late. It's been at least six years since he has been forced to face the reality of life beyond Bushland (and longer still since he's hit a roadblock that couldn't be cleared by Poppy and pals). But that is precisely why, with a little luck and just a bit of self-serving pragmatism from the president, the next two years have the potential to be the most constructive of W.'s thus-far miserable reign.

None of this is to say Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic Congress should try to destroy Bush personally or impeach him. But neither should they throw him a political lifeline. If Bush wants bipartisan compromises, Democrats should define "bipartisan" the way Bush himself has: partisan initiatives softened around the edges to pick up moderates from the other side. If Bush opposes such efforts, Democrats should try to pass them anyway and force a veto. And they should hold hearings on everything from illegal wiretapping to global warming to Iraq.

E.J. Dione's take on a new political alliance of the disaffected center which has evidently turned from the Bush neocon agenda right back into the fold of the Democrats.

So if voters tip one or both Houses of Congress out of Republican control, what impact would that have on the US war effort in Iraq and, more generally, on American foreign policy?

It was a frustrating day for journalists, trust me on this. No exit polls! Or rather, exit polls kept under lock and key in the Quarantine Room until 5 p.m. That spoiled all the fun of reporters calling each other, and politicos calling reporters, and tra

Democrats don't have a revolution, a Contract with America, just the gift of GOP scandals and the GOP's governing failures. Can they answer the Iraq problem and assuage the anger of so many Americans who voted Republicans out of power because of the war?

HAVE YOU HAD ENOUGH WINS A GRAMMY Oh, it wasn't a Grammy. Salon says it was the #2 political video after the Michael J Fox stem cell one.

Payback's a bitch. There is no way to spin the election results. They were a repudiation of George W. Bush, his party, his agenda, and his war.