Slap slap

OK, OK, I was wrong. And boy does it feel good.

-- I honestly did not think the Democrats would take the U.S. House. It turned out to be more of a referendum on Iraq and GeorgeW's failed administration than I had counted on. So now the Dems not only have a majority, they have a nice majority.

Of course, being free-thinking, free range Dems, it still remains to be seen whether they can muster a majority vote on anything. You can call the Dems a lot of things (and most of you have) but you can never call them a rubber stamp for anyone or any thing.

-- And now the late breaking news is that the Dems may also have taken the Senate as well. That's still up in the air because the races are so close in Virginia and Montana (when's the last time those two states ever worked together on anything?) but it would seem the worst that could happen is an evenly divided Senate. As I write this, the Dems in both states would appear to have won. But by extremely slim recountable margins.

-- Has the GOP cried voter fraud yet?

And locally:

-- Democrat Mike Frerichs barely edged out Republican Judy Myers for our state Senate seat. This was one of the nastiest, mean-spirited and least issue-oriented campaigns I've ever seen. Neither party has any right to be proud of this campaign.

-- Timmy Johnson won again, but in case anyone noticed, it was a lot closer than many people expected. Maybe it'll spur Timmy to actually serve his constituency. Naaah. Never happen. He still thinks his constituency starts and ends with his rich lawyer friends and his CEO buddies. Anyone still remember when Timmy ran on a term limits platform? Apparently he doesn't.

-- Gov. Blago got re-elected. This, too, was a pretty distasteful campaign. But it would seem the voters rejected the George Ryan brand of corruption for the Blago style. It's too bad there aren't many honest politicans in Illinois. Is 'honest Illinois politician' an oxymoron?

-- Shame the GOP couldn't put up any opposition for Naomi Jacobsson. She was clearly better than Rex. But who isn't?

-- The Champaign County Board stayed in the hands of the Democrats despite some backhanded and moldy campaigning. That tactic got really moldy really quick. Never resonated with the voters, nor should it have. It was a manufactured controversy by the designated county GOP hack artist and never caught a foothold. (And congrats, Matt. Good to have a blogger on the board.)

-- Finally, you out there: You can call Mike Frerichs tall. You can call him a (shudder) Democrat. You can whine that he went to an Ivy League college. But now, you have to call him Senator.

And one last comment: I never in my life have been so glad for an election to be over as I am this year. This was from top to bottom the nastiest, meaniest and ugliest campaign I've ever lived through. And that takes in a lot of elections. No one involved in the process should be proud of their part in it.

And so it goes.