Feels Good To Win

So far, Election Night 2005 looks a whole lot better than Election Night 2004. Democrats have retained the governor's mansion in both New Jersey and Virginia, surviving often brutally nasty campaigns from their challengers. I wouldn't read these as a referendum on the President; both these states picked Democratic governors in November 2001, when Bush's approval ratings were stratospheric just after 9/11. But it does feel good to win, and we should see what we can extrapolate out of these races to try in the national midterms next year. This is particularly true in Virginia, where Tim Kaine, a committed Christian, picked up the victory in some part by talking about his faith. In fact, the biggest attack ad against Kaine concerned his lack of support for the death penalty, which comes directly out of his Christian values (he has said he'll follow through on current law, which allows for capital punishment, so I don't know what the flap about this was anyway).

Now we'll have to see how California does. The polls close in about 20 minutes.