Boy, if you wrote this for The West Wing, it would seem hokey and obvious. There are three Senate races that are up for grabs. The Democrats need to take all three to win the Senate and at just this moment — it may be different by the time I finish typing this — the Dems are ahead in all three races…but not by much. Any one of them could go G.O.P., in which case the Democrats would have had a great night but not the greatest night. (Seeing some of the victory speeches, one gets the idea that a lot of Democrats don't know how to celebrate a win. Obviously, they're way out of practice.)
It's going to be interesting to see what tonight's outcome does to the dynamic of Washington. Earlier this evening, I saw Chris Matthews hit some Republican — I think it was Bill Frist — with an interesting remark. The Republican, conceding that the Democrats would probably control the House, spoke of the need for the two parties to work together on a "bi-partisan basis" and he described some of what he hoped would happen. Matthews said something like, "You're not describing a bi-partisan basis. You're talking about them giving in to you on everything."
The G.O.P. guy — I'm pretty sure it was Frist — looked surprised. I get the feeling that a lot of Republicans are going to be surprised that way. It'll be interesting to see if Bush thinks anything has changed.
By the way: I think Rick Santorum was a terrible blight on the Senate but, contrary to my earlier posting, he gave a classy concession speech. Most of the speeches tonight have been pretty classy. Maybe politics doesn't have to always be as dirty as it sometimes seems these days.