Does the Democrats' Big Night Mean More Success to Come?

Nov. 9, 2005 — The Democrats had a very good election night, just one year after President Bush won a solid re-election victory and Republicans increased their Senate majority to 55 seats.

Democratic Lt. Gov. Tim Kaine beat Republican Jim Kilgore in the Virginia gubernatorial race, and Democratic Sen. Jon Corzine defeated Republican Doug Forrester in a bitter contest for New Jersey's top job.

Kaine's victory could make it more difficult for the president to govern by marshalling his party in the year ahead. In an ABC News/Washington Post poll on the 2006 midterm elections released this weekend, Americans by nearly a 2-1 margin, 34 percent to 18 percent, say they're more likely to oppose than to support a candidate who's closely associated with Bush. Independents — the true swing voters — say so by 37 percent to 12 percent.

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Spinning the results of the Virginia contest, Republican Governors Association spokesman Ben Jenkins told ABC News: "This race was the Democrats' to lose. This makes eight elections in a row in Virginia where the president's party has lost. It was a close race but this says nothing about any national trend. This race was run and won on Virginia issues."

That being said, some Republicans have said privately that the current sour national political environment for Bush and Republicans spilled over into Virginia to some degree. One senior Republican strategist also conceded to ABC News that a weakened President Bush might not hurt Republicans, but he is off the table for the moment as an asset who can help weak candidates such as Kilgore.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=1294348

Leslie Byrne - definitely a liberal - lost by only 2% of the vote.

This is HUGH!!!11 I'm SERIES!!

it's up to all of us to keep the train rolling.
We need to gain much more momentum
to sweep in 06 and 08. And we will !!

While the repugnican titanic began to sink!
:nopity:

They can continue their smug, arrogant, hate-and-fear tactics until they do themselves in completely with the US population - who are finally starting to wake up to the monster they've helped create.