It's just past 9:30 PM here on the east coast, and both NBC
and Fox are calling the House of Representatives for the Republicans. Polls are
still open on the west coast, and hundreds of races have yet to be decided, but
the counts which are in, combined with exit polling, have been enough for two
networks to call it. Predicting the House for the GOP isn't a reach, however.
All indications for months have pointed to a GOP takeover of the House as a
foregone conclusion. No surprises from the exit polling like in 2004.
Christine O'Donnell just
gave her concession speech, as well. Quite frankly, she has been a joke of a
candidate. From the day she won her spot on the Republican ticket, she had no
chance. Not only was she too far out of the mainstream to win a statewide race,
especially in a moderate state like Delaware, she was also clearly unqualified
to hold public office. She was never going to win, but her extreme views made
her among the most covered candidates on cable news. In that, she played a
valuable role for the GOP in defeat. She took up far too much air time in
relation to her chances of victory. She became something for liberals and
progressives to loathe, and her downward spiral followed be defeat has served
as salve to relieve the pain from an otherwise dreadful night for the
Democratic Party. She was a distraction from other GOP candidates that would
have been more vulnerable had they received the coverage she did. But,
everybody loves a punchline.
