Ok, so the three things I think are most int'g abt this mid-term election (still unfolding as I write this) are:

1) high percentage of Democratic governors. Am I right in thinking governors actually end up shaping political culture a lot more than reps or sens? I think there is real power in the governorship (plus road to presidency), and I'll be curious to know what happens on state-level in next few years.

2) I also think this is intg:

"CNN also projects that Arizona voters will approve a measure making English the official language of the state, and that South Dakota voters will reject a proposed law that would ban nearly all abortions."

I'm telling you, the US is going to go through a wave of nationalism. They're also going to back way off of this legislating morality trend of the last 10 years. Bodes well for Democrats, but not so much for the U.S. as a country, I think.

Perhaps unpopularly, I happen to think a dose of Puritanism has been good for America. And nationalism terrifies me.

3) Women and men watch elections differently.

Had an election day breakfast with Democrats abroad this morning, and over the course of five hours this morning, there were four women and about twenty-five men.

The men had score cards. They talked numbers and names. They exchanged information. They used words like "slaughter," "stomp," and "take that!"

For commentary, we turned to four broad shouldered men in suits who debated the strategy and tactics of the races, all with a gleam in their eye like they wished they were out there themselves.

I didn't know whether I was watching an election return or the Superbowl.

Politics is absolutely sports for men.

In contrast, the (few) women talked about the candidates as people -- what their personalities were like, their agendas, their demeanors... Whenever there was a split screen, with people talking at the top and numbers crawling over the bottom, I noticed I couldn't tear my eyes away from the people's faces, and the men tuned out the conversation and all began doing the exit poll math.

Sara: Why did Howard Dean just say the Democrats weren't going to take troops out of Iraq? Isn't that what they're running on?

Don: Yeah, but you see, there aren't enough people who think we should just get out of Iraq to give the Democrats the numbers they need, so they have to say they're not going to get out of Iraq so they can pick up people in the middle.

Kelly: Then Democrats and Republicans are saying the same thing.

Don: (looking confused) Well, that's what you have to do to win.

Sara: What is there to win if you don't have an argument?

Byron: There hasn't been a split-party Congress since 1980.

Same planet, different worlds.