Roskam squeaked by with a 2 point victory over Duckworth. The Democrats poured a lot of effort into this race, both in terms of money and star power. Obama made repeated appearances on behalf of Duckworth, who never bothered to move into the district, and Bill Clinton made a visit, probably thinking that it would be very sweet for the Democrats to pick up the seat being vacated by Henry Hyde. Roskam was able to counter with John McCain. Poor Roskam, I certainly would not want to run against a woman who has given two legs for her country.
Rahm Emanuel, arguably Clinton's most ruthless attack dog when he worked in the White House, did a good job at recruiting credible, center-leaning candidates. I may be in a minority on this thread, but I was saddened to see a lot of the moderate Republicans go down. Ideology is fine, but it has its limits when it comes to the issue of electibility. One of the reasons that Bush won in both 2000 and 2004 was that he was perceived as being the candidate closest to the center. I am sure that after yesterday, John McCain will be looking a lot more acceptable to many hard core conservative Republicans.
I expect Pelosi to focus most of her efforts on positioning the Democrats for the 2008 election. She will behave like a responsible adult for two years, cracking the whip on Conyers and company, thinking that she can run amuck after a Democratic sweep in 2008 |
