* I am trying not to get too excited about this, because I remember only too well how relieved I was back in 2000 when George Bush beat Al Gore in the nailbiter. (Note that I did NOT vote for Bush, I'm just saying as an observer I was hoping he would win.) What was my reasoning? Was it because I cared about Republican "family values" and such? No, I was very afraid that if Al Gore won, he would implement his Big Government Socialist Green Agenda and seriously increase the role of the federal government in the economy. Phew, dodged a bullet on that one!

* For an example of how this could backfire, at the very least now when this turns into the Great Depression II in everyone's book, we will endlessly hear that things were going great until the Brown upset caused the Democrats to chicken out on "reform," and that's why the country didn't "bend the curve" on health care costs, green energy, etc. So it will be Massachusetts' voters' fault when the misery index breaks 20 in a couple of years.

* I was driving back from a friend's house at 1 am last night--it was a pure coincidence that this was when we could get together, it's not like we have Special Election parties--and there was some guest on a radio show who kept saying that these results were impossible, the election had to be rigged, because this was "the seat of Ted Kenn-e-DY." The host said, "Yes, we know how to pronounce the name, you don't have to keep saying it like that." They took a call from a woman who said she was independent who had voted for Kennedy but switched to Brown, and the guest refused to believe her. He thought she was a Republican who was lying. Another guy called and said he was an independent who voted for Brown because Coakely ran an awful campaign. The guest said, "What kind of reason is that to vote for someone, just because the other person is a d**chebag?" This cracked me up--isn't that the foundation of our political process?

* On NPR today they had a historian (or is it AN historian?) who was saying Obama fans had nothing to fear, that both Abraham Lincoln and FDR had bad first years in office too. He didn't say this, but the lesson for Obama is clear: Make sure you get at least 20,000 US soldiers killed, and you will be revered by future Americans.

* I had previously thought that this would disqualify me from higher office, but Brown's win has shown that the American voters can focus on the issues rather than youthful indiscretions, right?