... and so do Matt Yglesias, Brendan Nyhan and Jon Chait. Paul Waldman knows no one will remember if we knew what was going to happen tonight in advance.
To add my voice to the chorus, I'll simply say by way of random speculation -- since there's little else to do today; I'm actually in Ottawa, Canada and look forward to visiting Parliament Hill later this afternoon before settling in for a night of television commentary, blogging, and tweeting -- that Republicans will likely underperform the high expectations they've set for themselves, for some or all of these reasons. I'm even close to the heresy of suggesting this might not be a "wave" election, since it's very possible we'll see Democrats win governorships or Senate seats even as they lose the House. I'll wait until we have actual results to look at before I cross that line.
Anyway, the likely worst-case scenario tonight is that we'll end up with a Republican House, a slightly Democratic Senate and a Democratic president. That's not a resounding defeat for the Democrats. It's what we ought to expect.
We've also had T.A. Frank prepare our lead story for tomorrow. I'm re-posting it here for your easy reading:
PRE-ELECTION POST-ELECTION ROUNDUP
The results of the 2010 election are in, and they are pretty much as pundits ______ (past-tense verb) The Democrats got royally ___________ (past participle), largely because the majority of voters were hugely __________ (past participle) off, and the nation's unemployed barely have a _____ (noun) to ______ (verb) in. The Tea Party movement also made waves, mainly by proving itself to be, as ever, bat-_____(noun) ________ (adjective). Now, the battle is over, and the minority party must resign itself to the fact that the House speaker will be____________ (name), whose _________ (past participle)-up bronze complexion and a history of ___________(gerund) himself out like a streetwalking ________ (noun) to _______ (name of industry) lobbyists justifiably prompts outbursts of, "______ (imperative verb) it. Just ________(imperative verb) it. We're all _____ (past participle) anyway," among sane citizens. Meanwhile, the ________ (adjective) Party will have to do some soul-searching and figure out how, despite an advantage in _____ (noun), they still managed to _________ (verb) themselves. Just like they've persistently _______ (past-tense verb) themselves for the past four decades. But, with any luck, maybe they can grow some __________ (plural noun), take their heads out of their _________ (plural noun), and learn to stop being ________(noun)-slapped like a bunch of little ___________ ( plural noun).
Put your best responses in the comments.
-- Tim Fernholz
