There were far more Dems up this year than Republicans which means that dems certainly did take more of the vote.  Try doing the math for the house seats. I imagine that the numbers are impressive. 

It's not the best way to look at it.  You have to consider that Clinton in New York earned more votes than the total cast in the entire race in Virginia, and racked up a 1.5mil vote margin to start with. 

That said, I'm certainly content with stating that Democrats have been given a mandate if Pres. Bush could claim that in 2004.

Dems earned 31.7M House votes, up from 28.7M in '02, while GOPers won 29.9M votes, down from 32.7M in '02.

Thanks, Lowell, but please don't underestimate our winning percentages! Your opening sentence should read 12.6%.

Yes, it was truly a national landslide victory for Democrats.  Can't wait for the new year, and our new Virginia Senator, and our new Congress.

Soon, it'll be a new day in the U. S. A.

Steve McGraw

I think it may have to do with rounding issues, but since I didn't do the calculations, I don't know for sure.

You're a good person, regardless of what George Allen may say about you . . . The article lists the percentage correctly so it was probably just a typo - no big deal, much larger fish left to fry (Shad Planking 2007?), etc.  Thanks!

Steve McGraw

a wing of the Demcratic Party has returned to its William Jennings Bryan roots. Bryan is mostly known as the fundamentalist who prosecuted John T. Scopes during the infamous Scopes Monkey Trial, but he was a genuine grassroots politician who was a master orator and populist. "The Great Commoner" he was called, Bryan was a congressman from Nebraska who railed against monopolies and led a movement to switch the nation's monetary standard from gold to silver, a silver standard would benefit debtors and poor families in the South and West. The silver/gold debate dominated the 1896 election, when Bryan, despite his popularity with Democrats and the Populist Party, lost to the big money of Ohio Gov. William McKinley. In 1900, Bryan's campaign faultered on a platform of anti-imperialism, which had little appeal for an America yearning to become an important player in world affairs. Bryan's antiquated notions of science and unbending faith in the literal word of Scripture would have likely made him an opponent of abortion, stem-cell research and gay marriage today but his opposition to Darwinism was rooted in part to his concern of the poor: Social Darwinism (a perversion of Darwin's teachings to begin with) taught why should the rich and the government help the people if it's survival of the fittest? Bryan likely adhered to what Jesus said, "Blessed are the meak for they shall inherit the earth."

Bryan's "Cross of Gold" speech is among the greatsest in American history. He concludes it with:
"If they dare to come out in the open field and defend the gold standard as a good thing, we shall fight them to the uttermost, having behind us the producing masses of the nation and the world. Having behind us the commercial interests and the laboring interests and all the toiling masses, we shall answer their demands for a gold standard by saying to them, you shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns. You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold."

OF course, the “thumpin’ ” was all about Iraq. But let us not forget Katrina. It was the collision of the twin White House calamities in August 2005 that foretold the collapse of the presidency of George W. Bush.
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