Good times! These are the good times! Leave your cares be-hind. These are the good times! Good times! These are the good times! Our new state of mind. These are the good times!

The Midterm Roundup didn’t believe it had happened even after it watched the results come in Tuesday night. It wasn’t sure when it woke up Wednesday morning if it had all been a dream. And the big prize of the Senate was clearly still in question with Montana and Virginia yet to be called. It was no time to celebrate.

But the news Wednesday morning confirmed what it had feared was maybe just a hallucination. George Bush conceded his party’s defeat and announced the departure of Donald Rumsfeld. Montana was called for Tester. And then Jim Webb pulled away in Virginia. He’s now been declared the winner by NBC and the AP.

NOW it can celebrate. And to do so, the Midterm Roundup is honored to introduce… Nile Rodgers on guitar! The late, great Bernard Edwards on bass! Ladies and gentlemen… C’est CHIC!

Clams on the half shell, and roller skates, roller skates!

Did the Midterm Roundup say something about not rubbing it in the other side’s face? Ehh… right. Via Think Progress, here are some conservative pre-election predictions:

Mark Noonan, Blogs for Bush

I’ve been talking big about how well we’re going to do and my faith, shaken from time to time, never failed. Now it is to be put to the acid test - we shall know within 24 hours of this writing if I’ve been whistling past the graveyard, or have been realistic in my predictions. I’m standing by my words: the GOP gains seats in both Houses. [11/7/06]

Karl Rove, White House adviser

I’m looking at all of these [races] and adding them up. I add up to a Republican Senate and Republican House. You may end up with a different math but you are entitled to your math and I’m entitled to the math. [10/24/06]

Michael Novak, National Review

The Left is going to lose - big - because they have nothing noble, nothing beautiful, nothing real, nothing true, with which to lead. They are the merchants of illusion. And a significant majority of Americans, although not all, see through them. In a democratic election, however, it only takes a small majority to win. And the upcoming election of 2006 is not likely to be all that close. The Democrats piqued too soon. Just watch. [6/15/06]

Kathryn Jean Lopez, National Review

I’m putting my money on Republicans miraculously (not totally deservingly, but it’s not about deserving it) keeping the House and the Senate, painfully narrowly. [11/7/06]

Barron’s magazine

Our analysis — based on a race-by-race examination of campaign-finance data — suggests that the GOP will hang on to both chambers, at least nominally. We expect the Republican majority in the House to fall by eight seats, to 224 of the chamber’s 435. At the very worst, our analysis suggests, the party’s loss could be as large as 14 seats, leaving a one-seat majority. [10/23/06]

Vice President Dick Cheney

I think we’re going to do reasonably well. And I think we’ll hold the Senate, and I also think we got a good shot at holding the House. [10/17/06]

Jonah Goldberg, National Review

House: Dems +17 (whatever that math means).

Senate: R 53 - D 47.

Steele wins, Corker wins, Webb-Allen won’t be decided until recounts are finished, at which point Allen wins very narrowly. Chafee comes very close. [11/7/06]

Robert Novak, columnist

In the final Evans-Novak report about the upcoming election, Democrats will gain 19 House seats, two Senate seats, and almost half a dozen governorships in what is predicted to be the possible end of Republican Congressional control. [11/6/06]

And then for some post-election reaction, let’s let the president do the talking:

BUSH: “It was a thumping.”

Wait, the Midterm Roundup is confused. Did it hear that right?

BUSH: Look, this is a close election. If you look at race by race, it was close. The cumulative effect, however, was not too close. It was a thumping.

…

REPORTER: Thank you, Mr. President. You just described the election results as a thumping...

BUSH: I said the cumulative – make sure. Who do you write for?

REPORTER: The New York Times, Mr. President. (laughter)

BUSH: Oh, yes… (laughter) Let's make sure we get the facts. I said that the elections were close, the cumulative effect...

REPORTER: Yes, is a thumping.

BUSH: Thumping.

…

REPORTER: That was thumping without a "g," correct? I just want to make sure we have it right for the transcript.

Cool. Glad we were able to clear that up.

Let’s take a look at some of the individual results.

CT-SEN: Ned’s Dead, Baby. Ned… *sniff*… is dead.

One of the few tough losses for the truly progressively minded on Election Night. The Midterm Roundup feels your pain. It knows it’s been kind of tough on Lamont over the past months (having taken some of its most considerable reader guff for an August 22^nd headline of Ned’s Dead, Baby. Ned’s Dead…?, and later in October for an admittedly somewhat harsh Lamont news update that, much to the Midterm Roundup’s horror, made it onto Lieberman’s blog), but trust it – your pain is, in fact, its pain. The Roundup didn’t articulate this earlier, but it absentee voted this year in its former home district of Connecticut’s Fightin’ 4^th, where it was still registered (to any federal agents reading this, it is going to change its registration before the next election, it promises, please don’t send it to jail). Anyway, the Roundup proudly voted for Ned Lamont, as it did in the August 8^th primary.

The Roundup decided to take a somewhat detached tone with Lamont just because it figured plenty of other blogs were already covering him far more closely and better than the Roundup could’ve. But deep down it really wanted Lamont to win and really, really wanted to see old Joe get sent packing. By Election Day the Roundup knew Lamont wasn’t going to win. And he didn’t. Didn’t even come close. But damnit, no one even knew who this guy was a few months ago. And he put one hell of a scare into an old, stodgy, cloistered Washingtonian named Joe Lieberman. For folks who follow domestic politics, the summer of 2006 was the Summer of Ned, and the Roundup for one will not forget it. One of the Roundup’s favorite foreign aphorisms (it knows many, it’s extremely worldly and educated) is the Spanish’s “Que me quiten lo bailao.” Pretty sure that’s how it goes. Not directly translatable, it essentially means, “Just let them try to take away from me that which I have already danced.” You gave us a hell of a ride, Neddy boy, and no matter what happens in the future, no one can take that away.

And as one last palliative measure for Lamont lamenters, the Midterm Roundup might direct you to the man who has probably single-handedly preserved more lives of potentially suicidal liberals than anyone else over these past 6 years: Jon Stewart. Yes, yes, we all know the Daily Show is very funny, which is why the Roundup links to it as sparingly as possible. But if you’re in need of some comic relief from your Lieberman-induced depression, the Roundup cannot exhort you strongly enough to watch: the 3:55 mark of part 2 of the Daily Show’s Tuesday night Midterm Midtacular. This will cheer you up. Even Dan Rather couldn’t contain his chuckle.

PA-SEN: Kathryn Jean Lopez, the Midterm Roundup's Heart Goes Out to You…

…

…

NOT!

Sorry, was that too easy a headline? That was too easy, wasn't it. Yep... welp.

Now, by all accounts, Rick Santorum gave a very civil and admirable concession speech Tuesday night. Some of his harshest critics were moved by witnessing his final graceful exit stage right. The Roundup isn’t totally sure if it can trust all of the emotions it was feeling Tuesday night, but it thought for a second there it may have identified a pang of sympathy for Santorum even in its own heart.

And then Wednesday afternoon it found this picture. And it laughed. Very, very hard.

(And no, in case you’re wondering like the Midterm Roundup did upon first seeing it, it’s not doctored. For more sick, depraved, wholly despicable pleasure, check out picture 6 of the slideshow found on this page.)

VA-SEN: The Big One

Going all the way back to the early summer, there isn’t a single candidate that the Midterm Roundup wanted more to see lose than George Allen. Fitting that this was the big one. By far the most shocking upset (if you look at what the picture was at the beginning of the summer), the closest Senate race, the last to be called, and the one that finally gave the Democrats control of the Senate, which the Roundup even in its most optimistic of moments did not believe would happen. Absolutely storybook. Sorry, this is probably really obnoxious and cloying to read, even if you liked Allen as little as the Roundup did, so it’ll stop now. But this is the one that convinced the Roundup: yes, this occasion calls for CHIC.

A couple other brief thoughts on a few House results:

ID-01: Ladies and Gentlemen, Meet Bill Sali

Rick Santorum is gone. Conrad Burns is gone. George Allen is gone. Richard Pombo and his goatee are, sadly, gone. Who do we have left to pick on? Fear not. The Midterm Roundup assures you, Republican Representative-elect Bill Sali of Idaho will fill the loathsome dirtbag vacuum quite admirably.

IL-10: Tomorrow…

The Midterm Roundup’s sympathies go out to reader ARG in Chicago, who was especially invested in this race. Almost got ‘em. Don’t snooze on this Dan Seals though. He waged a ferocious ground and fundraising campaign and took 47% against a popular moderate who was also a member of the GOP House leadership. And the DCCC didn’t contribute at all to this race until the very last couple weeks when polls showed Seals might actually have a shot. The Roundup has a feeling we haven’t seen the last of him.

KY-03: Yarmuth. Yaaaaarrrrrrrmuuuuuuuuttttttthhhhhhhh.

Mmmmm. That sounds good. The Midterm Roundup’ll have that.

NY-19: The Midterm Roundup Shouldn’t Have to Tell You What it Intends to Do Right Now

That’s right. One last time.

Dance with meeeeeeeee, I want to be your partner. Can't you seeeeeeeee, the music is just starting. Night is falling, and I am falling. Dance with meeeeeeeee!

TX-22: SEKULA-GIBBS!?! I Was Way Off!

I wrote in Kebula-Siggs. Man, what a boner! Hope she still wins.

IYI (If You’re Interested)

Perhaps the ultimate coup of the entire election: hirsute TPM colleague Matt Corley is now a minor blogosphere celebrity (scroll down to the last picture). Congratulations, Matt. And best of luck in your future lumberjacking endeavors.

In closing, despite the Roundup’s obvious failure to do so in this space, it still thinks it’s important to measure and contextualize your glee if you’re a Democrat. 2006, while a historic and profound butt-whupping (and in case anyone is fooled by that cute little notion being propagated by, among others, Ken Mehlman (who looked comically ragged and gaunt during his interviews on Election Night (Ken, it’s okay, you can relax your eyebrows now, really Ken. You okay man? Ken??)) that butt-whuppings like this one are totally standard operating procedure in the 6^th year of a presidency, TPM Reader DK categorically refuted that by, you know, actually looking at past election results), was no 1994.

The AARP hosted a post-election panel discussion on Wednesday featuring Charlie Cook, Hotline’s Chuck Todd, former Clinton press secretary Mike McCurry, Goerge W. Bush media advisor Mark McKinnon, Republican pollster Ed Goeas, and Democratic pollster Celinda Lake. The Roundup caught some of it on C-SPAN last night and highly recommends people check it out. Pretty sure you can find an online video of it once it’s made available here. Everybody – from both sides of the political spectrum – had some really interesting things to say. Mostly good things for the Democrats of course, but there is plenty of work left to be done.

So yes, enjoy this one if you’re a Democrat or otherwise progressive-/liberal-/rational-ly minded. Because we probably won’t see the likes of it again for a long, long time. The Midterm Roundup feels indescribably privileged to have had 2006 to follow and write about and celebrate. But if you’re a celebrator, don’t get too fat and happy now. It’s not a mandate. What it is, truly, is an opportunity. Along with the governor’s races and state legislative races that the Democrats won on Tuesday, the party has an amazing opportunity to position itself and really define itself in the 2 years leading up to the 2008 presidential race. And that’s the real glory of 2006. It was a victory not of consummation or realization. It was a victory of potential.

And to conclude this staid, decorous, and above all else most respectful of celebrations, the Midterm Roundup will quote the immortal Al Czervik: “Hey everybody, we’re all gonna get laid!”