Well, that was unexpected.

NY District 23, an area that has as major employers one military base, which has been a GOP stronghold for more than a century, has elected a Democrat rather than the candidate around which the likes of Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck broke their asses to endorse and assist.

Look to the Conservative "Party Base" to do some quick conspiracy theory work to show why the "people of the district" were robbed. No doubt they'll accuse ACORN - that always plays well, regardless of facts (not saying that ACORN is a bastion of probity, but they've also become the default "those damn libruls are stealing the country from REAL 'Mericans!" whipping horse, regardless of facts).

Of course, the lesson I draw is quite different. The Conservatives in the Party won their battle, and lost the war, in my eyes. If they don't wake up and smell the coffee - that their brand of Conservatism can't win general elections, and they need a bigger tent, with Moderates in it - they're in for a long, hard slog.

"What is more encouraging to me is that the wins by Christie and McDonnell show that competent center-right candidates interested in governance and all those “parochial” local issues can tap into voter discontent and win electoral victories. Hoffman’s possible defeat suggests that campaigns dominated by the presence of national activists, empty sloganeering and indifference to local interests may not gain traction even in those districts that are traditionally inclined to favor the politics of someone like Hoffman. Those of us who would like to see Democratic domestic agendas thwarted without empowering the Palins of the world may have managed to get exactly the results we would wish to have."

Emphasis mine, to show how much I agree )

http://www.amconmag.com/larison/

"I am a decentralist at heart. I believe in the decentralization of power, no matter what the organization. If there is to be a hierarchy, I want it to be a hierarchy that is still very flat, with power spread as far and wide as possible. The very Catholic notion of subsidiarity plays a very strong role in my thinking on this – and, paradoxically perhaps, a very weak role in the Church itself. I’m not against the papacy. I’m just against the level of power the Pope seems to wield."

http://www.ordinary-gentlemen.com/2009/11/gay-marriage-and-the-catholic-church-in-maine/

"To all incumbents, yesterday's warning was: Get to work and start listening to voters. They definitely are listening and watching you."

Light, I hope that the people who determine the local elections do precisely that, and vote the lazy, the corrupt, the too-busy-to-listen pols the hell out of office.

Full:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/OPINION/11/04/democrats.election.warning/index.html"