Well, it's over and the numbers are still being crunched. The independents have spoken, and they just said "no" to the Democrats. As of press time, the Republicans have gained 60 seats in the House, with 4 too close to call. There are 6 new GOP Senators with 3 contests still undecided, and 10 new Republican governors, 3 of them women.

For the Californians out there, not much has been settled yet. Jerry Brown and Barbara Boxer have claimed victory on a 45% vote count. Their opponents have not yet conceded defeat, and are waiting for a more complete vote count. That is their right, and when the dust settles we do expect the dinosaurs to rule the day. Pot has not been legalized, and Governor Ah-nold's Climate Change memorial remains standing.

The voter's have spoken decisively, and President Obama is currently prepping for his news conference to address the fallout for his "hope and change". Republicans hold a majority in the House, but the impact that will be made on the Obama agenda is not yet clear. The Republicans now control the purse strings, but their numbers will not allow them to repeal anything and over-ride the sure Presidential vetoes.

A beach head of Tea Party style conservatives has been established. As we pointed out last week, it is their assigned mission to hold their ground until reinforcements arrive in 2012 and 2014. Their numbers are not overwhelming, but their success has sent a shot across the bow of the establishment Republicans. Those members of the second-class ruling class need to decide whether the future of their careers is better served by joining the Tea Partiers, or in making nice to President Obama. The future of the Republican party and the direction of the country will lie in what those establishment Republicans decide.

Republicans fell short of their bid to take the Senate. To be fair, TPP pointed out that taking the Senate would be a long stretch. Still, they have added to their numbers. From a strictly tactical point of view this is good news / bad news. The good news is that this allows for the Lindsey Graham types to split with the party, and still have the party maintain a filibuster if necessary.

That is also the bad news. Republican unity, which was a prime selling point in this election cycle, will be more likely to suffer and provide the President with the appearance of bi-partisanship. The lifer politicians will be tempted to trade off their position and vote to improve their position for the next election cycle, whether that is for re-election, or to slide over to K Street to become a lobbyist (as retired Senator Chris Dodd did).

The Blue Dogs had a good showing, which is good news to the Tea Party candidates. Blue Dogs are as on the outs with the Democratic Party establishment, as the Tea Party conservatives are in the large Republican tent. While the Blue Dogs are essentially a fiscal conservancy movement, the more libertarian of the Tea Party electees share a similar view on government intrusion into personal liberty. It could serve the country well if these two groups would share a caucus and move as a deciding block on fiscal and personal freedom issues. This would shore up both groups to hold the line on common issues against the establishment ruling class.

This is a loss for President Obama, but not as bad as it could have been. If the pie-in-the-sky numbers projected by some pollsters had occurred, it would have doomed the President to a series of over-rides and irrelevance. This did not happen, the Republican win was real, and solid, but not enough to force the President's hand. The Republican leadership has sent up trial balloons of cooperation with the President, much to the chagrin of the Tea Party candidates. The President has made no indication that he is willing to back down on anything. We imagine that he will try to exploit the perceived weakness of the Republican leadership.

What of Reid and Pelosi? While both survived their electoral challenges, they are both defanged and declawed. Pelosi will become the scapegoat of the House loss and be stripped of her leadership post. She can then return to her happy hobby of being the pinup girl of the extreme left. She will probably be happier in her irrelevance, free to frolick with her San Francisco constituents in their quest for utopia.

Reid returns to his Senate seat bruised and battered. He is the new incarnation of Apollo Creed after the beatdown from Rocky Balboa - "No rematch..." Whether he continues on as Senate Majority Leader is a big if. While he will get some credit for not losing the Senate, there are ambitious Democrats who will smell blood in the water, and take advantage of the opportunity to replace a significantly weakened leader.

We expect the Reid's challengers to spring from some place closer to the Blue Dog position. The extreme left pushing and horse-trading from Reid and Pelosi, has left a bad taste in the mouth of the voters. The Democrats ignore that to their peril.

We can see Jim Webb (D-VA) moving up into a Senate leadership position. He has spoken truth to both Republican and Democrat administrations. Having him as the face of the Democrat Party might be problematic for the President. It would do wonders to counter the Republicans who won primarily on the public's horror at the far left agenda pushed on them by the old leadership. Should the Republicans fail to make any progress on the nation's problems a re-branding of the Democrat party will be necessary. A Jim Webb type Democrat would provide the most appeal to those all important independent voters.

Common Sense Dictates

One thing has been determined beyond a doubt. The American voter is fickle, and hell-bent on seeing results. When the Bush majorities took on the air of a bloated, earmark-driven den of corruption, they were booted out in 2006 and 2008. In the four years since, the Democrats have earned the electorate's scorn.

Bill Clinton and the Tea Party in combination best embody the mood of the public at large.

Bill Clinton has once again proved that it IS the economy, stupid. Americans have once again voted by looking in their wallet and not seeing anything but lint. To give John Boehner credit for a recent bit of wit: "Under President Reagan we had Bob Hope and Johnny Cash. Under President Obama - no hope, no cash". Pretty funny for a chainsmoker with the skin tone of an oompa-loompa. If the Speaker of the House gig doesn't work out, he can always do weekend stand-up at the Improv.

The Tea Party gave voice to a rejection of the government micro-managing our lives. It was a "no" to all of the huge over-reaches of the Administration and the Democratic majority. It was a rejection not only of the stimulus and healthcare overhauls, but of the takeovers of the auto industry and large chunks of the banking sector. it was a display of disgust at the shady back-room deals that were made to buy support for ramming these issues through on a party line vote where support did not exist for passage without a payoff.

Representative Boehner has been handed a Gordian knot to unravel. He has two years to show progress on improving the economy, and reversing the intrusion of the federal government into areas that it has no business in. These goals are clear as defined by the results of the election. How he accomplishes that is up to him.

Boehner has vowed to stick to his guns on Republican positions. Though he has the numbers in the House to push through whatever he wants, the Senate and the President will provide a check on him doing what the Democrats were able to do. That is a good thing. Americans do not wish to be raped ideologically from either side. Rep. Boehner will need to educate and persuade Democrats to join him in his party's proposed solutions.

This is not out of reach. The Blue Dog Democrats will give him a receptive audience on fiscal and defense matters. Most thought the healthcare bill to be an over-reach and did not support it. There is the possibility of some actual bi-partisanship to spring from this approach.

Any bill having the support of 30 to 50 or more Democrats would put the President in the position of needing to justify a veto. That will require him to be more responsive to the electorate, which is also a good thing. A responsive President is an engaged President. When TPP has called out the President it has been on his disengagement - his tendency not do his homework and to govern by fiat. He has admitted to not properly arguing for or educating the public on his initiatives. Perhaps if he had, the blowback would not have been so bad for him, or a better supported plan could have been advanced.

Elections have consequences, and TPP is hopeful that the consequences of this election will have a positive result for the country. The electorate has allowed the Republicans a chance to redeem themselves by carrying out the will of the people. They have put the President and the Democratic leadership on notice that they were not satisfied by the direction the country was going in. It's up to those now going to DC to play nice and to do th people's business.

As the Kenan Thompson grumpy old man character screeched out on Saturday Night Live "FIX IT!!!!!!!". So says Common Sense.

RLB