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Power Line - No Landslide

Barack Obama's victory last night was no doubt historic, and the Democrats, as expected, extended their leads in the House and the Senate. But their victory was no landslide, despite what appeared to be overwhelming advantages.

Obama won around 52 percent of the popular vote, defeating John McCain by between five and six points. That's nothing like the true landslides of the past: Reagan by ten points in 1980 and 18 in 1984; Nixon by 23 in 1972; or even Bush by eight in 1988. And yet, with hindsight, it is remarkable how much Obama had going for him. After breaking his pledge to take public financing he raised more money, by far, than any Presidential candidate in history, outspending McCain nearly two to one. Millions of new voters, many of them minority voters, were registered, and they went heavily for Obama. Obama enjoyed the monolithic support of the entertainment industry and was something of a fad among the young. He benefited greatly from being an African-American; the idea that his victory would be a good thing for America, on that ground, was widespread even among his opponents. He ran largely against a retiring President who, for three years, has rarely seen his name appear in a sentence that did not include the word "unpopular." He had the active support of essentially 100 percent of the nation's news media. And, perhaps most important, he benefited from a financial crisis that struck at the most opportune moment (for him) and was unfairly blamed on the Republicans by most voters.

Despite all of this, Obama mustered only a five-point win.

Something of the same sort happened in Congress. The Democrats were awash with money, outspending their opponents in nearly every contested race. Democratic candidates benefited from the new registrations and the Obama phenomenon. In the Senate, they had easy pickings because the seats that were up this year were overwhelmingly Republican.

Yet here too, the Democrats' results, while positive, were not of the landslide variety. At the moment it appears that they will gain five seats in the Senate and 20 in the House.

The Democrats will be solidly in control in Washington. The silver lining is that for the first time in quite a few years, they will not be able to duck responsibility. As soon as they actually begin governing in January, they will, inevitably, begin to alienate voters. Obama in particular will not remain a tabula rasa, all things to all people, much longer. Whether he turns out to be the hard leftist of his legislative years or the borderline Republican that he sometimes seemed on the campaign trail, he will disappoint some of his followers. And the next time a hurricane strikes, it will be the Democrats' fault.

In the coming weeks we will be writing about where conservatives should go from here. As a starting point, it will be important not to lose sight of last night's strong performance by John McCain and competitive performances by Republicans around the country. There are still a lot of voters willing to vote for conservative and Republican candidates--not always the same thing, of course.

Finally, a word of appreciation for McCain. Losing Presidential campaigns are easy targets of criticism; with hindsight everyone is a pundit. But I think McCain ran a good race. He vindicated the judgment of many Republicans that he was the candidate best suited to run a competitive race in a year when the Democrats held most of the cards. His choice of Sarah Palin as Vice President turned out to be a good one, as she was an effective campaigner who brought more excitement to the ticket, at times, than McCain himself. (A recent Rasmussen poll indicated that more Republicans were happy with Palin as the V-P nominee than McCain as the Presidential nominee.) If it hadn't been for the financial meltdown that occurred at the worst possible time, McCain likely would have won. If he had opposed the bailout instead of supporting it, he still might have won.

So I don't think we'll be seeing much gloom among conservatives in the weeks to come. The Democrats will get their turn at the plate and be forced to take responsibility for their actions. That in itself is a good thing. Meanwhile, conservatives will be debating where we go from here and looking for new leadership. It will be an interesting time.

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Paul adds:

Power Line - Always look on the bright side

One should never say "never" in politics. However, Barack Obama's victory almost certainly means that neither Hillary Clinton nor Al Gore will ever be president of the United States.

Michelle Malkin » Throw Aunti from the bus

Over the weekend, the Associated Press reported that Barack Obama’s beloved Aunti Zeituni Onyango — a Boston public housing resident — was an illegal alien deportation fugitive who was ordered to leave the country by an immigration judge four years ago. Despite her illegal absconder status, she not only obtained federal housing benefits, but also illegally contributed to Obama’s campaign. Obama denies knowing about her illegal status and has promised to return her donations.

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The Jawa Report: Why I'm Voting For Obama

Because, he's promised to invade Pakistan.

THE Muslim wedding of a seven-year-old boy and a five-year-old girl has been raided by police.

Cops arrested the Muslim cleric conducting the sick ceremony and the children’s parents in Pakistan’s largest city.

The cleric had not yet begun the ceremony of Mohammad Waseem, seven, and his bride Nishain Karachi, five – which was attended by 100 guests.

Okay, I'm kidding, I'd never vote for Obama. But, hell, someone needs to invade this craphole. I vote for India.

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What if Wright played a bigger role in campaign? - Jonathan Martin - Politico.com

...But what would have happened had John McCain and the Republican Party been willing to aggressively use Wright’s incendiary comments against Obama, holding up his relationship with his former pastor to question the Democratic nominee’s judgment?

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In Case you missed it. It's funny stuff.

Hot Air » Blog Archive » Video: McCain/Fey in ‘08

From SNL, two Maverick cameos plus that Affleck goof on Olbermann that caused Krazy to krash the set on Friday.

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Blame Palin at Your Own Risk by Kathryn Jean Lopez on National Review Online

The recriminations begin early.

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Ego and Mouth by Thomas Sowell on National Review Online

After the big gamble on subprime mortgages that led to the current financial crisis, is there going to be an even bigger gamble, by putting the fate of a nation in the hands of a man whose only qualifications are ego and mouth?

Barack Obama has the kind of cocksure confidence that can only be achieved by not achieving anything else.

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Obama in 2-D by Mark Steyn on National Review Online

For many of his supporters, Barack Obama is an idea. He offers “hope, not fear”. “Hope” of what? “Hope” of “change.” Okay, but “change” to what? Ah, well, there you go again, getting all hung up on three-dimensional reality, when we’ve moved way beyond that.

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What We Know About Obama by Stanley Kurtz on National Review Online

Reflecting on all that I’ve written about Barack Obama over these past six months, four inter-related points stand out: Obama’s radicalism, his stealthy incrementalism, his interest in funding and organization-building, and his willingness to use — or quietly support — Alinskyite intimidation tactics. Since we stand on the cusp of the election, I’ll lay out the bottom line. For those who want to know more, go back and read the detailed studies on which I base these conclusions.

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American Thinker: Conservatism's blonde moment

Standards of discourse exist for good reasons. They are not only matters of individual honor and personal morality, but have a practical purpose. Once the standards go, and any and all tactics are allowed, the argument is automatically won by whoever has the biggest mouth, whoever adapts the sleaziest tactics, or whoever comes up with the nastiest insults.

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American Thinker: Evita Peron Obama

When it comes to Barack Obama, fans of "Evita" have seen this show before.

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The Jawa Report: 2005 Daily Kos Diary Entry: Barack Obama Speaks of Driving Out The Moderate Democrats

9/30/05 Obama told the Koz Kidz to pretend to be moderate Democrats to push the radical agenda of Obama.

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The Corner on National Review Online

The RCP average for Ohio is Obama +4.6, but the latest Mason-Dixon poll has McCain +2.

I'll let more qualified augurs argue over what that means, but it has the local press here buzzing.

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From Drudge: Zogby's polling yesterday had John McCain pulling into a one-point lead, 48-47, over Barack Obama. That result is an outlier, I suppose, but Obama has never been able to seal the deal with the voters and quite a few remain undecided, one in seven according to a recent AP poll. Throughout the campaign, McCain has made a series of runs where it looked as though he might catch up, only to fall back again. And the state by state polls continue, for some reason, to look worse for McCain than the national numbers.

Still, I have a feeling that once you get past his core constituencies, Obama's support is very thin. The fact that he has had to try to cast himself as a tax-cutter is revealing. Does anyone really believe it? True, there's a sucker born every minute, but still... If there really are voters who have contemplated voting for Obama on what are essentially conservative grounds, it would not be surprising if some of them shift their allegiance between now and Tuesday.

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Pew: Obama on pace to break 50% - David Paul Kuhn - Politico.com

Obama leads John McCain 52 percent to 46 percent, by Pew’s measure, which projects that McCain will win undecided voters by a slight margin.

Pew’s final pre-election poll in 2004, including its projection of the undecided vote, correctly predicted that George W. Bush would defeat John Kerry 51 to 48 percent.

When undecided voters are excluded, Obama's lead in the Pew poll increases slightly, to 49-42.

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The Campaign Spot on National Review Online

Except for Zogby last night, McCain hasn’t led in a poll since the last week in September and anybody who starts predicting a McCain victory in the face of that record is more than a little sporting.

But saying the race is over strikes me as just as emotional and un-thoughtful. I’m a real skeptic about huge turnout predictions but the interest levels this year really do show an unprecedented level of interest, perhaps as many as 25 million new voters. And here’s the point—those interest levels are up among McCain-leaning groups too. Are the media and the Obama blitz motivating the conservative base too? These aren’t questions aren’t being raised and they should be. The media was so surprised that Bush won in 2004 because the conservative turnout was higher. What’s going on with it this year?

With so much at stake I hate to sound clinical, but this election is a classic. When it’s over we are going to know a lot more about politics and culture in 21st century America. And Zogby.

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Investor's Business Daily TIPP Tracking Poll (which was the most accurate last time around, has the the spread at only 2.1% for Obama.

And a final word...