Republicans Take the House, Democrats Keep the Senate (Update)

The GOP had a huge night in the House of Representatives, but the Democrats showed some fight in the Senate, which they held.

The tea party set off some fireworks, but they had their share of duds, notably Sharron Angle in Nevada, Joe Miller of Alaska and, of course, Christine O’Donnell of Delaware, who never polled well, yet received more media coverage this cycle than any politician not named Barack Obama.

The Democrats lost some clout in the Senate, dropping Barack Obama’s former seat, among others. Still, tough races in Oregon, Nevada and California broke the Democrats’ way and as of this posting Colorado was still too close to call.

Sen. Russ Feingold, who has been one of the strongest opponents of the kind of economic recklessness that created the crisis that most voters identified as their top worry, was kicked out of office by the voters of Wisconsin. It might have had something to do with the millions spent by independent groups to support his opponent.

Another race that has us down: Three of the seven Iowa Supreme Court justices who voted unanimously to end that state’s ban on gay marriage were up for a vote of retention, and voters removed all three from the bench. — PZS