New Democratic Minority Leader

Oh, and I think the Harry Reid pick is just awful. The debilitating thing about Tom Daschle, other than his personality, was that he came from a red state and thus could not be as strong a partisan leader as Democrats needed. You'll notice Republic majority leaders come from Tennessee, Mississippi, Kansas... not Maine, Minnesota, or Oregon. I saw Daschle's loss as the one ray of hope for Democrats in this election, as I thought it meant a guy like Dick Durbin, in a safe blue state, could step up and provide some meaningful opposition leadership.

Now Harry Reid just won re-election, and easily, in a state that Bush carried rather narrowly. Perhaps he's not planning on running again in 2010, or perhaps he thinks Nevada Republicans will again be unable to field a top-tier opponent (don't count on it, they'll be gunning for another minority leader). Otherwise I see this as a huge strategic blunder, and a real missed opportunity.

What's next? Replace Terry McAuliffe with Bob Shrum?