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It occurred to me last night that we weren't watching a midterm, we were watching the last round of the 2000 election, which the Democrats refused to concede. They no longer need to; the people did it for them. Let's just say that the voters know the facts better now than they did two years ago.

Among the issues of 2000 that can now be closed is the judiciary. If we really do have the Senate we get the judges . Also, it'll be payback time on the Senate floor. Anybody remember the Ashcroft hearings? Anybody remember Hillary refusing to let Thurman pair out? The Democrats messed with the Senate. You don't mess with the Senate. The gentlemanly rules and the traditions there are there for a reason. Hillary is about to find out why. I hope our folks will have the patience to watch it out, because payback won't be in the open. Our guys know the game. Look for the small clues, the little rulings and procedures. All those knives in the backs of our team will not be put into the drawer. The Hillary caucus ought not walk alone down Senate hallways...

My particular joy from last night comes in the No. VA vote on the sales tax increase. The public-transportation freaks teamed up with the developers and the greens got with the anti-tax conservatives -- what a lovely mess, and look who won! All brought on by greed at the County Council. The waling pain over at Fairfax Center this morning warms my heart. I love free enterprise, but I despise business won through politics. Greed is a productive vice; greed in public office is the worst sin. The County Council got lost in a maze of condos. Once again, we learn that government control of business means business control of government. The voters understood this last night, and chose to take back a slice of their franchise.

More on the VA sales tax/ "transportation" initiative... I hear now that the Governor ("Slick2" - that's a great one, Mr. Chairman!) is absolving himself of responsibility. Maybe he'll get away with it, but I'm not sure. Either way, it's horrid leadership.

By contrast, check out what Jeb's facing in FLA:

Education gets a boost: Class caps, pre-K win

...Bush had urged voters to reject the class-size initiative, Amendment 9, warning that its passage would force him to make either one of two unappetizing choices: endorse billions of dollars of higher taxes or support deep budget cuts. Voters also overwhelmingly passed another education measure opposed by the governor -- Amendment 11, which will create a board of governors to oversee Florida's 11 public universities. A third education measure, Amendment 8, which will make prekindergarten available to all 4-year-olds throughout Florida for no cost, easily won passage. Bush supported that initiative, which was championed by Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas.

Unlike Slick2 in VA, Bush was upfront and clear about all this in advance, outlining the pros/cons and consequences of each.

Ironically, South FLA voted itself a 1/2-a-penny hike for mass transit. They need it, but they don't need a higher sales tax. Oh well. At least down there the developers have already been smited. The Governor had nothing to do with it. (story here: Voters back tax for transit)

I don't much like referendums. They've done some good things, such as we saw yesterday in CA and AZ rejecting bi-lingal education. On the whole, they are an escape clause for politicians to avoid responsibility, just as Slick2 is doing in VA. Politicians use public referendums to dump bills and moves they don't want to be held responsible for, or that they want to get rid of for political cover.

The idea of the referendum/initiative is a circular argument. The voters must act because their representatives whom they've elected won't... Uh huh. They have weakened representative government, and loosened democracy by making it arbitrary and susceptible to political sway and minority and factional influence.