But what Tuesday's election seems likely to illustrate is that the laws of thermodynamics -- in particular, the one that states that for every reaction there is an equal and opposite reaction -- have not been repealed. Upstate New York, the Philadelphia suburbs, Connecticut's tweedy enclaves and the Microsoft precincts surrounding Seattle seem poised to show that they've had it with the party that restricts funding for stem cell research.
In Arizona and Colorado, secular libertarians have grown estranged from the party that invested the power of the federal government in the cause of keeping Terri Schiavo in a vegetative state.
Harold Meyerson: How the GOP lost the North
8mm
His leading role as a congressional opponent of abortion has won him strong supporters, including, in past elections, the vote of some socially conservative Democrats. But that high-profile stance has also generated opposition, including among some of the socially liberal Republicans in a state in which the last two Republicans elected to statewide positions, Sen. Arlen Specter, and former Gov. Tom Ridge supported abortion rights.
His identification with strong conservative positions on issues ranging from congressional intervention in the Terri Schiavo case to the teaching of intelligent design as an alternative to theory of evolution added to his polarizing image with some voters.
8mm