--snip-- President Bush's broad re-election victory and Republican gains across the country reflect the fact that through a structural realignment, the GOP has now become the majority party in the country. Noted political scientist Walter Dean Burnham, the nation's leading theorist on realignment, says the 2004 election "consolidates" what began in 1994 when Republicans shattered the 40-year Democratic grip on Congress and statehouses. Since then, the GOP has held its gains, adding to them in 2002 and 2004. --snip-- Republicans are also riding the crest of a "big tent" movement that threatens to leave an increasingly ossified Democratic Party behind....