And John Dickerson can’t get the grin off his face.

The Republicans lost a seat because they chose to split the vote. If you tabulate the vote for both Republican candidates, the one that dropped out and the one that remained on the ticket, together they received more votes than the "winning" Democrat.

Democrats do get to show a "gain" in Congress -- but that isn't going to help them a lot because they've seen how a traditionally Democrat state (New Jersey) and a tradtional swing state (Virginia) voted statewide -- and the Democrats lost in both elections. Swing state Democrats who may have voted in favor of liberal agenda items like health care reform are going to reconsider given thos big-state, statewide votes -- especially as those votes both showed that Obama's popularity can't be transferred to state candidates. Obama can't provide cover for those representatives and senators when they go home to face the vote in 2010.

The Democrats are not yet in trouble. They could be.

No, they are not.

However I do have to take off my partisian hat and, as an American, say that I am heartened to see that the Republicans who won were not Birthers, but conservatives who stressed results and generally avoided hate-filled campaigns. While the conservative who based his campaign on Glen Beck and Sarah Palin lost.

While watching Republicans drive off a cliff may have occasionally gladened my Liberal Democratic heart, America is better off that non-fanatical Republicans did win.