SOME GOOD NEWS FOR REPUBLICANS – AT 10:03 A.M. ET:  Michael Barone has analyzed Tuesday's primary results, and finds a silver lining for the GOP:

Five of the states that voted June 8 have party registration, and in each registered Democrats significantly outnumber registered Republicans. Yet in three of the five it appears that more people voted in the Republican than in the Democratic primary and in the two others it appears that almost as many did. One reason is that in many of these states Republicans had more seriously contested races than Democrats did.

Barone examines turnout state by state, and concludes:

The bottom line: Robust Republican turnout in South Carolina, Nevada and California leaves Republicans in relatively strong position in the balance of enthusiasm in those states in comparison with where they were in the 2006 and 2008 cycles. And the robust Republican turnout in New Jersey might say something positive about the strength of feeling on the policies of first-year Governor Chris Christie.

COMMENT:  I've always believed that the party that has more fun is in the best position to win.  At one time, decades ago, that clearly was the Democratic Party.  No more.  Today's Democrats are grim-faced, uptight, and fearful.  It's the Republicans who turn out because the GOP has become much more interesting.

As William Bennett put it yesterday, in a speech before our Hudson New York lunch, this is not your father's Republican Party.  Women are up front, minorities run as candidates, not minorities, and there is more concern about basic American principles like democracy and personal freedom than in the opposition party, which is starting to look like the Republicans of the 1930s. 

Let the good times roll.

June 11, 2010