GOOD-BYE GIFTS MAY BE IN ORDER - AT 7:56 P.M. ET:  Fox News reports, with fine photographic portraits, on seven major Dems who are in electoral trouble for 2010.  They are Harry Reid, Chris Dodd, John Murtha, David Obey, Barbara Boxer, and Blanche Lincoln.

Oh the tears, my sense of anguish.

Actually, Blanche Lincoln, the moderate senator from Arkansas (the story incorrectly says Nebraska), is pretty decent, and represents a wing of the Democratic party that we'd like to see strengthened.  As for the others?  Why do I think the country will survive without the wit and wisdom of Barbara Boxer, or the deep strategic sense of John Murtha?

But no celebrations yet, please.  As the story says, it is tough to beat incumbents.  And the Republic Party has developed a remarkable skill at snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

Hard work ahead, but it's always encouraging to see the opposition a bit uneasy.

October 18,  2009