It was a close one-the New Jersey race, I mean. Everybody thought Chris Christie would come close and that if Jon Corzine hadn’t won by the numbers, New Jersey’s corrupt Democratic system…not unlike ours here in Chicago…would see that he would eke it out by the simple application of vote fraud. But a Democratic victory was not to be-and more than any other group, the independents who had veered to Obama have moved to the Republican column-frightened to death by Obama’s stop-start-stall lack of governance. In all, it reminds me of Chapter 11 in the Gospel of John where Jesus goes to Bethany and is told that one of his best friends, Lazarus, died four days earlier.

Then follows what is probably the most profound sentence in the New Testament-short and bitter. It says “Jesus wept.”

But after weeping, He goes to the tomb where he is remonstrated from entering it by Lazarus’ sisters who say that their brother had been entombed so long…four days…that the body would stink. Christ disregards them, enters and returns with the alive Lazarus. That is indeed a profound symbol for the Republican party of this nation which was sundered by one of the most charismatic presidential candidates extant. But the electorate has itself been awakened by the failure of the new president to perform…and his words ring hollow. Thus the gesture that evoked the GOP Lazarus to rise again was not particularly anything a charisma had anything to do with.

More than anything else, it is the faltering performance of a charisma-only candidate run by the image-manipulations of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern that has produced this stunning victory. Christie is no oracular barnburner. He is…I am gratified to point out…a fat guy-which gives hope to all of us fat guys. There is no surprise in McDonnell winning…a Robert Redford look-alike in a state that usually toppled Republican. But Christie…a conservative and pro-life-not a Republican liberal like Christine Todd Whitman causes us to savor the sweetness of unaccustomed victory.

It was really an unset-I mean New Jersey. It was sweet: the trouncing of the liberal Democratic New Jersey governor, mega-multi-millionaire Jon Corzine…sophisticated ex-Goldman Sachs co-chairman (but in fact born in tiny Willey Station, Illinois near Taylorville) by Republican Christie…Corzine, who had married his childhood sweetheart and who grew too big for her after becoming mega rich, having won the U. S. Senate and then the governorship, escorted a female union leader, shacked up with her before his divorce became final-prompting his ex-wife to say truly that Corzine would betray his state as he had his family.

The significant thing about New Jersey is that the upscale areas which since 1996 have been trending Democratic…because they are liberal on social issues and not that conservative on fiscal (read: New Trier in Illinois lingo)…are now moving the other way.

And the significant thing about Virginia is this: That state calculates its statewide voter returns by congressional district. Three congressional districts swung from Republican to Democrat in 2008. McDonnell carried those three districts heavily last night. You can bet that those three Democratic congressmen will be very jittery this morning-both in looking at their own future and in calculating how strongly they will be supporting the Obama agenda through next year.

As I trundle to bed, Fox has called the 23rd of New York for Democrat Bill Owens. If this sticks and Hoffman loses, it will have been because of the Judas kiss imparted by Dierdre Scozzafava, the very liberal Republican who bowed out and said she would never endorse a Democrat: (that pledge lasted 24 hours before she embraced Owens). All the same, Fox notwithstanding, I’m not ready to concede. It’s going to take time to count those votes that come from the far North Country, near Canada. I think we may well find that Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman has pulled it out by inches.

Given how poorly Obama is doing (vacillating on reinforcements for Afghanistan which he had said earlier was essential to win), it may well be that Republicans win control of the House in 2010 because of the electorate’s legitimate concern that Obama who hasn’t run so much as a candy store, plainly does not know how to govern-just how to make a pretty speech.

For one thing it definitely slows the pace toward passage of the Obama health care bill in the Senate-where even before the election returns were announced, Harry Reid was not committing that the bill would be passed this year.

And indicative of the fact that liberal media never learn…the AP quoting approvingly an unnamed Democratic consultant who said the GOP is in an identity crisis and “the extremists have won,” which we have heard beginning with the election and reelection of Ronald Reagan. My guess is that it will empower movement conservative candidates in the Republican party for president rather than the establishment…among whom I would first name Palin and Pawlenty as benefiting foremost-then Romney…who campaigned for Hoffman but who looks country club… and Huckabee who stayed aloof from Hoffman the least. Probably the biggest winner is Fred Thompson who now, alarmingly, displays a beard! He’s not running for anything but he did more than anyone else to help Hoffman and won the undying support of conservatives even if it is…as I maintain we will see it is NOT…a losing campaign.

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Tribune Returning Rightward (Somewhat)?

Are my eyes deceiving me or is The Tribune edging somewhat rightward? Two examples-appearing on the same day (Tuesday). First the brilliant Scott Stantis cartoon which makes the point that the Democrats’ big health bill makes provision for abortion (no matter how strenuously they deny it). The cartoon is fully worthy of a Higgins. The second is the editorial that criticizes then Quinn administration’s short further “delay” on parental consent…in all, a delay of 14 years. I don’t care what anyone says-this is a definite break with the past where the old paper…striving to rid itself of its valuable tradition past…acted to giddily liberal as to simulate your uncle Oscar in drag.

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Tom Roeser is the Chairman of the Editorial Board of the Chicago Daily Observer

image  La Résurrection de Lazare- Vincent Van Gogh