Long Day's Journey Into Election Night

Tuesday will be the longest day of the year. A long day at polling places across the country and a long night as votes are counted and recounted and contested and challenged. We may know in the early hours of Wednesday morning what the make-up of the new Congress will be.

Democrats are poised to reclaim at least the House of Representatives, if not the Senate too. If voters speak their minds about the fiasco that is Iraq, the Democrats will take over. No less a prognosticator than Stu Rothenberg sees the Dems grabbing 6 senate seats and taking over the Senate as well as the House.

Expect President Bush and VP Cheney to present some new terror threat -- probably happening on Friday -- elevating the "threat" level to DefCon Catastrophic; they'll also announce the arrest of the number two man in Al Qaeda in Iraq; and showcase some project to demonstrate rebuilding of the country. But remember, they will also ignore the looming (if not already active) civil war there, the increasing targeting of US troops, and ineptitude of the so-called government they've installed there. But voters won't be fooled.

If voters do nothing more than vote their emotions -- not consciences, but emotions -- on Iraq, the Republicans are not going to fare well. No matter which side of the philosophical debate you support, for or against the war, it is nearly impossible to look at the numbers of service members killed last month, look at the faces as they are remembered on the evening news, look at their families grieving and not feel that enough of this carnage is enough. If "stay the course" means more coffins and more wounded, voters will just say no.

Tuesday the Senate and House will change hands. Tuesday will be the end of "stay the course."