Anyone who thinks the Republicans are down for the count simply is not dealing with reality. The American voter is extremely self centered. Most especially the great middle/independent/moderate Repub/conservative Dem. They vote on the issues and events at the moment that are driving them. In the last election it was clear that they woke up and realized that they had been deceived, and the price of that was declining home values, job losses, 401k savings severely damaged, and they voted their pocket book. Obama will take the necessary steps to get us off life support and get the economy started back up. Our greed has a price tag, and it will be paid. But when things start rolling again, you can count on the great middle to have a short memory, and to start the same old stuff again. And so it goes in the Land of the Free. One can only hope that the one thing that sticks in their minds is that we must have the appropriate regulatory safety net on our financial institutions, food manufacturers, and drug manufacturers. I would also hope that they would see the correlation between strong labor laws and a thriving middle class.

But do not count the Republicans out. They are down....... but they are not out. They have a whole generation of Rovian mindbots that are looking to widen the gap between the haves and the havenots.

Mick