Virginia is for Democrats?

It was a dark and stormy night. No, it really was - it isn't a cliche this time. I could hardly see on the drive to Tysons Corner, where Jim Webb, Mark Warner, Tim Kaine, and their staff set up shop in a hotel room, anxiously awaiting election returns as if the fate of the world depended on them. And it did, didn't it?

I had MSNBC on the radio while driving, and I had not yet left the confines of the District when they called it for Bob Menendez. Whew, that one had been worrisome not long ago. In the rain and fog, I had trouble finding the hotel until I got behind a car with a Webb for Senate bumper sticker. While I followed it, MSNBC called it for Sherrod Brown. One down, five to go.

I parked in a car lot next to the hotel and headed out into the warm November rain. Democrats could have taken the weather as an ominous sign, but it turns out the rain was actually for Republicans. HA HA HA! You get what you give! Inside, the air swirled with nervous excitement, and an occasional cheer arose from the large crowd as results came in. Three seats in Indiana? I was sure the people in those little pink houses were preparing for the apocalypse. At that point in the night, Webb and Allen were tied with about half the votes counted, which gave reason to cheer, especially considering that Northern Virginia and most of Richmond had yet to be counted.

The hotel erupted into ecstatic applause when it was called Bob Casey, Jr. Man-on-dog Santorum had gone down to an expected but thrilling defeat, as if the bad guy in a horror film had been hacked to pieces. Next, Whitehouse was called. Three down. And then we were stuck.

Webb came down from the hotel room with Mark Warner and Tim Kaine to give us a little pick me up speech, a welcome relief from our anxiety and panic. He'd been down 50% - 49% for quite some time, and with no new Senate races called in awhile, people had begun to lose hope. Many left the hotel, deciding to sleep through what they anticipated would be depression. After all, it was approaching midnight, and it was only a Tuesday.

The House numbers kept looking better, and when CNN called the House for us, the chandeliers began to shake from the thunder below them. It was a high that began to dissipate in the worry that followed. We were there for Webb, and Allen had been up for quite awhile - at one point by about 20K votes with 90% of the votes counted. And then it was 96%, 97%, 98%...The energy had evaporated from the room. Depression was worn by every face, some near the point of tears. Political campaigns are emotional storms. When you've devoted a few weeks or months of your life to a candidate, it is a heavy emotional investment, and a loss can be devastating. We smelled defeat. People left in droves. This loss would be far worse than usual, for the whole Senate was riding on this campaign, and not only would our candidate lose, but we'd have to put up with at least two more years of this disrespectable Republican led Senate. Somewhere in there, Maryland was called for Cardin, but we still needed Missouri, Montana, and Virginia.

And then, a miracle happened. Suddenly, with 99% of the votes counted, we were up by 3000 votes with one Democratic precinct left to count. It felt like we had won a war. The cheering continued for a solid five minutes as people hugged, jumped up and down, and pumped their fists with joy. What a glorious feeling, like we had just hit a home run in the top of the ninth in Game 7 of the World Series to take the lead and only needed three outs to win the thing. Just like that, everything was different. There was hope again.

McCaskill was called for Missouri. That left just Montana and Virginia. Tester was barely up, so everything was looking good for us. It must have been about 1:30 when Webb and crew came down again to give a short victory speech. We won.

I left the place after 2am in ecstasy, rain still pouring down, streets deserted. I rolled down the window at one point just to scream "We won!" There was an element of disbelief, of surrealism, surrounding the whole night. When I woke around noon the next day, I checked the news to make sure it was true, to make sure something hadn't happened in the night. Well, something had happened. Rumsfeld resigned, giving a very good end to a very good time.

America is for Democrats.