This seems appropriate tonight. The World Turned Upside Down

From The World Turned Upside Down:

Tradition has it that when Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown (1781) the British played this tune. There is some debate as to whether that is myth or fact.

If buttercups buzz'd after the bee,
If boats were on land, churches on sea,
If ponies rode men and if grass ate the cows,
And cats should be chased into holes by the mouse,
If the mamas sold their babies
To the gypsies for half a crown;
If summer were spring and the other way round,
Then all the world would be upside down.

Listen here to the MIDI file.

Nobody expected it. It's happening was inconcievable. Yet it happened, and all they could do was express their astonishment at their world being turned upside down.

And in South Dakota tonight, it seems that the political world has been turned completely upside down. For months, we've been told how that it's a bad thing to be a conservative, and that we should compromise our values and become more moderate.

A group of Republicans openly rejected their fellow party members and forged allegiances with top Democrats to form a Mainstream Coalition. And how did Republican voters reward those who formed the group? Any of them who had a primary were summarily removed from office.

Moderate challengers to conservative candidates? The best example would be that of Jim Holbeck who openly ran as a moderate Republican alternative to conservative Brock Greenfield. According to tonight's results, he was defeated 71 to 29%.

For months conservatives have been disavowed, criticized, kicked around, and generally treated like red-headed step-children. But in tonight's races, it wasn't the night of the incumbent. It wasn't the night of the challenger. The common thread running between nearly all of the major races was that one candidate was considered the more conservative choice, and the other a moderate or less conservative selection.

And on the GOP side of things, in literally every case when one candidate was viewed as more conservative, the conservative choice won. Check out the Senate Results:

     DIST 03 REP STATE SENATE
  (R) LATTERELL      ISAAC            613       52           13            13
  (R) SUTTON         DUANE            566       48           13            13

    DIST 05 REP STATE SENATE
  (R) ARNOLD         DENNIS           632       56           22            22
  (R) KONOLD         CLAIRE           504       44           22            22

    DIST 06 REP STATE SENATE
  (R) GREENFIELD     BROCK           1769       71           40            40
  (R) HOLBECK        JAMES            730       29           40            40

    DIST 10 REP STATE SENATE
  (R) ABDALLAH       GENE             981       58           14            14
  (R) ALVINE         FRANK            724       42           14            14

    DIST 25 REP STATE SENATE
  (R) HAUGE          ARLEN (ARNI      656       61           20            20
  (R) KOOISTRA       CLARENCE         426       39           20            20

    DIST 28 REP STATE SENATE
  (R) HECK           GERRY            367       17           66            66
  (R) KLAUDT         TED             1048       48           66            66
  (R) WETZ           KENNETH          746       35           66            66

    DIST 32 REP STATE SENATE
  (R) ADELSTEIN      STANFORD        1971       48            7             7
  (R) SCHWIESOW      ELLI            2145       52            7             7

    DIST 33 REP STATE SENATE
  (R) DUNIPHAN       J.P.             779       39           14            14
  (R) SCHMIDT        DENNIS          1236       61           14            14

    DIST 35 REP STATE SENATE
  (R) MCCOY          ALICE            556       35           10            10
  (R) NAPOLI         WILLIAM "BI     1025       65           10            10

Tonight is the night when conservative Republicans are feeling like doing some dancing in the street because it comes across as such a decisive and energized victory. Not only did conservative Republicans win close races, they won races that no one had expected. In some cases, long time and popular incumbents were just flat turned out.

Personally, as I think I mentioned in an earlier post, this elation is tinged with a lot of regret on my part for one of my candidates who tonight narrowly lost their race (where all were reasonably equal in ideology). I don't think I've had anyone work harder or deserve to win more in 18 years of doing this. Door to door once? Nope, twice, in addition to all the signs, collateral items, campaigning, and just plain hard work. I'm just sick about it. But mark my words, they'll be back.

Anyway, on other races, there were some indicators of spill over from the conservative bent of the legislative races (from http://www.votepennco.com) for example:

          ALDERMAN RAPID CITY WARD 2
         you may vote for  1
          Thomas Hennies.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .       674   36.16
          Sam Kooiker.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .     1,190   63.84

Sam Kooiker absolutely destroyed Tom Hennies in the alderman race which was closely tied to the fortunes of State Senator Stan Adelstein. Through his PACs, the Senator had dumped $13,000 into the campaign fund for Hennies first race after being termed out in the legislature. And it's almost as if it acted as an anchor on the campaign instead of propelling it. Kooiker won with authority.

Aside from anecdotal examples of why Republican Conservatives kicked butt tonight, What's the biggest challenge now that conservative candidates have prevailed today? I believe these new and returning candidates need to work together to promote a unified Republican agenda to propel all who are running under the banner of our party forward. It's going to be a tough battle this fall, and we need to meet these challenges and battles head on.

But I'm pretty confident this crop of candidates is up for it. Because these guys know how to win.