Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus, and he comes from Midland, Texas!!

Wow.

Wow!!

UNbelievable. I would never have imagined that things would have turned out as good as they did last night. And while it looks like my man John Thune will lose to Tim Johnson, the important thing is that the Republicans have 51 votes, which not only means that they will take over, but that they don't have to do the whole power-sharing thing they did right after Bush won (see this Byron York story from yesterday on why a 50-50 split wouldn't be enough).

Everyone is acknowledging that Bush's heavy campaigning was a major factor -- if not the factor -- in the way things went. He put his political capital on the line, and it paid off.

Now let's get those judges through and pass the partial-birth abortion ban!