Interesting

A sharp political analyst offers a brief but chewy reflection on the real significance of Tuesday's election results, arguing against the media meme that conservative Democrats were triumphant, and instead pointing out that a regional realignment took place that is the counterpart of the Republicanization of the South:

The regional realignment over the past 40 years, which slowly converted Dixiecrats into Republicans, has now entered its final stage, as voters north of the Mason-Dixon line and west of the Mississippi provide a countervailing response to the southern-led Republican majority.

This transformation is occurring at the Senate, House and gubernatorial levels. Indeed, because Rust Belt Republicans will be replaced by progressive Democrats, regardless of the final totals tonight, the 110th Congress, in both chambers, will become more progressive as the Democratic shares grow and less conservative as the Republican shares shrink.

Worth reading the rest (this is about half of it). I hope that at some point the conservative narrative will stop distorting reality, so that the Democratic party can start acting as the sum of its actual parts.

(via Medley)