I watched a lot of the election results and talking head commentary last night, mostly on MSNBC, and some of the local stuff on KATV here in Little Rock. It seems the Democrats kind of kicked the Republicans’ butt. It reminded me of 94 when the Republicans did the same to the Democrats. Democrats easily took control of the House, and the jury is still out on the Senate, with a couple of races still to be determined. It appears the count right now is R 49, D 47, and I 2. It would seem that if the Democrats got the 2 outstanding races, it would be tied, although which direction the independents lean might really determine who has control. Locally, Mike Beebe (D) defeated Asa Hutchinson (R) in the governor’s race by a decent margin. As in any race, in my opinion, how good or bad that is remains to be seen.

I’ve got a little bit of a problem with the phrase “the people have spoken.” I’ve heard that used several times already, coming from different people in different races. At least a couple of times it was spoken by someone who barely won. Now, to me, the phrase “the people have spoken” implies there was a clear message from a large majority of people that you should be the next governor/senator/congressman. One was from the race in Tennessee where the winning senator stated “the people have spoken.” The reality was that 48% spoke for the other guy. A 51% to 48% win isn’t exactly a landslide. It reminded me of Bill Clinton’s “mandate for change” in 1992. I’m not sure 43% is a “mandate”, but maybe I’m just making too much over such things.

The best news that comes out of the elections from yesterday is this: now it’s Wednesday, the elections are over, and I don’t have to see political ads anymore while watching television or hear them on the radio. I think that’s something Democrats, Republicans, and everyone else can be thankful for.

Speaking of television, I’m looking forward to tonight’s episode of Lost. This is the 6th episode of the season, but it’s also the “fall season finale.” The series takes a break until February, when new episodes will reappear and continue without interruption until the end in May. I’ve gone through Lost withdrawals the last 2 summers, and I am going to miss it again for the next few months. However, I will look forward to having several months of new episodes each week, as opposed to having reruns interspersed throughout the year as they have in previous years.

And in other Lost news, i saw this today – Lost Action Figures from McFarlane Toys. I’ve only bought one action figure since I was a child – McFarlane’s Alice Cooper, which I found for a few bucks on eBay a couple of years ago. Now, they will be releasing 6 new figures from Lost – Jack, Kate, Locke, Hurley, Charlie and Shannon. What, no Sawyer?? No Sayid?? Why Shannon? She’s not even one of the top 10 characters in the series. Not that I’ll be acquiring any of these. I have a large collection of Star Wars action figures from when I was a kid. I’ve held on to those. I’ll pass on Lost. But, I’m still waiting for the right price on eBay for Eddie.