As much as I would love to see this result turned around, I just don't see it happening. Instead, I'm starting to look ahead to '06 and hoping we can get control of the senate.
Looking ahead to who is up in '06, we have 16 Republicans, 17 Democrats and Jeffords. In those numbers, we have quite a few prominent Senators - Teddy Kennedy, Rick Santorum, Hilary Clinton, Bill Frist, Joe Biden, Dianne Feinstein, Lincoln Chafee and more.
This is an excellent chance for us to make a statement about a renewed Democratic Party. If we are going to reclaim the White House in '08, we must make a statement in two years time.
Hilary Clinton is likely to face a tough challenge. The Republicans will be desperate to get her out in advance of '08. They will pour millions of dollars into the race just as they did with Daschle this year. We must ensure that Hilary has adequate support from the grass roots. As the likely frontrunner for '08, having her lose her re-election bid would be a disaster for the Democratic Party.
We, however, have a similar opportunity with Bill Frist. The Senate Majority leader is the most likely Republican candidate in '08. Frist would obviously appear to be safe, but so would Clinton. We need to invest millions in this race and hopefully convince a prestigious candidate to run (hmmm, who's from Tenn, a former politician doing a whole bunch of nothing right now?). Who would have thought that Daschle would lose? This is a seat we could win and must make an effort to win.
Lincoln Chafee's seat is an interesting situation. His most difficult challenge will likely be winning the Republican nomination. He will almost certainly be challenged by an extreme right wing candidate, much like what happened in Pennsylvania this year. The fact that he's up for re-election in two years might actually be further motivation for Chafee to defect to the Democrats. As long as we promise him a safe nomination I imagine Chafee would be more than happy to join our party.
Santorum is another Repubican we can definetly go after. Pennsylvania went strongly for Kerry and Santorum is to the right of Bush. What we must do in this race is to convince the citizens of Pennsylvania that it is important and an opportunity to stop Bush. Similar to other races, a prominent candidate and lots of money would be of great help here.
The other races I mentioned almost certainly won't be close, but they will be fun to watch. The key now is for us to move on and look forward.
We lost in '04. It's over. Now we need to ahead to an election we can still win. 2006 will be a year of great opportunity which we must capitalize on.