Wow what a night for Democrats nationwide. Not so in Texas, but there is hope on the horizon. 2010 might be the year that Democrats win in the state and in Harris County. Yesterday Democrats ran good races in the Houston area and came close to winning some county wide races. If you had a Hispanic name you did better then Anglo Democrats. A Democrat, Jim Sharp, did win in Harris, but lost in the surrounding area. Can you imagine how well John Sharp would have done in running for Governor? Democrats did win in Dallas County and even in the Hill Country.

Chris Bell would have given Rick Perry a good run if Strayhorn and Friedman were not on the ballot. Perry got less then 40% of the vote and Bell would have picked up a majority of the anti Perry vote if the other two candidates were not on the ballot.

Martha Wong was defeated and that in itself is a cause to celebrate. She is not a nice warm person. The Texas Legislature will be better off with her departure. A pick up of 5 seats for the Dems will help move the House of Representatives more to the middle and GOP members will take a hard look at those who lost and decide that perhaps they do not have to march in lock step to Speaker Craddick's orders. Maybe just maybe they might think about voting for a new Speaker who might be more bipartisan and more moderate in his political views.

And maybe President Bush will decide to move to the middle and become a compassionate conservative like he was when he was Governor of Texas. With the House in the control of the Democrats and perhaps even the Senate the President should do what is the best for the Country. Govern in the middle where the voters are. But will Karl Rove let him do that? I would bring in a good Democrat to the White House to help open communications with the new Democratic majority.

And good guys do win. Nick Lampson is a good guy and will be a good Congressman for the next two years. But Shelley Gibbs will be there looking over his shoulder and the 22nd is a GOP district so Nick will have lots of work to do during the next year or so. Did you notice the Chronicle's story on Gibbs where she admitted to not taking Medicare patients in the medical practice a few years back, but now she does? That did not help her with seniors.

So it was a great night for Democrats, now all they have to do is govern.