An Historic Election

There have been many occurrences in today's election that are historic, so many that historians and political scientists will be evaluating the numbers for a long time.

It's not yet 11 o'clock Central time, but we can say, at this point, that

• with about two-thirds of the precincts reporting, Barack Obama has received about 51% of the popular vote. It looks as if he will be the first Democrat since Jimmy Carter in 1976 to win a majority of the popular vote;


• the South remained solidly Republican, but Obama snapped a 44-year GOP victory streak in Virginia, recaptured Florida and may yet become the first Democrat since Carter to win North Carolina, and


• Democrats have gained five seats in the Senate and the current breakdown has the Democrats holding a 56-40 advantage (including independent Joe Lieberman and socialist Bernie Sanders, who caucus with the Democrats).
  
  The last four, as-yet unresolved Senate races — in Alaska, Georgia, Minnesota and Oregon — are all currently held by Republicans and may yield two or even three more takeovers for the Democrats.
  
  But the odds don't seem to favor a sweep — which appears to be necessary for Democrats to claim a filibuster-proof three-fifths majority.

All year, I've observed the 40th anniversary of events from the landmark year of 1968.

It's truly ironic that Obama's victory rally took place in Chicago's Grant Park. Forty years ago, that was the scene of horrific clashes between the Chicago police and the young demonstrators who came to the city during the Democratic national convention to protest the party's role in the escalation of the Vietnam War.

If Obama's victory is symbolic, to a certain extent, of the racial healing that has been occurring in America, perhaps the location of the victory rally is likewise symbolic — of a party that has exorcised its lingering demons from the past.

And that is what the Democrats must do to govern effectively in the future.