Happy Thoughts

-The latest Newsweek poll looks wonderful. Bush's approval rating has fallen to 33%. By a 44-37 margin, Americans trust Democrats more than Republicans to fight the war on terror. By a 42-36 margin, Democrats are better on moral values. And we do even better than that on everything else. I'm guessing that this poll overstates our strength somewhat -- the Bush approvals are such a sharp drop from other polls -- but it's definitely heartening.

-What happens if Republicans lose Congress by a big margin, Hastert has to resign, and lots of GOP moderates get taken out? Does the Mike Pence wing of the GOP rise to power by claiming that Republicans lost because they went astray from their entitlement-slashing roots? Let's hope so, because if there's anything Democrats have always been able to fight effectively on, it's defending popular entitlement programs. I'd love to see the GOP spend the next several years replicating the failures of Newt Gingrich in '95-96 and Bush's Social Security privatization initiative.

-It's been a good couple weeks for werewolf-endorsed candidates. (Thanks to everyone who donated! Together we sent well over $2000 to the races where Democrats most need your money.) At the end of September, Gary Trauner and Victoria Wulsin made their first appearances on the National Journal's list of the 50 most competitive House races. Darcy Burner's race moved from "Leans Republican" to "Toss-up" in the Cook Political Report. Larry Grant won a newspaper endorsement in Idaho. Make no mistake, Grant will look sort of like a House version of Ben Nelson. But that's a lot better than Sali, who will look like a House version of Rick Santorum. And every conservative Idaho Democrat in the house is one step closer to John Conyers running the Judiciary Committee, Henry Waxman wielding subpoena power, and Speaker Pelosi passing 100 hours of very popular Democratic legislation.