Bright moments…

GOP Congresswoman Marilyn Musgrave was unseated tonight by Democratic challenger Betsy Markey after another intense campaign that blasted voters with nasty attack ads.

The only thing Musgrave was good for was spiking the progressive outrage meter with the hate that rolled so trippingly off her tongue. Good riddance.

Ousting 22-year veteran Rep. Chris Shays in Connecticut gave Democrats every House seat from New England. Their victory in an open seat on New York's Staten Island gave them control of all of New York City's delegation in Washington for the first time in 35 years.

Another stake in the heart of the 'moderate Republican' myth.

Rep. John P. Murtha, D-Pa., who chairs a subcommittee with the most influence on the Pentagon's spending, who had a scare after calling his district south of Pittsburgh "racist," won easy re-election.

He's not exactly the model of a progressive Democrat, but he's a critical ally to the Speaker when she needs to move the Blue Dogs in the right direction and he's been in the right place, if not always for the right reasons, on the war. Good to see he wasn't punished for honesty.

“Democrats won new majorities in the Delaware House, Ohio House, Wisconsin Assembly, New York Senate, and the Nevada Senate.”

There's a census coming up, isn't there? This is a bigger deal than you might think.

Democrat Jeff Merkley has ousted Republican Gordon Smith from his U.S. Senate seat, The Oregonian projects.

Good news from the lower upper left.

OLYMPIA _ Trailing by more than 100,000 votes – and well behind in several counties he easily won four years ago – Republican Dino Rossi has conceded the race for governor.

Done. Chris is back. Whew.

Still pulling for Darcy and Peter and Al and some others. Glad, too, about I-1000 passing, and saddened by California's slip into the shadows of inequality.

But on balance? This is a good 'un. Maybe the best of my life.