Andrew, the problem I have with “throw the bums out” mantro is that some of them aren’t bums. A little too much of that mood keeps voters home or swept up in a mood that is more about a mood than about individual members. If a Rick Santorum, for instance, loses this year, it will be a shame — especially because he would have lost in large part because of that referendum mood — people seeing their vote (or lack thereof?) as a statement on their feeling about progress in Iraq, about spending in Congress, etc. And in some individual cases, it will be a real shame. There’s something to Ken Mehlman’s choice-not-a-referendum framing of November.

UPDATE: Yes — even with the polar bears.