A reader e-mails: “Ha! Before going to the Barone link I thought Barone was saying that it was

bad news for Democrats. And the logic works for such a scenario using the

same map that Barone uses. That is, the Democrats were as fired up as they

could get, high turnout and a well positioned candidate, while the

Republicans weren’t paying attention with a bad candidate. Everything was

in place for a perfect storm as far as the Dems were concerned. And the

best they could do is lose by 4 percent. Prediction: Republican turnout will be a hell of a lot higher in 2006 and 2008.”

Great, kid, but don’t get cocky.