What a superb, if early, Christmas present!

Bravo to Mr Epps for pointing out how many southern states are changing in ways that first see the light of day in Virginia. Thanks must go to the Virginians themselves, who spared the rest of us the prospect of having George Allen in our national consciousness. Yet another example of stunted frat-boy machismo, incapable and unwilling to evolve, Allen's departure, it is to be hoped, presages that of President Bush: when they go, finally rejected, they do so unloved and unmissed. Mr Epps makes the excellent observation that polarizing politics, dispensed from on high as if from a boardroom, prove exhausting eventually, and even die-hard partisans tire of the game.

The South, as a political entity, seems to be changing, if slowly. Note how Virginia attracts tech workers, who bring with them attitudes of tolerance and social progression, and begins electing Democrats. Other states, attractive to banking and other money interests like North Carolina and Tennessee, still elect Republicans, and of a particularly uninspiring sort (Richard Burr? Lamar Alexander? Elizabeth Dole?). The coverage of the Tennessee race showed Corker to be the kind of guy you see at a country club loudly discussing his golf game. If it takes a while for the other states of the south to catch up, we'll just have to wait. I mean, they can't just keep electing Jim Demint forever, can they?

As a Westerner who's made Virginia her adopted home for about 20 years, I see this a bit differently. Yeah, Webb got elected--I'm glad, since I voted for him because Allen's been setting my teeth on edge since his first governor's race when he took a decorative pink triangle off his flyers when someone pointed out what that could mean. But this election made a decision that I was going to have to make a lot easier: I'm leaving. I thought I could stick it out and I intended to stick it out (as they say, my being here pisses off all the right people), but my activist side sometimes has to defer to my family side.

I live in C'ville, a liberal bastion in central Virginia. Allen didn't have a snowball's chance in hell here. But in the rest of the state, the votes that Webb got were, I think, less about Webb than about what an ass Allen made of himself. VA has elected quite a few Democrats in the time I've been here. None are what people from other regions would recognize as liberal Democrats. As for technologists being more liberal... maybe. I am a technologist myself. IME, it's more about being left alone and letting others do their own thing on a personal level than it is about voting to protect personal rights on a regional or national level.

Liberal bastion or not, I am leaving Virginia. I will miss some things about it, but it's not a place where a lesbian with a family should raise her kids--kids I do not yet have but plan to (with my wife) within the next year. The voting for the amendment demonstrated that to me yet again. What really hurts is that most of those jackasses thought they were voting against gay marriage. They weren't. There was _already_ a law on the books forbidding same-sex marriage or civil unions and making any legal arrangements intended to mimic those arrangements unenforceable. But 57% of the voting population didn't realize that they were creating a state where only legal contracts made within marriage are sure to be respected--they thought they were sticking it to the queers. Some liberals thought that this is impossible. Guess what, kids? It's possible.

The good side is that both my wife and I make significantly higher wages than the average. After we leave, my wife and I won't be supporting the average Virginian anymore. We'll take our tax money somewhere we're accepted as full-blown human beings, thanks.

I've lived in Northern Virginia for 22 years, and the changes - all for the better - have been dramatic. Ten years ago, when I drove out to Orange or Culpeper County, it was like going back to SC, that outhouse of a state that I fled at the first opportunity. Now, these little communities are peopled by educated black and brown and yellow people who despise football and are unimpressed with the ancestor worship of the natives. And these new people vote in greater numbers than the natives. A couple of things:

I worked on the Allen campaign and gave money to the campaign. A lot of Dems didn't like Webb, but they worked and voted for him because they thought he was the best candidate to take down Allen. At the Fairfax County Democratic annaul crab feast in September, it was clear that a lot of people were not happy with Webb. But they worked for him and brought in their friends. And let's be honest: Did anyone really think that Allen would go down? Hell, I didn't think Webb would win until two weeks before the election when the Allen camp started hocking Webb about his novels. I knew then that Allen was desperate. AND don't forget that Allen had a 14:1 funding advantage. Let's be honest. Of all the potential senate seats in contention, NO ONE thought Allen would fall, because well, it was Virginia; and his name was George Allen, and the Virginians are unwilling to buck the tide.

Re Ollie North: He ran in 1994 when the Repubs swept the Dems from power, and North lost in Virginia against Robb. It finished North as a serious political contender. As one Repub analyst said: If North couldn't win in Virginia in 1994, he can't win anywhere.

OH gave us Dewine. MO gave us Talent and Ashcroft. PA gave us Latin-for Asshole Santorum. CA gave us B-1 Bob. Every state has someone to be ashamed of. And don't make too much of the Caseys and the Shulers and their Jesus talk. These guys are not going to prance around the Hill handing out plastic fetuses. They'll spend more time on economic issues - trade and outsourcing are killing PA and western NC.

I was back in SC a few months ago and had dinner with one of my old professors who describes him and his wife as "out of the closet" Democrats. He said there were a lot of white Dems, but they kept a low profile. Thanks to Dean, I think we're going to see a bunch more come out of the closet.