Weigel presents three scenarios for tomorrow's spin. Here's what he titles "the nightmare" for Democrats:
In a pure wave election, voters generally pull the lever for the winning party all the way down the ballot, in the races they know less about. This is one reason why Virginia's Ken Cuccinelli easily won the 2009 race for attorney general despite editorial boards warning about his conservative activism. And this is why many budding Democratic stars California attorney general candidate Kamala Harris, New York attorney general candidate Eric Schneiderman, Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordraycould go down.
Few people have paid much attention to the Republicans who would replace them, or what they would do.
Cuccinelli has the answer: A new class of Republican attorneys general can take dead aim at the Obama administration's federal mandates, and a new class of Republican secretaries of state can raise the barriers to voting and voting registration, challenging early voting and same-day registration reforms that have been good for Democrats.
In other words, are Democrats about to lose one election? Or are they about to lose elections for years to come?