Yeah, a pretty good Election Day. I'm happy about Virginia and New Jersey. And I'm pleased if California voters think the GOP is the party that's out of touch with ordinary voters:

...Voters overwhelmingly defeated Proposition 76, the governor's centerpiece proposal to slow the growth of state spending. Proposition 77, which would have redrawn legislative and congressional districts, was knocked down by a similar margin.

Failing by slimmer spreads were Proposition 74, a plan to make teachers work longer to achieve tenure, and Proposition 73, which would have restricted political spending by public employee unions.

Poll after poll showed it was an election that Californians didn't want, with a total lineup of eight initiatives that didn't connect with every day issues such as gas prices, housing costs and the war in Iraq....

Tim Wong, 48, an independent from Belmont, called the election "a waste of the meager money we have."...

And, even though I didn't vote for him, I'm not particularly upset at the reelection of Mike Bloomberg in New York -- he's the first mayor in 32 years to win reelection here without resorting to liberal-bashing, union-busting, or the baiting of minorities; he hasn't divided the city with poisonous rhetoric, like the two most recent reelected mayors, Rudy Giuliani and Ed Koch (although he was endorsed by both of them).

But the Bloomberg win points out that, even up in the blue Northeast, there's far less Democratic pride than there is Republican pride in the heartland. Here's another troubling sign:

A voter survey in New Jersey found women favored Corzine by more than 20 points while men narrowly preferred Forrester. Two-thirds of Hispanics and nearly all blacks favored the U.S. senator, while whites and wealthier people split their votes between the candidates.

So Bush is below 40% approval, New Jersey is a blue state, and still men there, particularly white men, prefer the GOP. Now, a lot of this relates to factors specific to this race. Still, I'll believe we're looking at a real political shift in this country when Democrats can regularly get white men on board -- at least on the coasts.