As polls in the Eastern time zone began closing, another Democrat won a U.S. Senate race--this time, in Michigan, where incumbent Sen. Debbie Stabenow won her second full term by defeating Republican challenger Michael Bouchard.
Heading into the election, the race easily could have gone either way: Six years ago, Stabenow defeated her 2000 opponent by just 1 percent of the vote (49 to 48 percent), and Bouchard, a former state senator and state representative, was nominated with 61 percent of the vote in a two-way Republican primary earlier this year.
A disturbing trend has begun to develop in early results as one race after another is being called in favor of Democratic candidates.
"The worst thing I can imagine for our country is that we lose control of the Senate Judiciary Committee," said Focus on the Family judicial analyst Bruce Hausknecht. "If we do, the president is not going to get the conservative judges that he would like confirmed. If the Democrats control the Senate, they are going to bring obstruction to a whole new level. Just the thought of Patrick Leahy as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee keeps me awake at night.
"But Democrats still need to win some key races in Tennessee, Montana and Rhode Island. They're not home free yet with control of the Senate. So I'm still holding out hope."
Stabenow opposed Michigan's marriage-protection amendment, which passed in 2004, and the federal Marriage Protection Amendment that legislators voted down earlier this year. Bouchard supported both.
