THE REALLY GOOD NEWS ABOUT BUSH'S REELECTION...
...is that Bush is in an excellent position to appoint some excellent Supreme Court justices. With an even stronger Republican majority in the Senate and with obstructionist Minority Leader Tom Daschle out of the picture, we actually have a chance to put some balance back into the courts.

Liberal justices have held off on retirement, hoping to get a Democratic president to choose their replacement. But that strategy has probably backfired, since if they had retired this term Bush would have likely had to find justices with more moderate views to placate the backbiting minority.

NO GLOATING HERE....
It really could have turned out the other way. I'm in South Florida this week, and didn't get a chance to vote before I left, much to the griping and complaining of certain stalwart Republicans ("It's okay," I kept repeating, "the Republicans will carry Georgia!"). I would have been in for a lynching if Bush had lost by one vote. Fortunately I called Georgia correctly.

Here in Florida it clearly looked like Kerry Country. A toll booth operator, sporting a Kerry button, shouted, "VOTE FOR KERRY!" as I handed her my dollar. But most of the 'international' people I know here (Cubans, South Americans, Asians, etc) were leaning for Bush. One told me that 'they' were offering $50 to vote for Kerry. When I kept asking "who are 'they'?" I just got a shrug. I did my best to talk up Bush for the undecideds, and maybe got a few to go to the polls.

Not that *I* would take credit for Bush carrying Florida, of course....