Our status as political junkies, to say nothing of the 24-hour news cycle, has a tendency to desensitize us to major election-related news events. This week was an excellent case-in-point. By the time Indiana Sen. Dick Lugar conceded defeat on Tuesday night, the outcome was such a foregone conclusion that it barely registered on our radar. Amazing, isn't it, that the defeat of a six-term incumbent senator (and by 22 points, no less!) was seen as an "as-expected" result.
Especially when you consider that it had not happened in 62 years.
Indiana was the latest twist in an election year where expectations and assumptions seem to be challenged on a daily basis. Democrats, once thought deeply imperiled in their bid to retain the Senate, now look like they can stitch together a plausible case for continued majority status. Indeed, one can see a sliver of daylight where they could actually pick up seats, though that prospect remains quite remote.
At the top of the ballot, we saw the continuation of a consistent theme since the end of the GOP primary: the daily trackers on an island, Mitt Romney showing some competitiveness in key battlegrounds, but needing a lot of help to craft a coalition of states that will get him to 270.
On top of all that, it is officially on and cracking in Wisconsin, where the breakneck pace of the recall elections heads into a four-week sprint.
All that (and more!) in the Mother's Day edition of the Weekend Digest.
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