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There's no need to rehash the election of last week -- or The Great Leap Forward, as we call it on the First Coast. It was what it was.

WASHINGTON -- Now that two of the last three Democratic presidencies have been emphatically judged to have been failures, the world's oldest political party -- the primary architect of this nation's administrative state -- has some thinking to do. The accumulating evidence that the Democratic Party is an exhausted volcano includes its fixation with stale ideas, such as the supreme importance of a 23rd increase in the minimum wage. Can this party be so blinkered by the modest success of its third recent presidency, Bill Clinton's, that it will sleepwalk into the next election behind Hillary Clinton?

WASHINGTON -- Memo to the GOP. You had a great night on Tuesday. But remember: You didn't win it. The Democrats lost it.

A prayer has been answered -- not for a massive Republican victory at the polls, though that, too. No, I'm thinking of the perennial prayer of losers: "Oh Lord, let my enemies go too far."

WASHINGTON -- Unlike the dog that chased the car until, to its consternation, he caught it, Republicans know what do with what they have caught. Having completed their capture of control of the legislative branch, they should start with the following six measures concerning practical governance and constitutional equilibrium:

Across the country, Americans voted for energy. Candidates from both sides of the aisle took note and recognized Americas potential to be an energy superpower. It was no different in Florida.

Amendment 2, the ill-fated attempt to legalize medical marijuana, was soundly defeated on Tuesday.So why did Amendment 2 lose, especially when it started out at 88 percent voter support?

On the Sunday before the election, CBS "Face the Nation" host Bob Schieffer unloaded one of those pompously "progressive" end-of-show commentaries about how our democracy is being ruined by money. "The right to vote is our proudest possession, but the way it has become debased by money shames us all."

Before the election results are in, and keeping in mind that there may be some unpleasant surprises for one party or the other -- or both -- it's possible to assess how the Democratic Party has fared under the leadership of President Obama. To summarize the verdict: not so well.

WASHINGTON -- Mix a pitcher of martinis Tuesday evening to fortify yourself against the torrent of election returns painting a pointillist portrait of the nation's mind. Before you become too mellow to care, consider some indexes of our civic tendencies.

Tuesday's governor's election will determine Florida's economic vitality for the next four years. The stakes are so high. Voters must examine the candidates and compare their records when they served in the executive office of governor.

When I fretted to my friend and colleague Jay Nordlinger that Republicans may learn the wrong lessons from success in 2014, he noted sagely that he prefers to wait until the results are in before drawing any lessons. While that ought to have stayed my hand, I think some contours are discernible, and so I plunge in!

WASHINGTON -- Is this election really about nothing? Democrats might like to think so, but it's not. First, like all U.S. elections, it's about the economy. The effect of the weakest recovery in two generations is reflected in President Obama's 13-point underwater ratings for his handling of the economy.

WASHINGTON -- To paraphrase Roger Miller -- and, indeed, to reveal my vast store of musical trivia -- America swings like a pendulum do. If projections, human nature and historical bent prevail next Tuesday, we may see a bit of topsy-turvy up on the benighted Hill. Anything still can happen, but it seemsas though Republicans may command both the House and Senate beginning next year.

Liberals have this terrible and annoying habit of congratulating themselves for their intellectual heft merely because they hold liberal views. Once this arrogant notion reigns, it's tough for liberals to acknowledge when one of their own says something so remarkably untrue and stupid that it makes you wonder just how ignorant is the liberal really.