As the dust clears on yesterday’s special election in Western New York’s 26th congressional district, in which Democrat Kathy Hochul easily defeated Republican Jane Corwin by five points in a district where John McCain bested Barack Obama by six points in 2008, the political world has begun to debate the meaning of the results. Democrats, as expected, are convinced that their victory was tantamount to a repudiation of the GOP’s Medicare plan, which Hochul turned into one of the race’s major issues. Republicans, for the most part, are either in denial that Medicare had anything to do with it (which seems absurd), or believe that, even if it did, it just means they need to sell the plan better. If you’ll recall, that’s what Democrats told themselves about health care reform in the months prior to losing about a million seats in Congress.
Eric Erickson, Red State:
Jim Geraghty, Campaign Spot/National Review:
Chris Chocola, Club for Growth, Corner/National Review:
John McCormack, Weekly Standard:
Jennifer Rubin, Right Turn/Washington Post:
Peter Wehner, Contentions/Commentary:
Jonathan Tobin, Contentions/Commentary:
Ron Christie, Politico Arena:
Philip Klein, Washington Examiner:
John Hinderaker, Powerline:
David Frum, Frum Forum:
