Beyond the US Congress, the Republican victories on state level matter:
Republicans won a majority of U.S. governorships and made gains in state Legislatures, giving the party greater influence in redrawing congressional districts next year.
The party will control 25 Legislatures, including Ohio, North Carolina, and Minnesota, boosting their power in statehouses by the most since 1928, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Republicans won the House and Senate in Alabama for the first time since the end of the Civil War. They took governors' seats from Democrats in Michigan, Pennsylvania and at least nine other states.
Fifteen to 25 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives are more likely to remain Republican or switch from Democratic after redistricting as a result of the party's victory in the states, said Ed Gillespie, chairman of the Republican State Leadership Committee.
"We're going to end up protecting a lot as opposed to carving new ones," Gillespie said in a conference call with reporters.
Congressional seats will be reapportioned following the 2010 U.S. census. States with shrinking populations will lose seats, and those with growing ones will gain them. The party that draws the election map in each state will shape the political landscape for the next 10 years.
Redistricting, my sweeties, redistricting. The hand that holds the governor's pen might draw those lines! And clever lines guarantee maximum numbers of victories to the party that holds the governorship.
On the other hand, nobody in their right minds wants to be running state economies in the next two years. Whoever does it will be blamed and kicked out. That seems to be how the Election Principle works.