It’s been a long and difficult campaign season, full of negativity, manipulation, and downright dishonesty on the part of the opposition party. The war in Iraq, despite unreported progress, and despite the fact that the President has often repeated that “difficult times lie ahead”, has become difficult to watch as our own casualties mount. As the violence and destruction, and the golden opportunity for independence and liberty is seemingly slipping through the fingers of the Iraqi people like so many grains of desert sand, even the intelligence and bravery of our military men and women has become fair political game.

Our political opponents want victory so badly they can taste it, and if you believe the polling, they are well on their way to a victory the size of Gingrich’s victory in ‘94. I well remember Peter Jennings’ “angry white male”, “temper tantrum” explanations for the ‘94 results, and I’m sure that the talking heads have their talking points memorized and teleprompters ready to explain the ins and outs of the Democrat victory in tomorrow’s election. That is, of course, if you believe the polling. Captain Ed at CQ Blog has a look at some internal numbers by Pew Research that should make conservatives more than cautiously optimistic. I’ll post a link below.

Pew Research actually confirms much of what I’ve thought regarding the overall mood of the electorate. It’s going to be an interesting night.

Evangelicals (which includes me) are pretty tired of being told that Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, and whats-his-name Dobson from Focus on the Family are the exclusive faces and voices of Christian Republicans. I don’t give a hoot about their political opinions. Their job is to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus, and anything else they’re saying or doing is on their own time.

The latest round of “Preachers Gone Wild” is no different now than when Jimmy Swaggart, and Jim Bakker got theirs. Preachers are just men who are subject to the same temptations that all of us are, except when they fall, it makes a much larger and louder crash. Of course, our opponents on the left like to hold them up as shining examples of Christian hypocrisy, as if we need another reason to accept the fact that absent the grace of God, we are all a pathetic bunch. And, the fact that we can remember the times in our lives that we thought we were invincible, infallible men of our own creation, doesn’t give us any great satisfaction to see people in charge of churches fail miserably. Instead, it reminds us of where we were and what we were doing when God got our attention, even if He had to use a 2X4 as His tool of choice. Frankly, we’re tired of being held up for ridicule by the talking heads of the secular media because of our faith. The constant bashing we get from the left reinforces rather than discourages our political participation. Despite their best efforts to depress the Christian vote with gay-bashing, outings, and scandal mongering, Evangelicals will befuddle the left again with a large turnout, overwhelmingly for Republican candidates.

Another group of Republicans that will be there at the polls are the ones I call “9-11 Republicans.” They see quite clearly that their normal proclivity to vote Democrat would only ensure that the power of governance would be granted to the political party that just doesn’t “get it” with regards to National Security. They are concerned about social issues, but they rightly believe that staying free from the threat of islamic supremacism takes precedence over social concerns. They’ll be there, and vote Republican by a large majority.

Military families, Check. Michael Steele Republicans, Check. Ronald Reagan Republicans, Check.

As a matter of fact, the only ones that I’m not too sure of are the moderate Republicans, which, unless there is a scandal involved, are the only ones that seem to get any press. They are more likely to have a defeatist BDS attitude, and more likely than others to either stay home, or not enthusiastically support conservative candidates. But, they’ll be at the polls, if it doesn’t rain.

I could be totally wrong about this, and may even have to eat a little crow. I’m told it tastes like chicken. I don’t believe so. I believe instead, that I will be doing some crowing.

Here’s the link to the CQ analysis that I was talking about. Read it. Have faith. And trust that whatever the outcome, God will continue to bless this nation.

See you at the polls.

>>>Nuke

Update at LateThirty: The momentum continues with a fourth poll in recent days showing Republicans gaining ground on Democrats in the closing days of the election. James Carville and Stan Greenberg’s Democracy Corps poll (November 2-5) confirms the findings of three other polls released in the last two days that show Republicans gaining ground in their competitive district survey……Rove, you magnificent bastid