Elections were a much-needed kick in the rear for conservatives

Call them a post-Halloween trick or a highly anticipated early Thanksgiving treat, but Tuesday night's election results were a much-needed kick in the rear for full-blooded conservatives (aka libertarians) such as myself.

Certainly, no group has been through as much self-doubt and downright anguish during the past 12 months. Those who worshipped at the altar of Ronald Reagan lo these many years whistled through the graveyard of 2008 telling ourselves that the Barack Obama presidency was an anomaly, the "perfect storm" of American politics. Exit polls now tell us we were right. The young people, the African Americans, the soccer moms, none turned out Tuesday in the numbers needed to sustain the Obama phenomenon.

But the real message of this year's election cycle is reserved for those 80 or so moderate House Democrats known as the "Blue Dogs." As the debate winds down over heath care reform, do they continue to side with Nancy Pelosi and their leadership, full speed ahead? Do they hear the drumbeat of disaffected conservatives and the fast growing numbers of free-thinking independents?

Their jobs are in jeopardy in 2010. The question is, do they realize it? And for some of them, do they even care?

DAVID PEEK
Sumter