I don't think I need to tell anyone that I'm very happy about the outcome of the US congressional elections. The Dems took the house and have given a good fight in the senate (where we probably won't know the final outcome for quite a while yet).
The implications of this victory are big. You'll see conservatives all over the place, and especially in Australia, try to downplay the importance of this vote, but it's just damage control. John Howard will be very worried about the outcome of this election. The mood in the US has been for change and now the Dems will launch a two-year election campaign for the presidency. The problem for Howard will be that there is every possibility that this mood will spread to Australia and every policy hit that the conservatives take in the US will be a body blow for their Australian counterparts.
At the very least, Howard's Iraq policy is going to look stupid when Bush is forced to backflip. With IR, interest rates, and the environment all in play as issues Howard isn't going to like taking hits on national security.
