'Tails Between Their Legs

The two House races that were called over the weekend showed surprising results, but only because the winners bucked very strong WH coattails to prevail. They were also aided by challengers who weren't well-suited to take advantage of that top-of-the-ticket help.

-- Dave Reichert's (R-WA 08) 52-48% win over '06 nominee Darcy Burner (D) means he actually did better in King Co. than he did in their '06 squeaker. Considering Pres-elect Obama delivered a smashing performance there, that's quite an accomplishment. But while Reichert's indie image helped him overcome that wave, the liberal Burner just wasn't the right fit for this business-oriented CD. The late dust-up over whether she received an econ. degree only exacerbated her problems.

-- And in MD-01, Queen Anne's Co. Atty Frank Kratovil (D) overcame John McCain's strong performance to defeat state Sen. Andy Harris (R). Why? Because Harris was from the wrong part of the CD. On the Eastern Shore, where Kratovil hailed and where 56% of the vote was cast, McCain won a 25K-vote plurality over Obama. But Kratovil took a nearly 21K-vote edge out of there. Harris' so-so performance in his Annapolis base just wasn't enough to overcome those devastating Eastern Shore numbers.

-- The lesson: campaigns and candidates still mattered, even though the WH race appeared to take all the oxygen out of the room.