Lincoln Chafee's defeat, announced at 9:30 PM, is the bellweather the US media was looking for to predict the collapse of the conservative majority.
Yes, Joe Lieberman is projected to be reelected in Connecticut as an independent, against Ned Lamont, the candidate supported by the democratic party and all its leaders - including Chris Dodd, the other senator from Connecticut, and Hillary Clinton, the senator from New York and reigning favorite presidential non-candidate. It will be awkward, but the former vice-presidential candidate will caucus with the democrats - in spite of being elected largely with republican votes, a thank-you for his unwavering support to George Bush's "war on terror".
Lincoln Chafee, the moderate republican who succeeded his centrist father in Rhode Island, was another of these one-of-a-kind North-Eastern politician. All his pleadings with the electorate to avoid a "national referendum" failed: more than his personal record, it was his republican label that defeated him. His case is the clearest, but will not be the only one. Many republican incumbents are projected to fall victim to the same disgust with the White House unilateralism in conducting the war in Iraq, as well as in its dealings with Congress on social and economic issues.