Is there some reason they can’t count that last one percent of the votes in Virginia? I’m starting to get a little suspicious that somebody is in the back room of some office frantically filling out just enough ballots to tilt the Senate race back in the other direction. They’ve been stuck on 99% reporting since last night, and the Democratic candidate is still ahead by the same number of votes.

Since the entire fabric of democracy hangs on those seven thousand votes between Jim Webb and George Allen, it’s not surprising that nobody wants to say that Webb won. (Well, except Webb, that is. He said it last night.) All of the other seats the Democrats needed to pick up to win control of the Senate have gone their way, Missouri last night and Montana this morning. The pencil-thin majority they have in the Virginia race, if it holds up, gives them the right to name committee chairs and set the agenda for at least the next two years.

It’s not exactly a mandate, though. It’s a few thousand votes here and there in a few states. Still, that’s all it was for George W. Bush in 2000, and he crowned himself emperor of the world on the basis of it. He’s a little more humble today than he was then. He even booted his favorite court jester Rummy out of his cushy office in the Pentagon, as a symbol of humility. Not regret or remorse or repentance, but humility. We’ll take it, if that’s all we can get.

We’ve heard the call for bipartisanship before. The Republicans offered it after they took the White House six years ago, and it lasted approximately until the applause died down from the inaugural address. The Democrats are making the same noises now, but how can they forget how they’ve been treated the last six years? Twelve years, for that matter, since the Gingrich revolution of 1994. The Grand Old Party has ruled with arrogance, marginalizing anyone who isn’t rich, white and a member of the old boys’ club.

Ha! If things go as they should, a woman will be a couple of heartbeats from the presidency, come January. A Democrat. A liberal. A San Franciscan. Ha! Nancy Pelosi will be elected Speaker and will be third in line to the presidency. Better give up the pork rinds, George. Ought to have that pacemaker checked, Dick. Ha!

I’m trying so hard not to gloat. Give me a couple of days and I’ll be as humble as GWB again. The Dems will do something stupid; it’s almost inevitable. Maybe John Kerry will try to tell another joke. We govern by consensus and compromise in this country, and the result is that nobody’s ever totally happy with what happens in Washington. But we’ve cleaned out some of the more corrupt politicians, and a new regime is in charge of the Congress. After all this time, that can’t be a bad thing.