Sidney Blumenthal gives a hopefull (if you're a Democrat) analysis of the 2006 midterms in How America Dumped Bush Part 1 He says Repubs have driven away Mainline Protestant and young voters. They've squandered inroads with Hispanic and Catholic voters. And the Repubs have stopped being a national party and become a southern regional party.

Nixon's (and Rove's) 'Southern Strategy' now becomes a liability. Only three moderate Republican Senators remain in office, and there is only one Republican House member from New England.

My favorite quote:

The strongest race run by any Republican did more than prove the rule of 2006. Arnold Schwarzenegger won reelection as governor of California by 17 percentage points by openly attacking President Bush, firing his Republican chief of staff and hiring a lesbian activist who had worked for his Democratic predecessor as a replacement, and adopting liberal positions across the board. As major figures from California often demonstrate, Schwarzenegger may represent the future of American politics but not the future of the Republican Party. Any Republican attempting this trick in another state would almost certainly be destroyed by the party's right wing.

Part II of How America dumped Bush is here .