national race is really perilous. you cannot even go from house races to statewide races, otherwise we'd have senator sharron angle, senator christine o'donnell. the truth is that these protest votes are not the same as a vote for president, not the same as a vote for senator. voters have been very careful about saying i'm willing to take on new faces. these tea party folks at the house district level, register my protest, slap democrats and maybe the president in the face here. but when it comes to statewide and, therefore, national elections, it's a very different picture, a very different assessment and those polls seem to underscore that too. so it's not a great day for democrats, but to jump in and say that means republicans are a shoo-in next year is delusional as well. >> well, celeste, i remember when the upstate congressional race happened and a democrat won on the social security issue. republicans said it doesn't mean nothing, one special election, one congressional. now all of a sudden this is the