Wednesday night punditry

Democrats fared better than Republicans in Tuesday's elections, but it's hard to find many surprises in the results.

Yes, the blue team took the checkered flag in the New Jersey and Virginia governor's races, but in New Jersey, it would have been a huge upset if a Democrat didn't win. The Virginia victory is more impressive, considering how solidly the state went for President Bush last year. But Tim Kaine had popular incumbent Gov. Mark Warner campaigning on his behalf, so it's tough to know whether the vote was more of a referendum on Bush or Warner.

The message was clearer in California, where voters rejected all four of the ballot initiatives that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed, signaling that he's well on his way to becoming a one-terminator as Californians slowly realize they elected the Last Action Hero as their governor.

But the clearest mandate of all came in Dover, Pa., where voters resoundingly rejected their school board's decision to include intelligent design in the science curriculum by ejecting eight of the nine members who voted to do so. The six Kansas state school board members who voted Tuesday to redefine the word science might want to pay attention.