Republicans resurgent: Tough times ahead for Obama
The Republicans are resurgent. They have grasped the greatest prize of these midterms, control of the Senate.
They can barely believe their luck. For now they can control the political agenda and make the final two years of the Obama presidency a form of political torture for the White House.
The President sits this morning in the White House looking at a new and very bleak political landscape.
His cherished legacy is now in great peril, under assault abroad by foreign crises and at home by a hostile Congress that wants to dismantle his policies and tie his administration in knots.
More: US Midterm elections: Result crucial for Barack Obama
It was a painful night for Democrats. To lose Arkansas and West Virginia was expected. To lose in Colorado, Iowa and North Carolina - states that Obama won in 2008 and 2012 - was a true repudiation.
This will be not be a refreshing, uplifting two years for the country.
Ignore the early outreach from the White House and the Republican leadership. "Just because we have a two-party system doesn't mean we have to be in perpetual conflict,” vowed Mr. McConnell, in a victory speech.
But that simply masks the bitter partisan maneuvering that will dominate the next two years.
Because the fight for the Senate overnight was just the warm-up act for a still more consequential political war: the Presidential contest in two years.
So put to one side the recriminations among the Democrats and the anguish of the President. The next chapter is a furious, high-stakes, take-no-prisoners, intra-Republican battle for the presidential nomination.
Fasten your seat belts.