There's been extraordinary turnout in at least some Vermont towns. In Danville, 64 percent of voters went to the polls; in Elmore, 70 percent; in North Hero, 70 percent.
In North Hero, a hot local issue -- the fate of the old town hall -- may have helped drive turnout. But elsewhere? I think a man I interviewed at my polling place in Burlington this afternoon nailed it: "This is one of the biggest elections in the history of our country." In parts of Vermont, at least, anger at the Bush administration, anger about the war in Iraq sent people to the polls in unusual numbers for a mid-term election.
National results aren't conclusive yet, but 2006 is starting to feel a lot like 1974, the year when public revulsion over Watergate swept Democrats -- including Sen. Patrick Leahy -- into Washington.
-- Candace Page