A THOUGHT: The Republicans are doing a lot better than people expected a couple of weeks ago, and a lot better than parties usually do in midterms when they control the Presidency. Bush has been campaigning like hell the last couple of weeks.

This was a big gamble for him — if he had stayed in the Rose Garden, they probably wouldn’t have done nearly as well, but his spinmeisters could have used history to deflect a lot of the criticism. But once he went out to campaign, it was a gamble: if Jeb Bush had lost, and if the GOP had gotten creamed in some of these other races, he’d look much weaker as a result, and the war effort might have been in danger, leaving him likely to be a one-termer.

But he took the risk, and though at this hour it’s not clear how big the victory is, he’s clearly won a victory.

Do you think he’ll pursue a similarly audacious strategy on the war?