Obama has learned nothing from what he acknowledges was a "shellacking."

Almost 90 new Republicans have been elected to Congress, but will not be seated until January. The new Congress would never vote to allow openly gay men to serve, a step opposed by the heads of every branch of the military (though it is supported by the Secretary of Defense).

So the President plans to push for a vote on gays in the military in the two-week lame duck session dominated by Democrats, 61 of whom who have been voted out of office.

Did Obama notice that the Democrats in the Maine Legislature which voted for same-sex marriage, were voted out of office this week? That is explicit evidence the President is wrong in asserting "overwhelming majorities" favor same-sex marriage. The public opposes it. Forty-two states have passed Defense of Marriage Act laws that limit marriage to a man and a woman. Thirty put it in their state constitutions.

Or did Obama hear that all three Iowa Supreme Court judges who voted for gay marriage lost their retention elections, for the first time in state history.

In fact, 680 new Republican state legislators were elected, enough for 20 state legislative chambers, like Maine's, to flip from Democrats to Republicans. This is a seismic political shift.

"The sheer magnitude of the Republican victory was the big surprise," said Tim Storey, an elections analyst at the National Conference of State Legislatures.

North Carolina has its first Republican House and Senate since 1870. So does Alabama have its first GOP control of both houses since Reconstruction. I grew up in Alabama where Republicans were hated. Why? As any Alabama 4th grader could tell you, Lincoln was Republican.

That animosity finally melted after 140 years. Republicans now hold 18 of 28 legislative chambers in the South. "In 1990 they didn't hold one," said Storey.

This sweep of Republicans also roared across the Midwest. For the first time in history, Minnesota's House and Senate are Republican. The Democratic-Farm-Labor Party has dominated that state since the days Hubert Humphrey put the Coalition together in the 1940s.

Similarly, both chambers in Wisconsin's Legislature flipped to GOP control, as did at least the House in Pennsylvania, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Iowa, Montana, Colorado and New Hampshire. Five chambers are undecided as I write n in Colorado, New York, Oregon, Washington. The GOP has won 53 percent of all state legislative seats, its peak since 1928.

The Republicans picked up 61 U.S. House seats so far, its largest gain since 1948.

While most of the national reporting and commentary on this tsunami election have focused upon economic reasons for this historic shift, social issues such as same-sex marriage and abortion were also important.

Abortion advocates will no longer control the U.S. House of Representatives. Not only did pro-abortion Speaker Pelosi lose power, but so did Steny Hoyer, House Majority Leader. New House leaders are uniformly pro-life.

Pro-life Women won 23 key Senate and House races and gubernatorial contests. Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire will be the lone pro-life woman in the Senate, taking on such pro-abortion stalwarts as Barbara Boxer and Diane Feinstein of California. New Pro-life Governors include Jan Brewer of Arizona, Nikki Haley in South Carolina, Mary Falin of Oklahoma and Susana Martinez in New Mexico.

Pro-life voters gave walking papers to some Members of Congress who have served for decades, such as Jim Oberstar.

"Yesterday was a difficult day," said Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards. "There's no getting around it: the results of yesterday's election are truly alarming."

Not if you are pro-life. In fact, one place the new Congress might make some budget cuts is the federal funding for Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider in America.

The Family Research Council, Concerned Women for America and the American Family Association deserve credit for mobilizing conservative voters with such success.

However, FRC's President Tony Perkins says, "This is all positive news, but it is not the finish line, but the starting line."

END

mike@marriagesavers.org
Michael J. McManus is syndicated columnist writing on "Ethics & Religion". He is President & Co-Chair Marriage Savers