Democrats are in a serious hole, compared to where they should be in an off-year election, and they would have been even without the Wellstone tragedy.

Things to look for in the next week and afterwards:

- Massive media barrage on the horrible economy..."worst one in fifty years" seems to be the standard mantra, which surprises a lot of people who have lived through much worse. Look for very few statistical analyses, and lots and lots of surveys on how people "feel" about the economy. Cover stories on all the news magazines.

- Any "surprises" will show up now. The Bush DUI bit almost worked in 2000. I predict at least one Republican candidate will be exposed as an alien from outer space.

- They're gathering in huge numbers, marshalling their forces around the border, equipment at the ready, trained and set...

Our soldiers around Iraq? Nope. The Democratic lawyer brigades, waiting for the day after the election to parachute in by the thousands to begin the now-famous "flawed election" attack in close precincts where the original counts shows that Democrats have lost. Despite the pissing and moaning from Democrats about Florida in 2000, the attack there was remarkably successful, coming within inches of reversing an election that was legal by all state laws, including original recounts. Nobody's going to toss a weapon like that away just because it didn't work once.

Heck, they're probably rehearsing "disenfranchised voters" even now.