Well, what did we learn last night?

I learned that if I was a betting man, I would be broke. One bet I would lose, Larry Haag’s margin of victory over Dave Abel. I thought it would be closer.

If we can look throughout the state, it was a bad year to be an incumbent, no matter what party they were affiliated with. Terre Haute, Washington, Vincennes and the big shocker, Indianapolis, all prove that theory. Indy Republican Mayoral winner Greg Ballard proved EVERYONE wrong. If there was a decent GOP candidate in Evansville, it would be a closer, maybe 70 percent for Jonathan Weinzapfel instead of the 85 percent he won with Tuesday.

What is with the turnaround? Voter anger. Could be a lot of reasons for the anger, but since people are paying their property tax bills around the time they have to vote could have a lot to do with it.

If I were an advisor to Gov. Daniels, I would be scared at Tuesday’s results. If I were an advisor to Jim Schellenger or Jill Long-Thompson, I would be working the fundraising phones all day and night.

Both Haag and Abel ran good campaigns and really all candidates, win or lose, helped raise the level of debate in Washington.

I don’t see a 4-3 (or 5-2 depending on who you talk to) Democrat majority on the Washington city council to be as significant as some would think. The councilmen, a majority of the time, vote regardless of party and usually most votes are 7-0 anyway as long as I have covered it. That doesn’t take away from the job Democrats did in taking back city government.

But anyway, congrats to all.

—Nate Smith