The day after the Alaska Republican primary election in which newcomer Joe Miller beat incumbent semi-RINO Lisa Murkowski (although it wasn’t certain until yesterday), Murkowski said, regarding her polling going into the balloting, ” our numbers all throughout have not only been strong but really overwhelmingly strong.”

Murkowski conceded on Tuesday evening after counting of the majority of the absentee ballots caused almost no change in the over-1600 vote lead held by Miller.

Alaska, while heavily Republican, is not historically a bastion of pro-liberty senators or representatitves. They receive more federal dollars per resident, by far, than any other state.  Recently deceased former Senator Ted Stevens and Congressman Don Young (Alaska is one of seven states with only one Representative) rode massive piles of pork to repeated electoral victories.

So, not only is Sarah Palin an outlier in Alaska Republican politics, but for Joe Miller to win (primarily on the strength of Palin’s endorsement) represents a sea change in the Alaska mindset.

Murkowski raises the key issue for November: “Clearly there was a shift, whether it was kind of the anti-incumbency feedback that you get in the Lower 48, I don’t know yet.”

I believe that even with the pro-GOP polling numbers we’re seeing, these “generic ballot” questions understate the likely tsunami coming in November.  The real key is the enthusiam to vote among people who oppose the direction our nation is going, led at this time by Democrats but abetted by “go along to get along” RINOs who cave in on one important issue or another, such as Lisa Murkowski did with cap-and-trade.

The mood of the nation is well represented by the Gadsden Flag.  It’s not an anti-Democrat mood as much as it’s an anti-government and anti-incumbent mood.  Sure, the Democrats are worse on the issues of economic liberty and intrusive government, with Obamacare as the best example in generations. But the Republicans haven’t been much better in recent years and still have a lot to prove in terms of deserving our votes for a reason other than just not being Democrats.

Voters are showing that their prior patience/subservience is at an end. They’re showing that they care about the constitution, about the proper role of government, particularly the federal government.

The minority of Americans (though perhaps the majorities of Manhattan, San Francisco, and Boulder) who support government involvement in every aspect of your life, or at least every economic aspect, are far less motivated in 2010 than they were in 2008.  Not only is Barack Obama not on the ballot, but the fact that their overt or stealth candidates keep losing, the fact that Glenn Beck can get hundreds of thousands of participants at a rally, the fact that even the dominant liberal mass media is giving some favorable – or at least not unfavorable – coverage to non-leftist candidates, shows that being a socialist is no longer universally hip and cool.  Particularly for young voters, who voted for Obama over John McCain by something like a 40% margin, being hip and cool was a big part of the attraction.  With that gone, those mind-numbed voters will not participate in November, to the great disadvantage of Democrats (and RINOs).

People are finally coming to understand implicitly, even if they never think about the concept of a “multiplier", that Keynesian “stimulus” only stimulates the growth of government.  (For some good discussions on the issue, I recommend the work of Veronique de Rugy, such as HERE and HERE.)  Americans realize that Obama and the Democrats (and a few Republicans) have crowed about piling a trillion dollars or more of additional debt on the backs of our children with the result of that debt being, as even Colorado Democrat Senator Michael “Who?” Bennet says, “we have nothing to show for it.“  It’s hard to imagine that motivating Democrats to the polls in 61 days.

Although we’ve seen some very interesting results in Republican primary politics, including incumbent Robert Bennet not making the final ballot in Utah, the outright loss of a senior incumbent Republican senator is a broadside across the paths of Lindsey Graham and perhaps even Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe: we’re done with RINOs.  Get on board with liberty and limited government, or get the hell out of here.

At this point, I’d be surprised if the GOP picks up fewer than 50 seats in the House.  And if I were a Democrat incumbent in a close Senate race, I’d be extremely worried right now.  If I were Patty Murray (D-WA) or Russ Feingold (D-WI) or even Harry Reid (D-Unions), I’d be polishing up my resume for an upcoming job search.