George W. Bush said:
"Hello, yes, this is the President calling. Am I reaching..
"Governor-Elect Noriega, congratulations on your victory. It was a tough fight, and while I don't think it's a secret that I didn't vote for you, I think you'll do a fine job and I look forward to working with you."
"That's right."
"Well, next time I'm in Crawford, I'll come over and visit. I'll have my people talk with your people."
"Can I- Can I give you a piece of advice? From one Governor of Texas to another?"
"You've got to keep people on your side. The Lege, the donors, the voters. I'm not saying you shouldn't push for what you think is right, but- you've been in the House, and you know where the levers are. Just... Don't pull them too hard. Otherwise, they'll break."
"Alright. Well, I'll be seeing you."
The gubernatorial election was not the only statewide election the Democrats won in Texas. Don Willett's seat on the Texas Supreme Court was taken by El Paso judge William E. Moody. Additionally, the open seat for Agriculture Commissioner and Jerry Patterson's seat as Land Commissioner were both taken by Democrats. Lastly and most importantly, Tony Buzbee won his race for Lieutenant Governor by a margin of only 5,000 votes. His election was notable for a massive number of abstentions - many Texans saw Wayne Christian as a bigoted loon, but also saw Tony Buzbee as a drunken ambulance-chaser, and consequently voted for neither.
And not all Texan elections were statewide. The State House came close to flipping, but ended the election with a 77-73 Republican margin. The State Senate was further - there were only a few realistically winnable seats there for either party - but even there, Kathi Thomas's upset win against Jeff Wentworth offset the retirement of Kenneth Armbrister.
Additionally, the special elections for the House, if not full of surprises, at least contained some. The 2004 election had sent 21 Republicans and 11 Democrats to the Capitol. After the redistricting, only 13 Republicans were guaranteed spots in the House through their majorities, to be joined by 9 Democrats. Meanwhile, of the nine incumbents forced into runoffs, seven were Republicans, and the only Democrat running against a Republican (Charlie Gonzalez was forced into a runoff against fellow Democrat Ciro Rodriguez), Eddie Bernice Johnson, was in that position largely due to running against fellow incumbent Kenny Marchant. Marchant was, in fact, in second place in the first round, and he was joined by Ron Paul, John Carter, and Henry Bonilla there. Ted Poe, John Culberson, and Pete Sessions sat one rung up on the ladder, in first place but still having to fight for re-election in a December runoff.
There were a number of reasons for this, but by far the most significant ones were a) the LULAC v. Perry decision, which had forced Texas to redraw its congressional districts without partisan gerrymandering and b) the fact that George Bush and Rick Perry were both so massively unpopular to give Democrats good headwinds.
So, all in all, it was a good night for Texas Democrats. For probably the only times in their lives, a lot of other Democrats wished they were Texan.
To be sure, there were a few victories. In the Senate, politicians like John Morrison of Montana and Harold Ford of Tennessee all took Republican seats, while Kweisi Mfume narrowly held his Maryland seat. In Governors' mansions, in addition to the aforementioned Noriega victory, John Hickenlooper, Jim Davis, Mike Hatch, Dina Titus, Michael Coleman, and Charles Fogarty (of Colorado, Florida, Minnesota, Nevada, Ohio, and Rhode Island) all defeated Republican incumbents. And House Democrats won 226 seats and control of the House.
But the voters giveth, and the voters taketh away. Joe Lieberman won a grueling primary fight, but was defeated by Themis Klarides, State Representative and former WWE "ring girl", while George Allen of Virginia held off a challenge by Jim Webb. Maine's John Baldacci was defeated by Peter Mills, while Maryland's Bob Ehrlich narrowly won re-election after opponent Doug Duncan unexpectedly dropped out of the race, citing a recent diagnosis of clinical depression. George Pataki of New York won a fourth term, the first Governor to do so since Nelson Rockefeller, fiscal hawk and maverick Andrew Halcro won the Alaska governorship, Jim Nussle won the Iowan governorship, and Scott Walker of Wisconsin took his ham and cheese sandwiches into the Governor's Mansion.
The dust cleared. The Senate remained, due to Dick Cheney's tie-break, Republican, while the Democrats took the House - though enough seats remained in play that a Republican majority was technically possible, albeit among the longest of shots. Without much fanfare, the 2008 Presidential Election began.