POST-ELECTION PUNDITRY...I wanted to write some more on the post-election panel event I just went to, which featured Chuck Todd of The Hotline, political analyst Charlie Cook, Dem pollster Celinda Lake, GOP pollster Ed Goeas, Bush media adviser Mark McKinnon, and Clinton White House press secretary Mike McCurry. A number of interesting though not-necessarily-connected points:

The most intriguing thing anyone said came from Goeas. He noted that, according to his numbers, the movement toward Democrats in the campaign's final weeks came not as a result of the Foley scandal, but instead after Bill Clinton's combative appearance on FOX News -- in which he lost his temper with host Chris Wallace -- a few days before Foley broke. Goeas said that his measurement for Democratic "intensity" skyrocketed after the interview, and that it seemed to act as a signal to Democrats not to back down.

What else: The big incipient GOP talking point -- that Dems won by running as conservatives -- was dismissed pretty convincingly by both Todd and Celinda Lake. Todd noted that none of the new Democratic senators could be described as Clinton-DLC types. He called politicians like Sherrod Brown and John Tester "pragmatic populists".

Todd also pointed out that all the talk of a demoralized GOP base didn't pan out. Republicans turned out at a similar rate as Democrats. The difference yesterday was independents, who voted at much higher rates than in previous midterms, and overwhelmingly favored Democrats. The only GOP Senate candidates who won independents were Kean and Chafee. Even Kyl and Ensign, who both won comfortably in Arizona and Nevada respectively, lost independents.

There was also more evidence for the notion that social issues are losing steam as GOP base motivators. Goeas said his polling had suggested that conservatives would respond to three things: terrorism, taxes, and the thought of Speaker Pelosi. No mention of gay marriage, abortion, or stem cell. What a difference two years makes.

Interestingly, one area where the GOP did better than expected was among seniors, a group they narrowly won. And Celinda Lake said she'd found that the Medicare drug benefit was actually quite popular with seniors -- it's their baby-boomer daughters, who are stuck with figuring out which indecipherable plan to enroll their parents in, that hate it.