One of the more memorable quotes of 2008 was retiring Representative Tom Davis’ assessment of his own Republican party: “If we were a dog food, they would take us off the shelf.” Well, the votes are in and this dismal, doomed dog food has just received … almost 47 percent market share. If Alpo ever gained such an impressive share, the company would issue a special dividend to celebrate its success.

Congratulations to the Democrats on their big victory. But one of the less discussed stories of 2008 is the impressive robustness of the Republican brand. McCain, in this horrible Republican year, won a higher share of the vote than Michael Dukakis in the not-so-bad Democratic year of 1988—and he lost to Barack Obama by a narrower margin than Carter lost to Reagan in 1980.

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