Standing up and dusting off

Looking through today's papers and assessing last night's returns, there are a few questions that keep running through my mind.

Do voters truly believe that Eliot Spitzer can bring business back to New York, even though he's strong-armed Wall Street to do his bidding?

Do voters truly believe that they can trust Alan Hevesi to control the state's pension fund, even though he has blatantly betrayred that trust?

Do voters truly believe Hillary Clinton, whose only concern for our state is as a stepping stone to higher office, will fairly represent what New York needs in the U.S. Senate?

We had some fine candidates this year who wanted to crack the fiefdom that runs our state legislature and bring some fiscal responsibility to Albany. But do voters truly believe that Albany is fine just the way it is?

Judging by the shellacking Republicans took in last night's contest, apparently the answer to these questions is 'yes.'

Nationwide, Democrats claimed that we are seeing a change. But here in New York, we are seeing more of the same. And that's not good.

As Republicans in this state, we need to get our act together. Instead of waiting till the last minute to field our candidates, we need to start building tomorrow's campaigns today. Instead of talking amongst ourselves at private parties, we need to air our grievances in public, and proudly. Instead of simply accepting the fact that we live in a Blue state and a liberal city, we need to appeal to people's common sense, and put the credit for our situation where credit is due.

If we're not willing to do that, then perhaps it is us who should find a new line of work.