Document omJ08GM6O0y76epM2JrNK9V53

essentially all in for Moore -- he campaigned for him late in the race -- and Jones nearly cracked the 50 percent mark. -- THE MIDTERMS: DEMOCRATS were already energized after the Virginia and New Jersey elections. Watch for the party to seize on this victory to pull in a pile of campaign cash for the midterm elections and re-up with top tier candidate recruits. REPUBLICANS are increasingly nervous about their prospects next year with President Trump as the leader of their party, and with little to show voters. House Republicans have been telling us for weeks that they feel a potential wave as they stare 2018 in the eye. QUOTE OF THE DAY, from Josh Holmes in Mike DeBonis's story in the Post: "If I had the top five Republican minds in politics and we spent three months attempting to conceive of a way to lose an Alabama Senate race, I'm not sure that we could come up with it. You could literally take any name out of a phone book except Roy Moore's and win by double digits. And we managed to get the only guy in Alabama that could lose to a Democrat." http://wapo.st/2z7DH4b NYT'S JONATHAN MARTIN and ALEX BURNS note a "suburban shellacking" in Alabama. "In Jefferson County, which includes Birmingham and some of the state's wealthiest enclaves, Mr. Jones, the Democratic candidate, captured more than 68 percent of the vote. And in Madison County, home to Huntsville and a large NASA facility, Mr. Jones won 57 percent of the vote." http://nyti.ms/2z80tsC WAPO'S BOB COSTA: "Democrats are jubilant - and newly confident about 2018 as Alabama delivers win on Trump's turf" http://wapo.st/2z6CcU3 A RECOUNT might not be allowed, per Rick Hasen. http://bit.ly/2nYBynM THE COLLECTIVE 'PHEW' MOMENT: Senate Republicans were scheduled to meet today to discuss whether they would allow Roy Moore in the conference. They don't have to do that anymore. - - WHAT TO LEARN FROM THIS: "5 takeaways from Alabama's startling special election," by Gabe Debendetti and Alex Isenstadt: "Here are POLITICO's five takeaways after Alabama's wild, ugly, controversial, and historically unparalleled Senate race: Bannon's bruising. Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon went all-in for Moore - and then some. ... What black voter problem? All the chatter across Alabama for the final week of the race focused on Democrats' alleged problems turning out black voters. But after a blockbuster turnout operation designed by Jones' campaign and national Democrats, African-American voters turned out in massive numbers for the former U.S. attorney. ... Trump loses capital. The president put his political capital on the line - and lost. ... "Revenge of the soccer mom. The other primary reason for Jones' win was strong antipathy toward Moore among white, suburban, college-educated conservatives. ... Democrats to Trump: Watch out. ... Alabama's historic turnout on Tuesday mirrored enormous numbers for Democratic voters in both Virginia's and New Jersey's gubernatorial races even after muddy campaigns in all three states - and party operatives are now lunging to capitalize on that energy ahead of the 2018 midterms." http://politi.co/2BZUxkj - - BEHIND THE NUMBERS: "Exit polls: How Doug Jones pulled off his stunning win," by Steven Shepard: "Doug Jones needed a surge of black voter turnout and a wide gender gap to pull off his stunning victory over embattled Republican Roy Moore in Tuesday's special Senate election. In becoming the first Democrat to win a statewide federal election in Alabama since 1992, Jones proved that Democratic fears of low turnout among African-American voters - a reliable Democratic constituency in the racially polarized state -- were unfounded. "According to exit polls conducted by the National Election Pool, blacks made up about 29 percent of the electorate on Tuesday and voted for Jones almost unanimously, 96 percent to 4 percent - results that match turnout patterns showing greater than expected vote counts in many of the Black Belt counties and the state's urban centers. Jones also made some inroads among white voters - particularly women and those with college degrees. While Moore still won white voters by a more-than-2to-1 margin, 68 percent to 30 percent, that is closer than other recent elections in which Republicans won nearly 4 out of 5 white voters." http://politi.co/2z6yA4l - - THE PRESIDENT'S MISCALCULATION: "Trump suffers 'big black eye' in Alabama," by Eliana Johnson: "Doug Jones didn't just defeat Roy Moore in Alabama's Senate race on Tuesday night - he administered the most crushing and embarrassing political blow of President Donald Trump's young presidency. Jones' win meant that Trump, who had endorsed Luther Strange in the Republican primary before backing Moore in the general election, threw his weight behind the losing candidate not once, but twice, in the Alabama race. "It was an extraordinary outcome in a state that Trump carried by 28 points in last