Hi TPM Cafe,

It's my first post - hopefully you all will go easy on me.

So I've been following the election season, reading some of the really thoughtful posts on this site but never really worked up the courage to post one or two of my thoughts here.

That's over now - this is a defining time in our history and what better way than to write about it here. Thanks for the super easy sign up process. Now for my first (long) post on those Election 2008 winners beyond Obama, Biden, etc, - the ones who flew below the radar:

Tom Daschle - Former South Dakota senator who urged Barack Obama to run for President by convincing him that now was the time and that lightning may not strike twice.

Charlie Crist - The Florida governor's not being named to the VP ticket with McCain was a blessing in disguise. His distance from the chaotic McCain/Palin ticket will serve him well in time. His decision to restore voting rights to convicted non-violent felons helped neutralize a nasty issue from the 2000 election, burnishing his bipartisan credentials. His extension of voting hours during the election won him praise from Democrats. By positioning himself as more of a centrist, he serves as an alternative to arch-conservatives like Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal, among others. As Obama takes over and conservatives take out the knives to carve up McCain, Palin and the congressional Republican leadership in the aftermath of their losses, he will lay low for now. Keep an eye on him - Crist is going places.

Susan Collins - This Republican Senator from Maine won her re-election by a two-to-one margin in a part of the country where the Republicans got whipped. McCain won only a single county in Maine - and not much more in all of New England for that matter. Imagine if she had been McCain's VP choice?

Facebook - Absolutely critical in Obama's use of technology to win. Visionary candidates always take advantage of the latest technology. FDR used radio for his fireside chats to rally Americans during the 1930s. Len Cannon, Reagan's biographer, writes of how skillfully he used radio, and then television, to introduce himself to millions of Americans long before he became President. In Obama's case, just look at Facebook. Obama's Facebook page had 2.5 million friends to McCain's 650,000. Best of all, it could disseminate Obama events and messages for a great cost - free of charge.

Andrew Sullivan - The Harvard PhD in political science and blogger for The Atlantic, Sullivan, a gay conservative who was so put off by Bush and the neocons that he endorsed Obama in this brilliant and insightful article in the December 2007 edition of The Atlantic, "Goodbye to all that." (Available at http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200712/obama). As far as the Republican civil war following Tuesday's drubbing goes, he's on the Colin Powell side of things. Also to his credit, he recognized Sarah Palin as a farce as soon as she was chosen by McCain - weeks before the media caught up to him.

Politico - This website began as a fledgling outfit in early 2007, started by among others, former Washington Post alums John Harris and Jim VandeHei. Driven by its energetic blogging team that includes former New York Observer writer Ben Smith, and Jonathan Martin, it is rounded out by the indefatigable Mike Allen of Playbook fame. Roger Simon, the Chief Political Columnist, serves as "the Dean" of this political news outfit. Politico made a name for itself on the web, and increasingly as the election campaign evolved, on mainstream media political talk shows.

I'll have the Below the Radar Losers of this past election cycle soon.