High Stakes and Great Lakes

We're beginning to see more shades of red in the bluish Midwest. From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Once again the industrial Midwest has proved the pivot point in a dramatic American election.

Only this time the region swung red not blue, accounting for a hugely disproportionate share of the GOP's gains on Nov. 2 and reshaping expectations about the 2012 electoral map.

"The most significant election development of 2010 was the newfound weakness of Democrats in the industrial heartland of the country," says Democratic strategist Simon Rosenberg. "This is a region that has been marginally Democratic for a very long time. And the bottom fell out."