National

Reynolds on the Republicans:

This was a big gamble for him — if he had stayed in the Rose Garden, they probably wouldn’t have done nearly as well, but his spinmeisters could have used history to deflect a lot of the criticism. But once he went out to campaign, it was a gamble: if Jeb Bush had lost, and if the GOP had gotten creamed in some of these other races, he’d look much weaker as a result, and the war effort might have been in danger, leaving him likely to be a one-termer.

But he took the risk, and though at this hour it’s not clear how big the victory is, he’s clearly won a victory.

Bush took a lot of heat this summer and fall, for sitting on his political capital, rather than spending it. The last two weeks, he’s been spending like a priapic sailor on shore leave in Thailand.

So far, it looks like the big spending is generating some serious dividends.

Is Paris listening? Is Brussels? Is the UN?