SECB is guessing the snacks and wine at this election-night party on north end of Bainbridge Island are kicking all the other snacks' asses: homemade miso soup (proper, with kombu and dashi), black cod baked with butter and dill, homemade potato chips (red potatos, thinly sliced and broiled), served with a chilled 2009 Anjou.

Still, the menu can't salve the fact that we are, as Brian Williams just said, about to see the "fewest number of Democrats in the House in 64 years."

The hosts of the party say they are the only people they know on Bainbridge Island who voted for the income tax. "We don't think it's gonna pass," the hostess said glumly—then, trying to cheer up the room, "but just because these new people are riding in on this Tea Party wave doesn't mean they'll make their careers voting that way."

Nobody was cheered.

There has been much bitching about "manipulation by the rich" and "disinformation" and the "dimness of the electorate" and growling at the "bozos" on the teevee—a little touch Rooney in the night. But the biggest groan in the room came when Katie Couric announced that campaigns have spent over $4 billion on these midterm elections, "shattering all previous spending records."

"Dammit, dammit, dammit!" someone said. "Thanks, Citizens United," someone else said.

The mood, despite the food, is cranky.