...and not because his Prozac dose has been upped. Polls show that Republicans are almost incredibly unpopular and distrusted. The smile is triggered by the fact that the Democratic ratings are almost as bad. The national mood is less anti-Republican than anti-Washington. And so the so-called good news that 2008 might be something like 1992. A Clinton wins the presidency, but not by a landslide, and the Republicans--rather unexpectedly--make modest gains in the House. I have to add, in the name of realism, that it’s hard to sustain that smile aftering turning your eyes to the Senate races, where the anti-Washington or generic anti-incumbency mood will make really tough for the Republicans to defend many of the seats they now hold. Meanwhile, it’s very hard to find more than one or two vulnerable Democrats.