Democrats didn’t only gain a President tonight, but five Senate seats too. It was the replacement of one third of the Senate, like every two years. Seventeen senators have been elected thanks to Obama’s coat tails. Twelve of them kept their seat and there are five newly elected. The new majority is now  56 seats out of 100.


A strong one, but Democrats failed to obtain the 60 seats which would block a “filibuster”, the systematic obstruction of the opposition. It is real progress though. Before, Democrats already had the majority, but not alone: they needed the two Independents Bernie Sanders and Joe Lieberman, who supported John McCain during this campaign.

John Kerry, the former candidate to the White House, managed to keep his seat. Joe Biden, the running mate of Barack Obama, did as well, staying senator of Delaware. But he will give up his seat now that he has become the new Vice-President.

With the majority in the House of Representatives, Democrats are strong and should be able to implement Obama’s program. “Tonight we have a real mandate for change, for hope”, the chief of the Democrat majority in the Senate Harry Reid said.

Even more that the winner promised to have an open policy toward the opposition…