Smashing Success! (so far)

While it may be too early to proclaim a victory for democracy, the polls closed less than an hour ago after higher-than-expected turnout for voters and lower-than-expected turnout for terrorists. Eight suicide bombers killed themselves and twenty-eight other people, total. None of them managed to do anything headline-worthy, though a few tried to assassinate government officials. A ban on private car traffic was a vital tactic.

The Reuters story is unabashedly positive, reporting in detail the tragedies, but emphasizing the positive stories: people carrying grandparents to the polls to vote, dancing in the streets, good turnout in most precincts. While the magnitude of the Sunni vote is not yet known, official estimates are at 72% - higher than any American election in a lifetime.

This will assuredly develop over the next day or two as the counting goes on. But so far we have every reason to hope for newly positive prospects and a disheartened insurgency. Both the democrats (little "d") and the terrorists had raised their bets on this event a number of times. The democrats just laid down a flush; chances aren't good for the terrorists.