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Lessons of Election 2010: Alvin Greene Is a Natural Politician

What did it all mean, Tuesday’s expression of the will of the American people? After all the narrative and story lines and analysis of momentum, Wonkette’s Jack Stuef simply listed some Senate candidates who got fewer votes , or only slightly more votes, than Alvin Greene did. Democracy in action: Greene, the rambling, enigmatic candidate who came out of nowhere to win the Democratic Senate nomination in South Carolina—and then went right back to nowhere and mostly stayed there through the campaign—had 358,069 votes as of yesterday’s count. Sharron Angle, symbol of the most important political movement in the country, had 320,996. Chris Coons had 173,900.

“I didn’t win,” Greene wrote on his Web site in defeat, “but my message did get out.”