As President Obama conceded on the day after, Democrats took ``a shellacking'' in Tuesday's elections. In Florida, the triumph was complete as Republicans swept the boards in statewide races, picked up four congressional seats previously held by Democrats and acquired veto-proof majorities in both chambers of the Legislature.
In politics, it doesn't get much better than that. But with overwhelming victory comes overwhelming responsibility. Complete control of state government means Republicans have no excuse for failing to enact their agenda, but governing won't be easy. The GOP centerpiece is producing more jobs. Close behind comes halting the decline in home ownership. How they intend to do all that remains a very big question mark.
Voters rejected Amendment 8, which would have bought the Legislature some wiggle room to make public schools conform to the class-size amendment. Now lawmakers have to give the voters what they so clearly want -- smaller classes, no excuses.
Balancing the budget will be another major problem. With the money from the federal government's much-maligned (but indispensable) stimulus program running out, lawmakers must figure out how to make up for the huge hole in the budget. And they'll have to do all this with a state led by a rookie governor, Rick Scott, who promised to get Florida back to work but also promised to lower taxes.
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