I agree with slto7 that we should honor our vets more than once a year. Even when I see a seasoned veteran selling poppies outside the post office, I take a moment to chat with him about where/when he served, and thank him for his service. It’s very rewarding to see his eyes light up and voice get animated when I show an interest. A lot of these guys must feel that, despite the abundance of “support the troops” car magnets and photo-op politicians, they are very much in the shadows.

The post-election narrative I see developing similarly seems to ignore the thousands of progressive volunteers and their millions of hours spent on campaigns around here.

And the analysis I’ve read doesn’t seem to go deeper than how many percent, how many absentee ballots remaining.

Since Tuesday, I’ve been thinking a lot about the victories that lie deeper than the percentages on the Board of Elections’ web page. Here’s some I’m not hearing a lot of in the media:

+ Holding the line: We pinned down Reynolds, Walsh, and Kuhl in “safe” districts. They were unable to fundraise for other GOP candidates as a result, and in fact drained money from the national GOP effort to defend themselves.

+ Getting the Dem/Progressive message out: Maffei and Massa especially, were channels to get the Democratic message out, person-to-person and on talk shows. People saw Democratic leaders who were unashamed to be Democrats, talking about Democratic values. And by that, helped all of us progressives stand up more for what we know is right. And a lot of people said, “Democrats believe that? So do I! That makes sense. Why are Fox News and Limbaugh telling me they believe something different?”

+ Forcing desparate tactics: In fact, the Democratic message resonated so strongly with voters that even in Republican strongholds like NY-29, Republicans had to lie in commercials and use illegal robocalls to muddy up the water enough to win.

+ Building connections: Progressives all over upstate are more connected and strengthened than they have been in a long time (ever?).

+ Dragging the GOP to the left (or center, at least): Kuhl, for one, had to pretend to run to the LEFT of Massa, appearing to totally reverse his full-court-press role last year trying to privatize Social Security. Instead of the conservative “You’re on your own” mantle he wore last year as he pushed the privatization effort, he ended up lauding SS in it’s current form, calling it “a sacred trust”.

+ Making swiftboating irrelevant: We shut down swiftboating, quickly, and hard. Sure, Kuhl conducted a whisper campaign, implying that Massa “only” reached the rank of Commander, despite the fact that he was ordered to resign to take care of his cancer. But it was confined to a whisper campaign. Remember when they first trotted out the swiftboating smear machine? Massa and Murtha held a joint press conference in Murtha’s district, down the street from the kickoff swiftboat meeting. M&M got all the press. It’s becoming generally understood that “If you attack any vet, you attack ALL vets.”

+ Improved infrastructure: A new generation of progressives have gotten involved and now have campaign experience. We understand the electorate and challenges better. We have a young, but thriving progressive blogosphere, that reaches down deep into the southern tier.

What else did I miss? There’s gotta be something.