D Day?

It's finally over. But while it should be a banner night for Dems, a few questions will be answered that have lingered for months over this race:

-- Will tonight look like the '06 wave? The '06 election washed out several vulnerable GOPers but left moderates like Chris Shays (CT-04), Mark Kirk (IL-10) and Dave Reichert (WA-08), in power. All three have built profiles separate from the GOP, but all three sit in CDs that will go solidly for Barack Obama today. They're all survivors. But they'll be severely tested.

-- There's been tons of hype around the youth vote, but will it materialize? If so, GOPers in the OH-15 (Ohio State) and MO-09 (Mizzou) open seats, and Virgil Goode (R-VA 05 -- UVA), may feel the impact most.

-- Will the expected increase in the black vote help down-ballot Dems? If Steve Chabot (R-OH 01) and Robin Hayes (R-NC 08) finally get knocked off, we'll know. But also look to Goode's seat, where African Americans make up 24% of the GOP-leaning CD, and to Henry Brown's (SC-01) seat, where 21% of the voting pop. is African-American. Losses by either will likely be pegged on his faulty campaign and the sky-high turnout among blacks for Obama.

-- A Dem pickup of 24-34 seats is likely. But if GOPers fare poorly in all of these categories, a higher gain isn't out of the question.