I’m surprised that Donna Howard won. Military ballots usually favor Republicans. That said, Dan Neil didn’t deserve to win. He hardly ran a campaign. I got an e-mail message about him blockwalking — in October. There is, of course, a major difference between a majority of 99-51 and one of 100-50, the difference being that with fifty members the Democrats can break a quorum, if they are so inclined, and they can block motions that require a two-thirds margin, including constitutional amendments. This is not likely to slow down the Republican express train. Whether Howard can hold the seat in 2012 remains to be seen. I’ll bet that the Republicans find a harder working candidate than Neil next time around.