What a great night!

The following are some very-late-Election-Night thoughts from former U.S. Senator — and Herald columnist — Al D'Amato.

What a great night! As I expected, nationally, the Republicans took control of the House and the Senate remained in Democratic hands, but the Republicans made dramatic gains. Now, getting President Obama's liberal agenda passed in the Senate will be much more difficult. I'm disappointed that Richard Blumenthal — the weasel! — managed to squeak out a Senate victory over Linda McMahon in Connecticut.

Yesterday I spoke to friends across the state, and the message was similar: Republican turnout was high. In Suffolk County, certain districts were reporting a turnout of 2-to-1 Republican. We haven't seen numbers like this since 1994, when George Pataki was elected governor.

More important, right now, the Republicans look to have regained control of the State Senate. This is critical to the balance of power in state government, and will have a dramatic impact on redistricting. A Republican State Senate will now have to work with a Democratic Assembly and Democratic Governor-elect Cuomo to pass responsible legislation to get spending under control. Friends, we must rein in pension costs and ridiculously unreasonable benefit packages. This is critical to our fiscal survival.

All in all it was a very good night for Republicans, and I look forward to the dawn of a new day in the state of New York.