Over the course of the next week--and in more detail in National Right to Life News--we'll talk about last night's election returns.

We'll be candid, never fear. But it is crucial to understand that being candid is not the same as losing hope or missing the long-term bigger picture.

There are several pieces of bad news. The House is now in the hands of Democrats whose leadership is pro-abortion, as are most members.

The genius of Congressman Rahm Emanuel (who headed the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee) was to recruit candidates who made all the right sounding noises so that they could appeal in culturally-conservative areas of the South and Midwest. In many cases their real views are unknown.

For example, former University of Tennessee quarterback Heath Schuler defeated pro-life Rep. Charles Taylor (NC). Schuler campaigned as pro-life but refused to return a questionnaire to NRL's PAC.

What does he really believe? No one knows and the leadership of the House will do its best to keep that a secret by trying to bottle up pro-life legislation.

Even if a small minority of incoming Democrats (along with incumbent Democrats who have a pro-life voting record) are genuine about being pro-life, the leadership from top to bottom is staffed with clones of Nancy Pelosi, the likely incoming Speaker of the House. In other words the pro-abortionists who control the caucus can afford to throw a bone to pro-lifers. Even assuming some of these newcomers are genuinely pro-life, they will hardly be in a position to make a difference.

Unless George Allen in Virginia wins a recount, control of the Senate will shift to the Democrats whose roster is stocked with dyed-in-the-wool pro-abortionists.

In addition, parental notification proposals failed in California and Oregon. Meanwhile in Missouri, voters by a narrow margin approved Amendment Two which places the right to clone in the state Constitution.

Finally, last March South Dakota passed a law that bans abortion unless necessary to prevent the death of the mother. State law allows citizens to enact or repeal legislation via ballot. Opponents secured enough signatures to have the law placed on Tuesday's ballot and yesterday voters rejected the pro-life law.

That's the short-term unpleasantness. But those of us--you and me--who take the long view realize that there are encouraging undercurrents that don't make the headlines.

Without rehearsing the mega-trends that dominated this election, things will be different in 2008. Candidates who were carried in in highly-contested races will have to defend their records two years from now.

National Right to Life is responsible for passage of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, about which the Supreme Court heard oral arguments today. Not a lot of people outside of Washington know that.

Likewise, the amount of activity that National Right to Life's Political Action Committee undertook on behalf of a large, large number of candidates was simply staggering. But we don't talk specifics to the press; our job is to help pro-life candidates win, not secure headlines.

Suffice it to say that our work on behalf of pro-life candidates meant that in countless races, the electorate knew who the pro-life candidate was and who the pro-abortion candidate was. That works to the pro-life candidate's advantage in almost all instances. That was the case as well last night and resulted in a number of wins.

And Fr. Frank Pavone, head of Priests for Life, did an excellent job this morning highlighting the trends that continue apace, independent of elections. The trends moving in our direction include

• opinion polls about abortion
• the declining number of abortions, abortionists, and abortion mills
• the strong new motivation of our young pro-life activists who know they are abortion survivors
• the growing voice of women and men harmed by abortion, who contradict its promise of "benefit"
• the evidence in science about who the child is
• the medical evidence that abortion is no benefit to women
• the sociological evidence that abortion is no benefit to society
• a new wave of clergy who are more ready for the pro-life battle than ever.

Last night was tough, no two ways about it. But what sticks in my mind is a theme that more and more is making its way into the comments of abortion advocates.

Far more than does the media, and almost as well as we do, they understand that you and I will NEVER go away, NEVER give up. We wanted to win last night, not for us, but for the sake of the babies.

But elections are like buses; another one will come along soon enough. And what we lost last night we will begin to take back then. Count on it.

Thank you for all you did and continue to do. We will prevail, not because you or I are righteous, but because the cause to which we have devoted our lives is.

If you have any questions or comments, please write Dave Andrusko at daveandrusko@hotmail.com.

Part One