Lessons From Louisiana (washingtonpost.com)

Toughness wins. That's the message Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu carries back to her party after winning reelection in Louisiana.

Now, instead of pondering how elections are lost, Democrats can focus on how they are won.

The first lesson is that if you're a Democrat in the House or Senate, it doesn't matter how you vote or what you say or how patriotic you try to be. The Bush machine will try to smash you anyway. Consequently there is no percentage in making nice with this administration, especially after it showed its willingness this fall to politicize security issues.

And here is something Democrats never dare forget: They will always suffer if African American voters feel the party is taking them for granted. In the runoff, Landrieu sought black votes with a new energy, and her victory statement offered a variation on an old civil rights saying: "My feet are tired, but my soul is inspired."

Yet even as Landrieu was reassuring African Americans, she also appeared to do better among whites this time than she did six years ago. Jobs and political independence are themes that reach across racial and ideological lines. Losers allow their opponents to set the terms of the competition. Winners change the terms -- and, yes, fight back. That's Mary Landrieu's lesson to her party.