Right after an embarrassing showing by the Democrats, their leaders are ordering them on a healthcare suicide mission. General Nancy seems especially hellbent, demanding a vote on Saturday of the House.

Tuesday’s election results were shocking for Dems. Whether it is gameover as some Repub strategists are claiming is moot. However, it was a measure of how the people felt, and it is anything but comfortable. When one couples the voting results with the obvious distrust and disgust evidenced by the Tea Party movements, one might think caution would be in order. In addition to these markers, polls show that voters are not in favor of the health care plan or the Cap and Trade plan and are rapidly souring on both Obama and his fellow Democrats. Today, a sizeable crowd showed up in Washington with only a few days notice. Things are not right out in voter-land, something that should scare all incumbents but especially Dems.

General Harry is not nearly as gung-ho as his officer mate. Perhaps it is because he looks like the most vulnerable Dem Senator in the 2010 election. General Nancy appears immovable from her extremely Democratic district.

But many rank and file Democrats are very vulnerable, especially those that won in districts that McCain carried or Obama barely won. These and the rest of the lieutenants are the ones that are being asked to fly planes into ships. As an incentive, I would assume that these planes only have enough fuel to get to their targets. In essence, many are being asked to commit political suicide for the glory of the team. Will they? It is difficult to know whether they view the outcomes as likely as others. Perhaps they believe that by the time elections come around the public will have forgotten. That may be an indication of  IQ or insulation from constituents. My guess, since most of these people have little to no principles (and that applies equally to Republicans), if they recognize the effect of voting for the cause, enough will not. Perhaps Generals Harry and Nancy realize this also. Their strategy may be to get the planes up in the air before people (including those voting on it) find out what this turkey is stuffed with. That is the only way I can rationalize their behavior even though General Harry may have to fly one of the planes.

The Wall Street Journal Opinion by Kim Strassel follows:

Write to kim@wsj.com .

• NOVEMBER 5, 2009, 10:42 P.M. ET

Hello, Tipping Point

The Obama presidency was always a race against time.

• By KIMBERLEY A. STRASSEL

‘We don’t look at either of these gubernatorial races . . . as something that portends a lot for our legislative efforts,” insisted White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs on Tuesday, as New Jersey and Virginia voters gave Democrats a thumping. Unfortunately for the White House, its opinion no longer counts.

On Jan. 20, Barack Obama began a race against time. The White House knew its liberal agenda would prove unpopular in many parts of the country represented by Democrats. So long as the president looked strong, those Blue Dogs and freshmen and swing-state senators would stick. Show them any sign of weakness, however, and rattled Dems would begin to care more about their own re-elections than they did their president.

Tuesday, the White House hit that tipping point.

To understand why, join some of those “nervous Democrats” who at this very moment are digging into, say, Virginia’s returns. Last year, Dems captured three GOP House seats in the Old Dominion as the state voted for its first Democratic president since 1964. This week, those very same districts provided Democrats their first proof that the Obama agenda is a liability.

There’s freshman Rep. Tom Perriello, who, buoyed by the big Obama turnout, won Virginia’s fifth congressional district by a scant 727 votes. Today, Mr. Perriello’s farming and manufacturing area sports the state’s highest unemployment rate. The Democrat suffered a furious backlash over his vote for a cap-and-trade bill that will further crush local manufacturing and was then walloped at a series of health-care town halls.

Voters took their frustration to the polls on Tuesday. Republican Bob McDonnell, who campaigned for governor on jobs and against ObamaCare and climate legislation, took 61.4% of the district’s vote. At the local level, Democrats challenged two incumbent GOP Virginia delegates; the Republicans each won by more than 30 points. The GOP last month succeeded in recruiting veteran state Sen. Robert Hurt, a district native, to challenge Mr. Perriello. He’s already campaigning on jobs.

Or take Rep. Glenn Nye, who last year won Virginia’s Hampton Roads district. Criticized as an outsider with few ties to the local military culture, Mr. Nye nonetheless benefited from Mr. Obama’s fierce campaign for the district (which the president won with 50.5%). Yet residents are today anxious about the Democratic commitment to defense spending, and bitter about a Washington proposal to move the Navy’s newest aircraft carrier from Virginia to Florida. Mr. Nye was wary enough to buck his party’s leadership and vote against cap and trade, though he then got caught lauding the bill’s passage.

Mr. McDonnell carried Mr. Nye’s district by a 24-point margin. Locally, Republicans ousted two incumbent Democratic delegates. Mr. Nye already faces two GOP challengers—both veterans—who, combined, have $400,000 in the bank.

Gerry Connolly? The freshman Democrat last year won the 11th congressional district, a Northern Virginia suburb of Washington that has trended blue. Mr. Obama cleaned up 57% of voters, and the district was hailed as an example of a new tide toward Democrats. Mr. Connolly, feeling safe, has supported every aspect of the Democratic agenda, from stimulus to health care.

Tuesday, those suburban voters came swinging back. Mr. McDonnell won 55% of the vote, improving John McCain’s number by 13 points. Two more Democratic incumbents on the local ballot went down to GOP contenders. Local businessman Keith Fimian has already announced a rematch against Mr. Connolly; he outraised him by $100,000 in his first fund-raising quarter.

Forget the freshmen—how about Virginia’s ninth district, home to 27-year-incumbent Rick Boucher? That’s coal country, though Mr. Boucher, confident in incumbency, has been playing a dangerous game of shepherding through his party’s climate bill. Will Morefield, a little-known Republican running for the Virginia House of Delegates, centered his campaign against that legislation. He beat the Democratic incumbent by 14 points. Mr. McDonnell? He won a devastating 66% of the district vote.

These are the numbers the 49 Democrats who sit in McCain districts are dissecting. The mass defection in the independent vote, the uptick in the angry-senior vote, the swing in suburban voters, the drop-off in Democratic turnout—the figures have even hot incumbent blood running cold. The White House can shout that this is not a referendum on the president’s policies. What vulnerable Democrat wants to take that chance?

The White House and the congressional leadership saw this coming, and it is why Speaker Nancy Pelosi is force-marching her health bill to a vote tomorrow. She’s not about to give her members time to absorb the ugly results, or to be further rattled by next week’s Veteran’s Day break, when they go home for a repeat of the August furies. If not now, she knows, maybe never.

Look for it, nonetheless, to be a squeaker. A lot of Democrats are getting a sneaky suspicion Mrs. Pelosi is willing to sacrifice their seats on the altar of liberal government health care. Combined with the election results and Mr. Obama’s falling poll numbers, this is no recipe for loyalty. Hello, tipping point. Hello, even crazier Washington.

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