Tuesday wasn't about the ascendancy of Democrats in the Philadelphia suburbs, said Edgar, "It was about moving the middle back to the middle."

Anger over the war in Iraq and the Bush administration temporarily neutralized the power of incumbency and allowed Democrats to expand their beachhead in the burbs. But it didn't sweep moderate Republicans from power.

U.S. Rep. Jim Gerlach (R., Pa.) claimed a narrow victory in the Sixth Congressional District over Lois Murphy, who had also came close in 2004. Republicans blanketed that district, which covers parts of Chester, Montgomery, Berks and Lehigh Counties, with ads hammering "Liberal Lois."

The voters in the SE are moderates. When one party goes too far in one direction, most of these folks will get pretty upset about it and start votin' em out.