In terms of the electoral results themselves, I think there was going to be some reversion of seats from D to R no matter what was accomplished in the 111th congress. Some of the seats the Dems picked up in the 2008 wave were going to be difficult/impossible to keep without resorting to extreme levels of pandering to the conservative tilt of those districts.

Still, the magnitude of the shift is notable, and I hope it makes Democrats seriously consider whether they might try to be more like, um, Democrats to turn out their base. I don't actually expect this to happen, because, well, they're Democrats, but right now, ideological coherence within the party is higher than it was with all those Blue Dogs and New Democrats in deeply red districts and states. That's a tremendous opportunity to show a consistent message and stay on it until 2012, which will drive turnout of the Democratic base voters that got them elected in 2006 and 2008.