The message behind the numbers

* Though the counting continues, US midterm elections concluded on Tuesday. Democratic Party bucked both history and prevailing sentiments suffered minimal losses in the House of Representatives, with the control of the Senate not to be determined until the run-off election in Georgia on December 6.   

* US voters clearly rejected extreme politics mostly identified with Donal Trump. Many of the GOP nominees closely aligned with Trump lost--some poorly--and the much anticipated "Red Wave" did not happen. Though the GOP may capture the control of the House, albeit by a much smaller margin, in the end, the maneuvering room for legislative agenda-setting is much more limited for the next Speaker.

*  Led by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Michigan's Gretchen Whitmer, the rise of younger political leaders in both major parties have opened the door for a 2024 presidential showdown where both President Joe Biden and Donald Trump are no longer in the lead. There are a lot of variables before the dust settles for the 2024 election, and no one should rule out an encore performance by Biden and Trump when the nomination processes are concluded in the summer of 2024.