Reason.tv put together the following tribute to Keith Olbermann, who was suspended indefinitely by MSNBC for violating company ethics policies by making unauthorized donations to three Democrats seeking federal office earlier this year. Enjoy....

The recent electoral tidal wave of red that swept across America came to an abrupt halt right around the Sierra Nevadas.

While the rest of America said ENOUGH IS ENOUGH to reckless spending, stifling regulations, ever-rising taxes, endless debt and an ever increasing government role in the private lives of citizens - California voters actually said, "MORE PLEASE."

The midterm elections proved to be a sweeping repudiation of the government's expanding command and controls, or as George Will notes, the midterms were a recoil against liberalism — except, that is, in California. There, not only did the Democrats not lose, they gained clout.

California democrats had a virtual clean sweep in California taking control of all the state's constitutional offices and maintaining the US Senate seat held for 28 years by Barbara Boxer. Democrats even managed gain a seat in the state Assembly, and retain control of a state Senate seat in Long Beach where the republican was running against recently deceased Senator Jenny Oropeza.

With the exception of the governor's office, California has been a virtual one-party state since the 1960s. That one party legislature has also had an approval rating that hovers right around 8%.

The pattern continued on Tuesday, when Californians rehired 1970s Democratic gubernatorial retread Jerry Brown and rejected moderate Republican and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina for far-left, five-term incumbent Sen. Barbara Boxer.

Now, thanks to decades of anti-business policies promulgated by a series of left-leaning legislatures, its economy and finances are a mess, and it's hemorrhaging jobs, businesses and productive entrepreneurs to other states.

IBD notes just how bad things have gotten in the once "Golden State":

• Some 2.3 million Californians are without jobs, for a 12.4% unemployment rate — one of the highest in the country.

• From 2001 to 2010, factory jobs plummeted from 1.87 million to 1.23 million — a loss of 34% of the state's industrial base. Ask any company, and it'll tell you the same thing: It's now almost impossible to build a big factory in California.

• With just 12% of the U.S. population, California has almost a third of the nation's welfare recipients. Some joke the state motto should be changed from "The Golden State" to "The Welfare State." Meanwhile, 15.3% of all Californians live in poverty.

• The state budget gap for 2009-10 was $45.5 billion, or 53% of total state spending — the largest in any state's history.

• The state's sales tax is the nation's highest, and its income tax the third-highest, the BusinessInsider.com Web site recently noted. Meanwhile, the Tax Foundation's "State Business Tax Climate Index" ranks California 48th.

• In a ranking by corporate relocation expert Ronald Pollina of the 50 states based on 31 factors for job creation, California finished dead last.

• In another ranking, this one by the Beacon Hill Institute on state competitiveness, California came in 32nd — down seven spots in just one year.

• California is home to 25% of America's 12 million to 20 million illegal immigrants. A 2004 study estimated that illegals cost the state's citizens $10.5 billion a year — roughly $1,200 per family.

• Unfunded pension liabilities for California's state and public employees may be as much as $500 billion — roughly 17% of the nation's total $3 trillion at the state and local level.

As a matter of fact, things are so bad in California that twenty years after the reunification of Germany, it’s easier to find a job in the former communist east than in California.

The results of November 2 show that the malaise that has settled over the one time Golden State isn't going anywhere soon. The policies that would work to revive California — tax relief, spending cuts, reducing regulations—are anathema to the majority party and their ideology.

California can return to her place of prominence, but only when Californians finally awaken from their slumber and demand a return to a fiscally responsible government that respects its constitutional limits. But on Tuesday, they opted for more of the same governance that will only make conditions worse.

Sarah Palin released a post-election ad today featuring several winners from Tuesday’s election including: Allen West, Nikki Haley, Sean Duffy, Renee Elmers, Tim Scott, Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, Kelly Ayotte and tea party patriots.

And so change has come....

According to our calculations, the GOP has officially picked up 12 formerly Democratic House seats and the Democrats have picked up 1 formerly Republican seat. That's a net gain of 11 seats (they need a net gain of 39 to officially take the House).

The Republicans, then, need another 28 pickups (and no Dem pickups) to make it official.

The final Gallup Poll before the 2010 midterm shows that Republicans are up 55% to 40% among likely voters.

The model predicts that the Republicans could gain anywhere from 60 seats on up.

The final USA Today/Gallup measure of Americans’ voting intentions for Congress shows Republicans continuing to hold a substantial lead over Democrats among likely voters, a lead large enough to suggest that regardless of turnout, the Republicans will win more than the 40 seats needed to give them the majority in the U.S. House.

The results are from Gallup’s Oct. 28-31 survey of 1,539 likely voters. It finds 52% to 55% of likely voters preferring the Republican candidate and 40% to 42% for the Democratic candidate on the national generic ballot — depending on turnout assumptions. Gallup’s analysis of several indicators of voter turnout from the weekend poll suggests turnout will be slightly higher than in recent years, at 45%. This would give the Republicans a 55% to 40% lead on the generic ballot, with 5% undecided…

…Gallup’s historical model suggests that a party needs at least a two-point advantage in the national House vote to win a majority of the 435 seats. The Republicans’ current likely voter margin suggests that this scenario is highly probable, making the question of interest this election not whether the GOP will win the majority, but by how much. Taking Gallup’s final survey’s margin of error into account, the historical model predicts that the Republicans could gain anywhere from 60 seats on up, with gains well beyond that possible.