It is like watching vultures on a decaying carcass.

That’s what it’s like to hear partisan political pundits pick apart post-election results.

Last Tuesday’s election was no different. The election results were clear for all to see… but the interpretation of these figures swung in two directions like Poe’s pendulum.

We at USDemocrazy did our own informal polling checking with college age friends to get their take on the night. Their reactions echoed the conventional takes:

One, a moderate Democrat, felt that it had been a victory for the Democratic Party. Virginia,  now confirmed as a swing state, elected a democrat , Terry McAuliffe as Governor.

Another friend declared the election day as a triumph for the GOP. Chris Christie, a Republican presidential contender, won a crushing victory in one of the most solidly democratic states in the Union.

Both of these analyses, on face value, seem accurate.

But this politcal correspondant for USDemocrazy would like to propose a third option. Election night was not a victory for any particular party; rather, it was a win for centrism.

Christie ran a campaign based on building relationships with people of the opposing side. He claimed that he could reach across the aisle to “get things done.” Terry McAuliffe, Governor-elect of Virginia, defined himself as the moderate, standing up against his far-right contender, Ken Cuccinelli.

In a different election in Alabama, voters gave the win to Bradley Byrne, a moderate Republican, who was running against Tea Party darling Dean Young. In all three cases, voters chose centrism and moderation over party ideologues.

What does this mean moving into the 2014 mid-terms, and possibly into 2016?

Hmmm… well.

It would be tempting to say this might be the beginning of the end of the tea party extremists. But things can change fast in politics and big shift to sanity in Washington might be wishful thinking.

But it is our hope these election results might just temper some of the partisan fires, and give leaders in DC a chance to reboot the the Washington discourse.

Otherwise, if things don’t change, there will be a lot of voters wanting to re-boot some of those extreme politicians out of office.