Barbara Boxer declares victory

"This was the roughest and toughest campaign of my life," she said. "It was my eleventh straight victory, and what a sweet one it is."

The mood in the Hollywood ballroom at the renaissance hotel throughout the night was bittersweet.

"It's a day of mixed emotions," said city council President Eric Garcetti. When asked what he attributed the wave of Republican wins across the country, he replied, "I think we'e accomplished a lot, which is precisely why people have had that reaction. When you take on those issues," referring to health care and financial regulation, "you're gonna have a lot of people against you."

Assemblyman Mike Feuer was especially upset about proposition 26, which keeps the state legislature from passing fees without a 2/3 supermajority. It was later announce that the ballot measure had won.

Confidence was in the air when the networks projected Boxer and Jerry Brown to be winners of their respective races. Mayor Villaraigosa took the stage and trumpeted the defeat of the two wealthy Republicans, saying that the California election "is not an eBay auction."

After about 10:00 PM, the excitement began to leak out of the room. Boxer was still behind in the early tallies. Some in the room, like supervisor Mark Riddley-Thomas, started getting nervous. Reporters started getting cranky. 

But finally Boxer, joined by her colleague, Senator Diane Feinstein, took the stage.

"We stood up to Karl Rove, and we won!" she said. "We stood up to Sarah Palin, and we won! We stood up to every special interest in this country... and we won!"