Forget left of center bloggers, Jon Stewart is this year’s kingmaker. Without him and The Daily Show, the Democrats would not have made such large inroads in the midterm elections. Let me explain why.

In 1994 Republicans swept to victory by gaining 54 seats in the House and 8 seats in the Senate that were previously held by Democrats. While many factors explain the Republican victory--a unified theme around the Contract With America, discontent over the more liberal policies of the early Clinton Administration, corruption in the Democratic leadership, etc--Republicans in the House were quick to name Rush Limbaugh the Republican majority Kingmaker.

Is it possible that a single person was responsible for such a huge shift towards a Republican majority in Congress? Looking back, it seems almost silly to believe it. But that is only because right-wing talk radio has become such an ubiquitous phenomenon. It is everywhere. There are dozens of nationally syndicated right-leaning radio show hosts. Rush Limbaugh may still be the biggest, but his is only one voice among a chorus.

But back in the early 1990s national talk radio was new. It was exciting. It was strange. And although no one knew how it would impact American politics we all knew it was important.

For conservatives listening to Rush Limbaugh became a way to connect with other conservatives. Ditto entered into vocabulary and became a secret handshake for fellow conservatives to identify others of like mind. Remember the "Rush room"? In the back of restaurants we gathered to listen to talk radio in a safe atmosphere away from the politically correct ears of our social betters.

Rush emboldened us. He made us feel like we weren't alone.

To what extent the rise of talk radio played in the victories of 1994 cannot be accurately assessed. Surveys do not entirely capture the true reasons why people vote the way they do. What we do know is that between 1992 and 1994 self-identified conservatives rose 7%, that Republicans were energized, and that Democrats were not.

Talk radio played some role in this. Everyone on the right knew it. Newt Gingrich declared Rush Limbaugh the Majority Kingmaker. Congressional Republicans named Rush an honorary member of the House of Representatives.

12 years later Democrats swept to victory by gaining (at this count) at least 29 seats in the House and 6 seats in the Senate that were previously held by Republicans. While that margin is not as large as the gains made by Republicans in 1994 (54 in the House, 8 in the Senate) it is certainly a big win.

But why? A number of reasons, of course. Discontent with the war in Iraq, corruption among Republicans in Congress, an energized Democratic base, and demoralized conservatives all help explain what happened.

But one phenomenon has been overlooked. One which I believe was a key if not the key to a Democratic victory. That is the phenomenon of faux news. And Jon Stewart is its banner bearer.

Jon Stewart is an unlikely player in national politics. He's not a pundit, he's a comedian. As unlikely a candidate for Democratic kingmaker as he may be, he's a force to be reckoned with.

Ratings for The Daily Show's coverage of the '06 elections were second only to The O'Reilly Factor on Fox News. 2.0 million Americans tuned into Comedy Central on Tuesday to follow election results. That's right, more people were watching a comedian talk about the news than an anchor on CNN.

And just who is it that is tuning into The Daily Show? Young people. Lot's of them.

In fact, in the 2004 election nearly as many young people cited The Daily Show as a source of news as any other source. And Jon Stewart's Daily Show audience has only grown since then.

On the college campus where I teach, Jon Stewart's is the first and last word on all things political. His is the only name that all recognize. It’s more than that: his views are the only views considered socially acceptable. When Jon Stewart believes something, students believe it. He who Jon Stewart hates, students hate.

John Stewart is the Rush Limbaugh, and faux news the talk radio of 2006.

Students talk about what happened on The Daily Show. They do not talk about what happened on Crossfire. They relate to one another by it. It is a shared experience. It is something the most politically aware have in common.

It is this shared experience that is important. The feeling that by watching The Daily Show they are part of something bigger. It emboldens them. It energizes them.

While Jon Stewart may attempt to play the non-partisan comedian, he fails miserably. His viewers are all too aware of his Democratic partisanship and liberal leanings. He explicitly endorsed John Kerry in 2004 during an interview with the presidential candidate. Conservatives are lampoon for being conservative, liberals for not being liberal enough.

One of the most important ways this bias comes out on The Daily Show is the constant slander of Fox News. I also see that disdain among vocal college students. It's likely that many college students did not like Fox News before they became faux news junkies. But The Daily Show gives them the confidence to voice those opinions. It empowers them.

Voters in this election cited the war in Iraq as one of the main issues that drove them to the polls. And when it comes to the war in Iraq, The Daily Show has only a single point of view: it is bad.

The almost nightly segment called Mess O' Potamia constantly reminds young people that things have not gone as planned in Iraq. For Stewart, that the Iraq war was a mistake is not a matter of opinion, it is empirical fact.

For instance, in his opening monologue on election eve coverage Stewart opened up with, "Can Karl Rove's tactical genius overcome, let's say, reality?" For example, "the Iraq war" and "Republican corruption."

Jon Stewart is the voice of the new-rationalism of the Left, his is a front for the self-proclaimed reality based community. There is reality as it really is, and then there is reality as portrayed by Fox News and the Bush Administration. That is the world according the The Daily Show.

And this "reality" is the source of much of the humor on The Daily Show. The jokes are not so much about surprising the audience with the unexpected, but panders to liberal conventional wisdom. It is the expected jab at conservative values that adds humor.

"Rick Santorum has been raptured to a better place," is what passed for a joke on election day at The Daily Show.

A simple reinforcement of empirical reality as seen by Jon Stewart and his cadre of Ivy League educated writers. Facts are found that conform to this reality, and then jokes are crafted to link the fact to the reality. That is the essence of faux news humor.

Had any of them known a person who believes in the theology of rapture they might be surprised to find that very few Catholics adhere to it. And last time I checked, Rick Santorum was Catholic. Continued...