It is understandable that Senators Conrad Burns and George Allen had, as of this morning, not yet conceded defeat in their races. The margins are agonizingly close, and it has taken a long time (far too long) to get something that looks like a stable 100% count.

But it’s over now. There is no reasonable hope for either man to make up the difference in his race though anything short of litigation. And that is a road down which Republicans—gathering up what remains of their honor after these last years in control of Congress—should resolutely refuse to travel.

It harms our Republic whenever a candidate fails to gracefully concede. This is true whether or not there was enough chicanery and fraud to affect the result of the election. Richard Nixon, deep in his tormented heart, realized this in 1960 and was quick to concede to John F. Kennedy. Recalling this episode has become a commonplace since November of 2000, but it is no less powerful an example for this. Nixon avoided doing great damage to our democracy and to citizens’ confidence in it, and so 1960 should be remembered and praised for at least as long as Watergate is remembered and condemned.

The proof of the harm which Nixon spared us has finally, and sadly, been demonstrated over the last six years. Confidence in the most basic institution of our democracy—the electoral system—has been badly eroded. Conspiracy theories that in prior eras would have been confined to the fever-swamps of Birchies and LaRoucheites have spead widely among our friends who lean left. And the Democratic party has too often responded by working ever harder to change the outcome even after all the ballots are in (as witness the Gregiore-Rossi debacle in Washington two years ago).

As our President would say, it’s time to change the tone. Republicans can’t make Democrats do the right thing in future, not directly; but they can act honorably and graciously now, setting an example to follow, and giving them a good solid basis for pounding and/or shaming the Democrats if they do not follow.

I’m sure that Allen headquarters and Burns headquarters are, at this very moment, full of individuals breathlessly telling tales of fraud and intimidation and malfeasance and conspiracy. Of phone outages and vandalism and improper voting assistance and polling place confusion and odd-looking precinct counts. My advice to the people in charge: don’t let yourselves get consumed and carried away by this. Don’t buy into tales that may or may not be true, and may or may not mean much in the big picture even if they are true.

And think of what Richard Nixon was up against in 1960: Mayor Daley’s machine up in Cook County, and Lyndon Johnson’s machine down in Texas. Do you think you have a better case that you wuz robbed than Dick Nixon? Of course not. Which means you have much less reason than he did to take a whack at the foundations of our Republic by engaging in an extended post-election fight.

And that makes the question even clearer: Are you in the same league as Christine Gregoire? Are you, too, less honorable than Dick Nixon?

It’s time to concede. Today. Gracefully and without quibble or reservation.