First of all hi to all!

The attack has definitely had some bearing on the election results, although its not all as strightforward as it seems. The PP has only actually lost about 4 hundred thousand votes, which is a lot, but nonetheless not as much for the PSOE to win so easily. There have been 3 million new voters. Those in Catalonia and the Basque country who were not pro independence have swayed to the left, and those who were in the left have pledged their vote to PSOE, not IU, the other leftist party, who have lost thousands of votes to PSOE.
To claim Spain has cowered due to the attacks is shallow and lacks hindsight. To say Aznar has lost the election (or rather Rajoy) because of Iraq is also an erroneous judgement. Aznar had fed up many people with his one man party crusade, his tirades against the left and the centralisation of power in Madrid. The Prestige disaster and the Yakovlev incident lost him many votes. What Aznar did do was leave Spain at its best economically. He overturned a country in 8 years. If he has now lost the election despite a good, some mighht say great legislation... somethings adrift. One thing is for sure, tensions in Spain are escalating. The 10 million odd voters of the PP will not sway their loyalty, and are already on the defence about the circumstances in which they lost the elections. The left are enjoying their success and are using their resentment towards the right wing. Nationalism is more of an issue than ever in the Basque Country and Catalonia, where ERC has risen drastically to become the 5th largest party. And the PSOE owes them big for handing them power in Catalonia. And PSOE keeps dwindling money to satisfy voters in andalucia, where they have become accustomed to privileges they fear losing if PP won...and the Basque Country.... Spain is a right mess, before we start thinking about who we side with in europe, lets see how we side with ourselves. Bad times are a-coming, just hope Kerry wins to ease mounting international pressure on the new govt
Over the past week, I have seen friends bicker, families arguing.... the resentment of the left towards the right has exploded, and ironically, the right have gone from absolute majority to leaders of the opposition, albeit with no political deals in sight.
The PP have the majority in the Senate, the second chamber for reviewing laws before these take effect, so PSOE are not free to do as they please.