When Democrats won the elections for president and Congress last year, many believed it would take conservatives years, if not decades to make a comeback. It was the start of a progressive era, like never seen before – or so Democrats and their media-friends said.

Only nine months after Barack Obama was sworn in as president, it has become clear that these self-declared experts could not have been more wrong. Instead of being underdogs without a chance of winning, true conservative candidates are now considered, if not the frontrunners, as at least having a fair shot at winning races in Virginia (for governor), Florida (for Senate) and even in New York (for Congress.)

Cable shows have begun to realize the above as well. MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” invited conservative Republican Mario Rubio on two days ago, for instance (watch it here). Rubio is the former speaker of the Florida Senate, a real conservative, and he decided to challenge Governor Charlie Crist in the race for Senator Mel Martinez’s Senate seat.

Although Rubio was initially considered to be an underdog without a chance of winning, he has become increasingly famous, with conservative bloggers and voters preferring him over his moderate Republican opponent, Crist.  Hosts Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough even went so far as to describe the conservative Floridian as one of the most “interesting” and “fascinating” candidates to run for office this election cycle.

One day before Rubio made this, for him vital appearance on a national show, Fox News host Glenn Beck invited another renegade conservative on his show: Doug Hoffman, who runs for Congress in New York. Not only did Beck interview Hoffman, he also joined Sarah Palin, Steve Forbes, Rick Santorum and Dick Armey in endorsing him, instead of the official candidate of the GOP, moderate Republican Dede Scozzafava.

Two days, two different cable news shows giving air time to two different renegade conservatives. It is an unmistakable sign that cable news networks realize that Americans hunger for conservatism and conservative candidates, who will attempt to reduce instead of increase the size of government once they arrive in Washington, D.C.