While the corporate world generally prefers more business-friendly Republicans in charge, a change in the Dem-ographics may bode well for the hedge fund industry. It’s not necessarily because that the power that will be – such as Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), who has already said that hedge fund regulation is not a top priority as he prepares to head the House Finance Services Committee. Rather, Ed Easterling, president of Dallas-based Crestmont Research told The Wall Street Journal, “the election results will likely create an environment of uncertainty and change for some time. Both of those factors cause values in the market to be different than they were previously. And it’s that process of mispricing and adjustment where hedge funds thrive and profit.” Certainly, especially in light of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s possible move to raise investment minimums (see above), there are those who worry more regulations are on the way. But, have no fear, says Philip Goldstein of Bulldog Investors, the SEC HF-registration rule killer. In an interview with The WSJ, he predicted that if more regs come they will be “more in the line of systemic risk to the economy having to do with borrowing rather than what the SEC was pushing, which was just registration, which didn’t seem to really address any particular problem.” While the new Congress is expected to focus on hedge “retailization,” meaning the marketing to small investors who some believe need the additional protection,” Goldstein says “the radical imposition of huge hedge costs on hedge funds” is “really overkill.”