A message of hope from midterm election 1998

[librechik]

(edition # 635 of "what digby said")


"For political observers of any stripe, the results of Election '98 were practically unthinkable as Democrats defied precedent and most predictions to gain five House seats, two statehouses, while holding their own in the Senate. Only once since the Civil War has a sitting president's party gained congressional seats in a midterm election, and since 1938, the party controlling the White House has lost an average of 44 seats. Add that to the Lewinsky scandal, and members of both parties figured 1998 to be a year of greater Republican dominance in Congress and the statehouses. For the White House, which faces a GOP-led impeachment inquiry in the House, the results could hardly have been more gratifying.

Election Day Coverage from TIME Daily:

Democrats Turn the Tide
Election '98 becomes a major upset for the GOP as Democrats actually gain seats. But the Bush brothers are safe."


http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2010/11/crystal-balls-are-sometimes-wrong.html


When have the Republicans ever NOT strutted around for weeks before the elections bragging about how they had already won?

[Ozymanithrax]

1. They have history and polling data on their side...

In 2006, when the polls were not for them, they claimed there was data out there that the polls did not measure that would give them a win, but it proved all they had was a case of denial.

[bluestateguy]

2. I remember those elections well

I was dreading election day 1998 for weeks as I figured that the Democrats would lose 20-30 more House seats and possibly 3-4 in the Senate. Well, that didn't happen, but Clinton was impeached anyway.

People forget that if the Democrats had been massacred in those elections, then the public pressure on Clinton to resign would have intensified from the weenie Democrats on Capitol Hill and from the media.