Predictions No More ; Today's the Day for Yes/No Answers

Summary

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Beginning a little less than a year ago, Democrats set expectations for today's elections at levels ranging from high to highest: They were going to win back control of the House for the first time since 1995 and the Senate as well. The reasons for this coming victory were an increasingly unpopular war undermining the Republicans' key advantage on national security issues; a Republican- controlled Congress that, in their telling, was a slough of corruption and complacency; and the alternative program playing to their own strengths on domestic policy they were going to offer voters.

About a year later, where are we? Well, we have very tough going in Iraq, including the possible breakdown of the political process there. The Jack Abramoff scandal in Congress found an even-better and timely successor in the sex scandal of former Rep. Mark Foley and possible GOP leadership efforts to protect him. And the Democrats have "nationalized" the election around the person of George W. Bush, Republican candidates' ties to whom have been the mainstay of the Democratic offensive.

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Predictions No More ; Today's the Day for Yes/No Answers

In 1998, House Speaker Newt Gingrich was confident, based on the history of electoral performance in the midterm of a second presidential term, that the GOP would pick up seats. When, instead, Republicans los...

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