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Time for a history lesson. The media and the Democrats want you to believe that somehow the 2006 election was different, something special. No, the losses the GOP suffered WERE to be expected. Let us review, shall we?

President / Mid-term / Senate / House

Grant (R) 1870 -4 -31
Grant (R) 1874 -8 -96
Hayes (R) 1878 -6 -9
Arthur (R) 1882 +3 -33
Cleveland (D) 1886 +3 -12
Harrison (R) 1890 0 -85
Cleveland (D) 1894 -5 -116
McKinley (R) 1898 +7 -21
TR (R) 1902 +2 +9
TR (R) 1906 +3 -28
Taft (R) 1910 -10 -57
Wilson (D) 1914 +5 -59
Wilson (D) 1918 -6 -19
Harding (R) 1922 -8 -75
Coolidge (R) 1926 -6 -10
Hoover (R) 1930 -8 -49
FDR (D) 1934 +10 +9
FDR (D) 1938 -6 -71
FDR (D) 1942 -9 -45
Truman (D) 1946 -12 -55
Truman (D) 1950 -6 -59
Ike (R) 1954 -1 -18
Ike (R) 1958 -13 -48
JFK (D) 1962 +3 -4
LBJ (D) 1966 -4 -47
Nixon (R) 1970 +2 -12
Nixon (R) 1974 -5 -48
Carter (D) 1978 -3 -15
Reagan (R) 1982 +1 -26
Reagan (R) 1986 -8 -5
Bush ‘41 (R) 1990 -1 -8
Clinton (D) 1994 -9 -54
Clinton (D) 1998 0 +4
Bush ‘43 (R) 2002 +2 +6
Bush ‘43 (R) 2006 -6 -28

(1) With only four exceptions, EVERY single President since Lincoln has lost seats in the House in the midterm elections. The only ones to buck the trend were the Roosevelts (TR because he was the mostly popular President EVER his first term, FDR because of the Depression), Clinton (because of Republican miscues during the Impeachment) and Bush ‘43 (because of 9/11). GW was bound to lose this one.

(2) Midterm years that are the dreaded “six year itch” are 1874, 1894, 1906, 1918, 1938, 1950, 1958, 1966, 1974, 1986, 1998 and 2006 . I have marked 1966 as one in that LBJ was finishing out what would have been JFK’s second term. GW is his sixth year. Losses in the midterm were almost certain.

(3) Wilson (1918), FDR (1942), Truman (1950) and LBJ (1966) all lost seats both in the House and Senate when the country was at war. McKinley (1898) gained Senate seats, but lost seats in the House. Guess the country had mixed feelings about thumping Spain. Bush ‘41 can also be considered in this group as the country was gearing up for Gulf War I. Another category that the 2006 election fits into.

(4) In terms of serious setbacks in the midterms this one doesn’t even come close. 1894 ranks as the all-time thumping with an astounding 116 House seats and 5 Senate seats changing hands. 1994, 1974, 1966, 1958 (I thought everyone liked Ike), 1938 (so much for the New Deal being popular), 1946, 1930 or 1874 were much, much worse.

(5) Voters don’t like scandals and take it out on the party in power. Foley, et al doomed the Republicans at the start.

(6) Voters don’t like excess spending. The thumping the Republicans received in 1890 was a voter rebellion against the “Billion Dollar Congress”. The same can be said about FDR’s spanking in 1938 (New Deal overreach) and Clinton’s in 1994 (attempted takeover of the health care system). With bridges to nowhere is it any wonder the GOP lost seats?

(7)The historical average is a loss of 3 Senate seats and 34 House seats for the President’s party in the midterms. For the “six year curse” the averge is 6 Senate seats and 39 House seats. The 2006 losses fit the historical norms.

8) The margin of victory in three of the six lost Senate seats were razor thin. A swing of a couple thousand votes in one of those races and Republicans would have retained control in the Senate.

Given the political history of our nation and add in the fact that most of the races were decided by very thin margins all the hand wringing over the elections is unjustified. This little history lesson should remind you that in our Republic the political fortunes of the parties ebb and flow.