Ah, the gloating.

I love it when people gloat over a political party's success. It makes it more fun to toss a wet blanket on them.

Before I begin I must say the Republicans got exactly what they deserved on Tuesday. As big an issue as the Iraq war was in this election, exit polling showed corruption was at least as important or more important to most voters.

Polls showed the Republican-led Congress was viewed as corrupt and with good reason. Billions of dollars of earmarks (pork barrel spending) attached to bills. Lobbying scandals. E-mail scandals. Billions of dollars in shady Iraq "reconstruction" contracts.

So the Republicans deserved to lose control. They didn't control things very well, now did they?

But Democrats really shouldn't be gloating. Here's why.

Since 1914 there have been 24 mid-term elections (1914 was the first year there were 435 House seats, by the way).

Democrats held the presidency during 12 of those, Republicans held the presidency during 12.

Only twice, in 1934 and 2002, did the president's party avoid losing seats in the House. The hugely popular Franklin Roosevelt was president in 1934 and 2002 was the post-911, pre-Iraq war time when W was popular.

In 2002, the GOP bucked the historical trends of mid-term elections and won two seats in the Senate and eight in the house.

In all other mid-term elections, the GOP lost seats. The worst year for the GOP was 1922 when they lost 75 seats.

The average loss of House seats for the GOP from 1914-1994 was around 29.

Demos' worst year was 1938 when they lost 71 seats. The Demos' average loss per mid-term from 1914-1994 was 39.

Since 1994, the Demos defied history by winning five seats in 1998 when Bill Clinton was president. The Demos lost eight in 2002 and gained 29 this year.

On the Senate side of things, the GOP lost seats nine times, gained seats twice and kept things even once.

The worst year was 1958 during Dwight Eisenhower's second term when they lost 13 seats. The gains came during Richard Nixon's first term (two seats) and 2002 (two seats). The break-even year was during Reagan's first term. The average loss between 1914 and 1994 was six seats.

In 1998 the GOP broke even. They gained two seats in 2002 and lost six this year.

Demos lost Senate seats nine times, broke even once and gained seats twice.

Their worst loss was in 1946 under Harry Truman. Demos, like Republicans, lost an average of six seats per mid-term between 1914 and 1994.

During that period in all elections, party control shifted seven times in the House - with Demos surrendering the majority four times - and nine times in the Senate - Demos losing five times.

So, as one can plainly see, it's not all that uncommon for power to shift and congressional seats to be lost in elections, especially mid-terms.

Also, it's interesting to note that in five congressional elections since 1860 that were held in wartime - 1862, 1918, 1942, 1950, 1966 - the party of the president suffered more than usual, losing an average of 36 seats in the House and five in the Senate.

Further, when the approval rating of a president is below 50 percent, as W's was during this election, the president's party loses an average of 38 seats in the House and five in the Senate.

Sorry for the history lesson, but I think it's pertinent.

Consider:

• Average seat losses for the president's party in any mid-term election ranges in the low 30s in the House and five in the Senate.

• Average losses during wartime are 36 in the House and five in the Senate.

• Unpopular presidents lose an average of 38 and five.

This election had all three of those elements working against Bush.

The Democrats needed to win 15 seats to take over the House.

Frankly, they could have lagged half the average of the wartime and unpopular president mid-terms and sailed to majority in the House.

They ended up winning 29 seats - give or take at this writing - which by any historical measure makes the victory below average.

Now let's set aside the history and look at current events.

The war was wildly unpopular. There were all manner of scandals in Congress, including one in direct proximity to the election where a Republican Representative was hitting on Congressional pages.

There was Abu Ghraib. There was warrantless wiretapping. There were huge deficits, giant new government programs and high gas prices.

When you factor all that in with the history of mid-term elections, it seems a minor miracle that the Demos didn't take 100 Congressional seats from Republicans.

So gloat away, Demos. You're below average.

I got a chuckle out of one election moment. Demo party chief Howard Dean was blathering on about the culture of corruption that doomed the Republicans.

To be sure, there are corrupt Republicans as duly noted earlier.

But the thing that made me chuckle was when Dean said Demos would have none of that. Newly anointed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi would hold people accountable, he said. There would be oversight.

Hmmm.

Harry Reid, Demo Senator from Nevada, violated Senate ethics rules by failing to report a Las Vegas real estate deal that netted him $1.1 million.

Reid also used campaign donations instead of his own money to pay Christmas bonuses to the staff at the Ritz-Carlton, where he lives in Washington. That's serious stuff. That's a violation of federal election laws.

Reid, by the way, is only the new Senate Majority Leader.

And anybody remember the honorable Rep. William Jefferson, Demo from Louisiana?

Back in August 2005, a search of his home turned up $90,000 in cold hard cash in a freezer. (Pun fully intended.) The money was divvied up among various frozen food containers.

FBI agents said the money was part of a $100,000 payment that had been delivered by an informant in a bribery probe. That investigation already has led to guilty pleas by a businessman and a Jefferson aide.

The aide, in pleading guilty to aiding and abetting bribery of a public official, told investigators Jefferson sought bribes for promoting business opportunities in Africa.

The Justice Department and the House Ethics Committee - House Ethics, now there's a good oxymoron - are investigating him.

Jefferson claims innocence, of course, but the Feds have collected evidence linking him to at least seven other cases where he "sought things of value in return for his performance of official acts."

Guess what happened Tuesday to Congressman Jefferson?

He was re-elected. [[In-content Ad]]