Chalk up another title to President Obama’s legacy — the White House executive who’s about to oversee the worst successive midterm elections losses in 64 years.
The Democrats under Mr. Obama lost 63 House seats in 2010. And now, they’re poised to lose up to 12 from the House in Tuesday’s elections — and that’s the worst losing record in back-to-back, four-year midterms since Harry Truman days, the Daily Mail reported.
Truman’s party suffered 55 House losses in 1946, and then 28 in 1950, for a total of 83. Since, no president’s overseen greater successive voting humiliations.
Now comes Mr. Obama.
Most polls paint a dire picture for the Democrats this election, predicting between five and 12 lost seats in the House — though some analysts say the count could go even higher, the Daily Mail reported. His only bright light?
The Daily Mail said Mr. Obama’s combined midterm losses in the House could actually beat the combine losses of Republican Dwight Eisenhower, whose party dropped a total of 66 House seats in 1954 and 1958 elections. But that’s a dubious honor, at best.
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In comparison, George W. Bush only lost a combined 22 House seats in the midterms, and Bill Clinton, a combined 49, the Daily Mail reported. And former President Ronald Reagan?
His party only dropped a combine 31 — 26 in 1982 and then five in 1986, the Daily Mail reported.
And that doesn’t even touch on the Senate, where Democrats are expected to lose between five and 10 more seats next week, as most polls predict. That would bring Mr. Obama’s total Senate loses to between 11 and 16, the Daily Mail said.
By comparison, Republicans under Mr. Bush lost five seats in the midterms, and seven under Reagan, while Democrats lost eight under Mr. Clinton. Eisenhower, meanwhile, lost a total of 13 in the Senate in his midterms — and Truman, a combined 17.
The bleak predictions aren’t exactly a secret in Democratic Party circles.
“We’re in trench warfare,” said Rep. Steve Israel, the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, in the Daily Mail. “I’m not going to sugarcoat it.”
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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