The Mid-term election of 1998. Some surprises. Barbara Boxer won a squeaker, Charles Schumer won an upset victory in a hotly contested race in New York from Alfonse D'Amato. The Bush Brothers won their respective Governor's Races, Jeb in Florida and George in Texas. Grey Davis won in California (but not for long, as we all remember so well), Newt Gingrich was still busy gloating.

Newt Gingrich: “This will be the first time in seventy years that Republicans kept control of the House for a third term. And you would think that, to do something for the first time in seventy years, would be a fairly big deal. But not among the Washington pundits. Well why is it a fairly big deal? Well, because you have every committee will be chaired by Republicans, every sub-committee will be chaired by Republicans. The Rules Committee will be nine to four in favor of Republicans, and we will schedule legislation based on a Republican agenda.”

You gotta love the talk of Bi-partisanship flowing. I'm always reminded how different the story is when the shoe winds up on the other foot.

Here is a one hour (a little less) rehash of November 3, 1998 - starting off with the morning news of the election and later, after most of the polls have closed, the results coming in and the exit polls. A lot of names, unknown at the time, winning elections for the first time. Fascinating to see who pops up twelve years later.

And just think - you may have been one of those people who didn't vote during that election, thinking it wasn't important.

History is very often like a bad meal that keeps coming back.