Unfortunately for the Republicans, the Democrats are unlikely to repeat any of these mistakes made by the Republicans a dozen years ago. I suspect the Democrats know, for example, this election was more a vote against Bush than for the Democratic platform.
Perhaps most important, every senior Democrat in line for a House leadership post or a committee chairmanship has served in the majority; they have wielded power before, and they know how to use it (something many Republicans in the House have failed to grasp even to this day).
The Democrats will do everything in their power to avoid a return to second-class citizenship. They will be more likely than were the Republicans a dozen years ago to take modest steps, and to be careful lest rhetoric overtake feasible action. The goal for Speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and her battle-hardened team will be to spend two years laying the groundwork for further gains in 2008, and to push an agenda that will provide a solid and likely centrist platform for their party's standard-bearer.
