Seizing a Stable Majority

Newt Gingrich offers some historical perspective on what the future may portend for the Republican Party in light of the recent election victory.

Is 2004 the high-water mark for the Republican Party, meaning that 2006 and 2008 present major opportunities for the Democrats? Or are last week's election results the foundation for building a stable, governing Republican majority that will last at least a generation? President Bush's victory on election night was surely historic: the largest number of votes ever received for president, and the first president to gain seats in both the House and Senate during a reelection since Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1936. In Congress, Majority Leader Bill Frist is likely to find the Senate a more productive institution with four new votes, a new Democratic leader and a number of Democrats up for reelection in 2006 who will have to be thinking about Democratic leader Tom Daschle's defeat last week.