The 2008 elections were seen as historic by many. America elected its first black president Barack Obama, a remarkable event forty years after the civil rights movement of the 1960s. Equally significant, Democrats enjoyed substantial gains in the House and the Senate for the second consecutive election. The Republicans had suffered a relatively rapid and significant setback. George W. Bush was leaving the presidency with about 30 percent approving of his performance, dragging his party down. Following the 2004 elections, Republicans held 232 of 435 House seats, their highest number since 1947. After 2008, they held 178. In 1997 and 2005, Republicans held fifty-five of the Senate seats, their highest total since 1929. After 2008, they held forty-one. The party lost fifty-seven seats in the House and fifteen in the Senate over two elections. Identification with the Republican Party had dropped to 29 percent among those voting in 2008. It appeared that voters had moved more Democratic.

However, as we have noted throughout this book, election results cane be seen in very different ways. Even before the final results had been tallied, the 2008 election gave way to the next struggle: how to interpret the results. The issue of what happened was crucial to the leaders of both parties. They had to decide just how enduring changes were and what policies they might pursue. Did the results signify a significant and perhaps enduring shift to Democrats, or was it a short-term setback for Republicans?