Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball argues that if Sen. John McCain had won the presidential election in 2008, Democrats “would probably still control the House, and they’d certainly still control the Senate.”
“That’s because the president’s party almost invariably pays a price for holding the White House, a price that can be measured in the loss of House representatives, senators, governors and state legislators.”
Of the 12 presidents who served after World War II, most “left office with their parties having smaller House and Senate caucuses than when they arrived, and also fewer governors and state legislative chambers — often dramatically fewer.”