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| Vol. 24, No. 9 | November 13, 1998 |
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| Vol. 24, No. 9 | November 13, 1998 |
By Angela Hoyte
Tuesday's election results caught many political pundits by surprise and generated extensive post-election speculation and analysis. According to Bloomberg News, not since World War II had the President's party increased seats in the House in mid-term elections. Many wondered if this was an indication that voters were displeased with the Republicans' dogged pursuit of the Lewinsky scandal and impeachment proceedings against President Clinton.
Stephen Cohen, associate dean of the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), appeared on a Bloomberg News program on Nov. 4, saying, "These results should send a strong signal to Republicans. Normally in an off-year election like this, the party that's not the presidential party picks up seats. The fact that [Republicans] are going to lose a few seats in this kind of mid-term election is very, very bad.... The whole Lewinsky thing was a calculated gamble [to] mobilize their base and help them increase their hold on the House of Representatives in particular. It's had the opposite effect."
Appearing on Nightline on Nov. 3, Visiting Professor George Stephanopoulos, also of SIPA, observed that the results were "astounding," noting that Clinton was the first president since James Monroe in the 1820s to win additional House seats in the sixth year of his term.
Stephanopoulos, a former Clinton advisor, also seemed to predict House Speaker Newt Gingrich's downfall, stating that the country would see "a series of civil wars" within the Republican Party.
"There's a good chance," he said, "because the Democrats picked up seats in the House tonight that there will be a leadership challenge to either Speaker Gingrich or Majority Leader Dick Armey, civil war number one. Civil war number two is the one over impeachment. Will the right wing continue to push for the impeachment of the President, even though the country has clearly said we want it to stop? And civil war number three will be in the year 2000 Presidential race between the conservatives and the more moderates. And I think the hand of the moderates has been strengthened."