was bad for the republicans and good for president clinton, but what newt gingrich will tell the freshmen thursday on capitol hill, when the government shut down, the next election, 199 newt gingrich won that election, that republicans continued to win the house and the senate, and after having been in the minority in the house for 40 years, the gingrich thinking about the gingrich shut downs were that they were successful politically for the house and senate republicans. >> and as you know, bill clinton also won that election. so there is good evidence from political scientists. you don't have a lot of shut downs at the federal level, but had many on the state level. what they found is a shut down under divided government helps the executive, he gets a boost in the next election, and it hurts every single incumbent, every republican or democrat