and with a victory as big and as sweeping as obama and the democrats had had ten years ago tonight, obama won in 2008 by 8.5 million votes. he more than doubled mccain in the electoral college. democrats had already had a majority in congress before that election. they added another 21 seats that night. they went up to a super majority in the senate. when the pendulum had swung that far to the democrats in 2008, followed by two incredibly hard years thereafter, and one of the biggest policy lifts ever with health reform, in 2010, that first midterm for obama, the pendulum swung back very, very hard. the democrats didn't just lose the house that year that. they lost 63 seats in the house. they lost six senate seats. it was just brutal. but that shellacking didn't just emerge from the ether on election night itself on 2010. there were signs all through those first two obama years that it was coming.