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Comment by treis | Hacker News Reader

This just seems to be a mismatch of expectations. The Republicans won the election in that they are going to have more seats than they did before. People are saying they "lost" because they didn't win as much as people expected. To use a sports analogy, they won the game but didn't cover the spread.

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Yes absolutely. In 2010 - Obama's first midterm - republicans gained like 64 seats in the house. It was a massacre for anything with a D next to their name on the ballot, expect in the most solidly blue locales. This was not like that at all. More of a regression to the mean in most places.

> This just seems to be a mismatch of expectations. The Republicans won the election in that they are going to have more seats than they did before. People are saying they "lost" because they didn't win as much as people expected. To use a sports analogy, they won the game but didn't cover the spread.

They under-performed very, very badly. It's like eking out a narrow win because (somehow) the sun was always in your opponents eyes and the wind was always at your back. Sure you got a win, but a win of that magnitude means you suck and will probably lose badly in the future.

They might still get control of the Senate and the House, which is like winning the Super Bowl with a last minute field goal. They’ll take it if it happens and the teams (political talking points) will all be different in 2 years anyway.

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