What's so striking about this election is that the results will probably reflect what was anticipated a year ago: minimal change in the House and modest Republican gains in the Senate. When you consider how much has happened over the past 12 months, how many apparent turning points there were, this coming full circle is truly amazing. It's almost as if Monica Lewinsky never happened.
As we round the final turn of the 1998 campaign, Republicans look likely to gain only one to three Senate seats, a similar number of gubernatorial seats (though taking a loss in California) and fewer than 10 seats in the House. Republican leads in the California and Kentucky Senate races have evaporated; both races are now dead even. Conversely, in Nevada, GOP Senate candidate John Ensign has cut Sen. Harry M. Reid's lead to a tiny one. Nationally, Democrats seemed to enjoy a run of good fortune in early to mid-October, but then Republicans started recovering. In many cases, momentum appeared to be linked to effective television commercials or big TV buys.
Although Republicans are
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