In a January 1 MSNBC.com article titled “That was 2006: The Year of the Sneer,” MSNBC reporter Alex Johnson wrote that Democrats “just squeaked through” in the November 7, 2006, midterm elections. That section of the article was labeled “From the jaws of defeat.” In fact, as the result of the midterm elections, Democrats have a larger majority in the House of Representatives 233-202 -- than Republicans ever had after gaining a majority in the House in 1994. Republicans last held a majority of more than 30 seats in the House during the 80th Congress, which sat from 1947-1949 and opened with a 246-188 Republican majority.

Moreover, as Media Matters for America noted, Democrats not only gained control of the House of Representatives and the Senate, they did so without losing a single seat in either chamber of Congress.* The last election in which a major political party retained all of its House seats came in 1938, when Republicans took 81 seats without losing a single one of their own. That year, Republicans -- like the Democrats in 2006 -- held all of their seats in the Senate as well.

An Associated Press article (subscription required) that appeared in the November 12, 1938, edition of The New York Times stated that this outcome may have then been unique in U.S. history at the time.:

Republican forces in Congress came through Tuesday's election without the loss of a seat. Veteran officials here said today, that as far as they were able to determine, the record was unique for a major party.

Therefore, the 2006 Democratic victories in Congress represent:

• A larger majority than Republicans had in any Congress since taking control in 1994.

• The first election since 1938 in which a U.S. political party retained all its House seats.

• Apparently only the second time in U.S. history that a “major party” survived an election without losing a single seat in either the House or the Senate.

From Johnson's January 1 MSNBC.com article:

From the jaws of defeat

So how did the Democrats do it? Basically, the Republicans blew up in a giant North-Korean-dictator-Kim-Jong-Il-hairdo-like mushroom cloud.

Even then, the Dems just squeaked through, despite the president's pell-mell retreat as his father's grayest advisers took control of Iraq policy. Despite the rise in the number of U.S. service members killed to 2,947 (as of Dec. 19). Despite the deaths of tens of thousands of Iraqis as Sunni militants, Shiite militants, Kurdish militants and al-Qaida militants fought bloodily for control of the country. (All of which, eventually, meant Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and his smirk were bundled off into retirement and left the administration reduced to arguing that the violence didn't, at least technically speaking, meet the dictionary definition of a civil war.)

Despite the conviction of Republican-linked über-lobbyist Jack Abramoff (for fraud). And White House aide David Safavian (for obstruction). And [former] Republican Reps. Randy “Duke” Cunningham [CA] (for taking bribes) and Bob Ney [OH] (for receiving inappropriate gifts). And Republican former Gov. George Ryan of Illinois (for impressive all-round corruption).

Despite the forced resignation of Republican Rep. Mark Foley [FL], who was discovered sending salacious electronic messages (“how [sic] my favorite young stud doing?”) to male congressional pages even as he led the House panel investigating sexual exploitation of minors.

Despite the indictment and retirement of House Republican leader Tom DeLay, a Hammer who became the Texas legal system's Nail.

Despite the indictment and resignation of the vice president's chief of staff, I. Lewis “What Kind of a Name Is Scooter for a Grown Man” Libby, on suspicion lying [sic] to cover up the defamation of an administration critic. (That's the case in which the vice president will make history by taking the stand.)

Despite widespread condemnation of the administration's secret programs to eavesdrop on American citizens' telephone calls and delve into their financial records and electronic mail without court warrants.

Despite the vice president's unfortunate choice of hunting targets: an elderly lawyer. This really happened: A few days later, the lawyer's family apologized to the vice president for causing all that trouble.

Still, at year's end, Republicans could celebrate that a Democratic congressman, William Jefferson [LA], was under under [sic] investigation for allegedly trying to sell his influence to Nigerian scamsters.

Then they saw the Democrats self-immolate over the selection and then defeat of millionaire candidate Ned Lamont against pro-Iraq war Senator Joe Lieberman [CT].

And that in her first act as the first House Speaker-elect, Rep. Nancy Pelosi got herself into a right-royal catfight by backing the ethics-challenged John Murtha [PA] to be majority leader over the more popular choice of her colleagues, Steny Hoyer [MD], with whom Pelosi has feuded for years.

Somewhere, Dick Cheney was smiling again.

* Sen. Joe Lieberman lost in the August 8 Connecticut Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate. Declaring his intent to caucus with the Democrats if re-elected to the Senate, Lieberman subsequently ran and won as an independent in the general election.