Among the most frequently cited observations about politics — along with “it all comes down to turnout” and “a week is a lifetime” — is this factoid about midterm elections: “Since World War II, the party holding the White House has suffered an average loss of 26 House seats and four Senate seats.”
This is correct, but it’s not right — at least not as an accurate measure of what has happened in the last several dozen midterms. It’s misleading in the same way it would be to put Bill Gates in a room with nine indigents and conclude that their average worth was $13 billion.
The more accurate way to look at midterms is that there is no good way to summarize them. CONTINUED
Jeff Greenfield, Politico Magazine
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