Republicans make gains, but the Democrats still rule the roost
Even in years of presidential landslides, members of the House of Representatives who run for re-election usually win. Their success rate is more than 90%, compared with the more hazardous 68% success rate of their Senate colleagues. This year the powers of incumbency were sorely strained by the surprising Reagan-slide, the Abscam bribery scandal and the harrowing problems of inflation. The Democrats, nevertheless, hung on to control. Although at least 26 incumbent Democrats were defeated, and the Republicans had a net gain of 32...