Shades Of '06 For Shell-Shocked Dems

This is getting very interesting:

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Embattled incumbents with ethics problems. Allegations of sexual harrassment leading to a competitive open seat. Dems have seen this movie before -- only last time, it happened to the other guys.

Now, a beleagured Dem majority has to hope their party can withstand a building wave that favors the GOP, and that effort isn't made any easier by countless, and mounting, self-inflicted errors.

4 years ago, it was GOPers who found themselves on the receiving end of jolt after jolt of bad news. This time around, Dem strategists are beginning to accept the inevitability of big losses, and a sort of morbid gallows humor has settled over Congressional and political aides.

Then, an unpopular war in Iraq and a failed attempt to privatize social security put the GOP on the mat, but behavior of several GOPers in Congress knocked them out cold. This year, an ongoing war in Afghanistan has some in the Dem base deflated, while efforts to reform health care have sent Dem approval ratings -- and those of Pres. Obama -- plummeting.