Yes, We Republi-CAN! GOP Overwhelmingly Takes Back House, Almost Regains Senate

Photo Courtesy - Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Buoyed by a tsunami of voter anger directed at the party in power over its failure to turn around the economy, Republicans took back control of the House Tuesday and nearly regained the Senate.

By the time the votes are all counted, ABC News projects that Republicans will gain 60 to 70 House seats, the most since 1938 when Democrats lost 71 seats under President Franklin Roosevelt.

The GOP House means President Obama has his work cut out for him over the next two years leading up to his certain re-election bid in attempting to further his domestic agenda, which Republicans will likely fight at every turn.

Republican voters turned out in droves Tuesday, as did independents, who flocked to GOP candidates the way they sided with Democrats in 2008. Tuesday’s results also suggest that the Tea Party, which mostly allied itself with the GOP, will be a force to reckon with in the future.

Leading up to Election Day, GOP leaders had expected taking at least 39 seats to regain the House, so winning at least 60 races was a lot of icing on the cake, with the results of several contests still undetermined early Wednesday.

The seats collected by Republicans were far more than the 52 the party won in 1994, when the GOP successfully promoted its Contract for America.

While managing to hold onto her own congressional seat in San Francisco, Nancy Pelosi becomes the lame duck House Speaker since Democrats will be out of power next January. Ohio Congressman John Boehner, the Republican minority leader, is considered the favorite to take over Pelosi’s job.

Meanwhile, the Senate remains in Democratic hands, but just barely. Two years ago, Democrats had a 60-vote majority that included two independents who usually voted with their caucus. By early Wednesday, Democrats and the two independents number only 51.

In spite of the public’s disappointment over Democratic policies, the GOP couldn’t muster up the ten seats it needed to gain a majority in the Senate.

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