Over the past two and a half years, Democrats went from a 30-seat minority in the House back in 2006 to a near 80-seat domination today. In the Senate, what was a 55-45 Republican-favored split going into the '06 midterms is now a 60-40 supermajority. And let's not forget, Democrats took the White House in '08 with an electoral majority (something Bill Clinton was never able to do), and a fairly significant one at that.

In just the past six months, President Barack Obama has seen his nominees for top government posts confirmed faster than any president in the modern era. He's en route to a surefire confirmation for his first Supreme Court nominee, and has pushed landmark legislation- from the stimulus, to the energy bill, to an ambitious wartime appropriation for Afghanistan, to an even more ambitious budget- at a breakneck pace, and has yet to receive a serious rebuke from Congress.

But the past few weeks have been difficult. What have probably been unrealstic expectations on the part of the electorate have led to frustration that the economy isn't "fixed" yet, despite the decade or more it took to get us to this point. Unemployment continues to rise, albeit slower than before.  The enormous budget has raised eyebrows, and distractions like the Crowly-Gates-"stupidly" dustup have created a negative media buzz around the president and his party.

The year began with analysts predicting yet another dominating cycle for Democrats in 2010. But already, a few polls have emerged showing Republicans poised for something of a comeback, or at least a competitive run. And while Democrats have pointed to a few additional polls showing them leading the generic ballot test (which simply asks respondents if they prefer a Democrat or Republican for Congress), the GOP isn't in the dire position it was months ago, when commentators were asking whether it could even recover from its state of near-irrelevance.

Around the country, Democratic gubernatorial are looking to be in trouble. In Virginia, Democratic nominee Creigh Deeds is trailing Republican Bob McDonnell drastically, just as incumbent Democrat John Corzine is way behind Chris Christie in New Jersey. Other Democratic governors, like Deval Patrick of Massachusetts, David Paterson of New York, Bill Ritter of Colorado, and Chet Culver of Iowa, have seen their approval rating drop off precipitously.

And yet, with all the doom and gloom, Democrats are still in excellent shape to not only maintain their majorities, but potentially build on them.

In the Senate, Democrats have a very real opportunity to add Missouri and Ohio, and the potential for pickups in New Hampshire, North Carolina, and a few others. Conversely Republicans have basically one major shot at a seat gain, Chris Dodd's seat in Connecticut. Under the right circumstances, they have a shot in Illinois and Delaware, but in all likelihood, won't be able to drum up the financial resources to stay competitive over the long haul.

In the House, major GOP players have announced bids for higher office, giving Democrats opportunities in open-seat races, where the odds are always somewhat more even than usual. And while some were eliminated last year, most of the freshman Democrat class of 2006 were reelected in their first bids for reelection in 2008. A good number of them are starting to build incumbency advantages.

And while Democratic governors are undeniably suffering at this point, so are Republicans. Just today, a poll was released showing California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger with his all-time lowest approval ratings. They've now dropped to the same levels of his predecessor, Democrat Gray Davis, just before the recall that swept "the Governator" into office. And he's not the only Republican chief executive in that position.

Make no mistake- Democrats will lose a few seats in 2010 at all levels. But they may be able to pick up enough to offset the damage, and then some. At any rate, the GOP-comeback story is a bit premature, if not totally fabricated...for now.

utterly dire for the GOP. This is more than the pendulum swinging back and forth so to speak. This is a sea change. We may not get everything that we want at the beginning and it will take a little while for the Dems in congress to quit voting as if the were suffering from battered wife syndrome, but the the times they are a-changin'.

Some of these dems aren't quite sure how to handle being in the majority just yet.

but the state of the economy and whether or not a good guaranteed health insurance bill is passed will have a lot to do with how well the Democrats do in Congressional elections. If the economy sucks around election time and guaranteed health insurance has been defeated by Democrats in the pocket of the insurance industry, expect Democrats to stay home in droves, with dire and well-deserved consequences for the party's prospects at all levels. Don't get me wrong; no way would I suggest the Republicans are actually BETTER than the Democrats under such circumstances. But with such big majorities in both Houses, if they can't pass their legislative agenda, they are - collectively, not talking about some good individual legislators - assholes who deserve to lose.

Meanwhile, if the national economy improves substantially and guaranteed health care was approved, the Democrats may well win more seats in both Houses of Congress, but I'm not convinced that will pull unpopular Democratic governors over the finish line. "Throw the bums out" is an emotional response to suffering that occurs under the watch of a Chief Executive, regardless of how much s/he's to be blamed or credited, and it probably applies just as well in gubernatorial as presidential elections.

and campaign contributions are still overwhelmingly conservative (pro-business). We need progressive dollars to offset business dollars.

risk aversion by refusing to pass (hardly) any progressive legislation so far this term. Why risk these huge majorities the voters have given Democrats in the last two cycles by actually legislating like Democrats? If Dems lose in 2010 it will be because of the appearance of weakness in allowing the minority opposition to drive Washington's agenda. In general voters are attracted to strength, not weakness.

the utter fail that is the modern GOP will probably save the Dems from the usual midterm losses, let alone the wipeout the corporate media is gleefully hoping for. Add in the fact that the GOP already won most of what it could win in the 2010 cycle in 2004, and we're in decent shape.

But we could see losses on governor's seats and some of the R-leaning southern house seats we won last year, IMO.

and assuming the Republicans don't take their heads out of their asses for some time to come. But it's still quite possible for the Republicans to make gains in the off-year elections of 2010. I hope they don't, but they very well might, depending on conditions closer to the elections.

who got in by playing nice with reaganism and not wanting to stick their necks out.

They also still have to raise enormous sums of money to remain competitive in their campaigns.

And where does most of it come from, do you suppose? Ya think any lobbyists are involved?

That's the sickness at the core, whether it's dem's or repub's who are in charge. Corruption, the mad money scramble, the purchase of inordinate access and influence.

I agree with this site's premise, that dem's are wa-a-ay better than repub's, and that better dem's is a huge part of the way forward. It's not an automatic, as we see with the Baucus debacle.

Hold. Feet. To. Fire.

They may not be doomed in 2010, or 2012, but the party that eventually regains the White House or a house of Congress may be called "Republican", but it won't resemble the current party in many respects.

Ha ha. Just saying what makes you feel better doesn't make it so. Listen and watch as Obama's popularity drop. It is not just Republicans. Democrats as well are becoming unhappy with Obama as they see a different Obama than in the campaign. The backlash to Obama's policies, especially health care, are to be expected. The majority of Americans are happy with their health care. They want improvements, not a worse option. Unless Democratic leadership wakes up and listens to their constituents you'll see landslide Republican wins in 2010.