Ah, 1998.
The year the Republicans finally thought their six years of fishing expeditions and witchhunts (aka CoupGate or The Hunting of the President) would bear fruit. Newt was predicting 60-seat gains in the House and a dozen Senate seat pickups for the GOP.
Instead, it was the year that saw the Republicans have a net loss of five House seats and zero Senate seats. (They took out three Senate Democrats but lost an equal number of their own - and tellingly, the Republicans who lost included Al D'Amato and Lauch Faircloth, the two Republican Senators most eager to impeach President Bill Clinton.) It was the first time since 1934 that the out-of-the White-House party failed to gain congressional seats in a mid-term election, and the first time since 1822 that the party not in control of the White House failed to gain seats in the mid-term election of a President's second term.
It was also the Year of the Three Speakers.
Follow me past the cartouche for the deets.