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The demographics of the Democratic 110th Congress are analyzed in comparison with the earlier Congress, and it is observed that Congress is dominated by white, middle-aged, well-educated and wealthy men as always. An increase in the number of women, African-Americans and Hispanics in Congress is noted, as also that members are older and the freshmen are less politically experienced.

The way in which the Democrats successfully picked apart the House GOP majority, district by district, with victories to spare is discussed. Democratic strategists were sure that well-funded and seasoned candidates could win the seats in the House even in an anti-GOP political environment and are still hopeful of prevailing in two more especially close challenges that might go to recounts.

The Democrats would need to sweep all of the Republican seats that they have targeted while defending all nine of the seats where the GOP is mounting its takeover efforts, in order to form a bare majority of 218 in the 2006 polls. They will have to overwhelm the Republicans with the power of ideas as they will well lag behind in financial resources, find more candidates who can mount credible challenges, besides using their regular campaign theme of `corruption and cronyism' in the House under GOP control.

Democrats need to do a lot more than pointing out failures of the Republicans to convince the Americans what the alternative is in national security, energy independence, fiscal responsibility and a strong environmental protection program, if they have to win the 2006 elections. A majority of Americans view Democrats as lacking in their ideas or a positive, alternative agenda and the GOP strategists believe that the 2006 outcome will be heavily influenced by the personal popularity of the candidates and by the organizations and treasuries they build.

The Democrats are expecting the upcoming 2006 election to be an election upheaval on the order of the 1994 Republican erevolutionE. The Democrats have legitimate reasons to believe that they might be back in power due to the existing public dissatisfaction over the handling of the US economy, the war in Iraq and ethical controversies reaching high into the executive and legislative branches and episodes such as Terri Schiavo case.

A pair of extraordinarily close contests that President George W. Bush won in the two presidential elections held in the span of 10 years from 2000 to 2010 was because he did a little better in the suburbs of a few battleground states. A Congressional Quarterly assessment of the demographics of all 435 congressional districts shows that two different camps of suburban voters are forming with their politics moving in opposite directions.

The characteristics of the 109th Congress are that most of the lawmakers are older and more political savvy, but very few are having military background. The accelerating decline in military service among members is the most notable factor in this Congress as the issues of war and security are given more prominence nowadays.

The Republicans are trying very hard to hold the US Senate's rein to obtain majority. The Democrats need to win at least seven of the nine closest races in order to take control of the Senate.

House Democrats have begun a long-term plan to challenge even safe Republicans in hopes of catching a political tidal wave of discontent that puts them back in control. The Democratic Party strategists are concentrating on a plan that they believe will maximize their chances later in the decade, when veteran Republicans such as Delaware's Michael N. Castle are expected to retire.

Senator John McCain is relying on votes from the traditional Republican states and planning his election strategy in accordance with his line of thought.

The States of the Mountain West in the US have long sustained Republican majorities in federal, state and local government, but many Democrats contend that the grasp of the Republicans is slipping in the sprawling and rapidly populating region. Democrats believe that coordinated regional party-building efforts and concerted attention from Democratic presidential candidates would result in Western States endorsing the Democratic presidential nominee in 2008.

The congressional redistricting was fixed for five elections, until the next census and reapportionment of the House and was carried out by the state legislature. The Republicans asserted that it was their duty to legislate a replacement for a map drawn by the judges and therefore in Georgia, the new GOP majority got rid of the contorted boundaries, while in California, the GOP governor wanted a good-government image by creating a nonpartisan panel to draw a more politically competitive map.

The notion of voters supporting either party during elections and representing themselves with various color schemes for the nation's political landscape is discussed, red depicting Republican victories and blue Democratic wins. The ballot cases in states such as Colorado, Maine, South Dakota, Rhode Island and Georgia, where electorate favors a variety of colors are highlighted.

The GOP takeovers of all the five Southern Senate seats, which were left open by the Democratic people, have boosted Republicans to a four-seat net gain nationally. South Carolina, North Carolina, Louisiana, Florida are some of the Southern states where the Republicans replaced the Democrats.