American political parties hardly ever concede what’s “bad” in a given campaign result. The dark cloud is always a meteorological anomaly; what really matters is the silver lining. Sometimes — rarely — this is actually true. It is partly true where official Republican explanations for the 1998 midterm elections are concerned. And the part that’s true is . . . well, better than nothing.

GOP press releases urge that the party’s poor showing in this past Tuesday’s congressional canvass be interpreted in the context of Clinton-era partisan realignment. In 1992 there were 267 Democratic members of the House. In 1999, even after last week’s 5-seat pickup, there will be just 211. In the Senate, Democrats have sustained proportionally comparable net losses — 12 seats — over the same period. All told, roughly 20 percent of the Democrats’ Capitol Hill caucus has disappeared.