Someone should give President Obama a history lesson about mid term elections and how well his party actually performs.

Yesterday, Obama shook the Democratic money tree by claiming that his party always gets "cobbered" in mid term elections. The Washington Post corrects the record:

While Obama's predictions of Democratic doom are true in the most recent  midterm (see 2010), the president seems to forget the drubbings that Democrats have given Republicans in midterms past over the last 30 years.

Democrats trounced Republicans in 2006, picking up 31 House and six Senate seats, enough for a majority in each chamber. In 1998 the party vastly outperformed expectations, picking up five seats in the House and leaving Republicans unable to increase a 10-vote margin in the Senate. Democrats really won big in 1982, claiming 27 House seats, and even bigger in 1986, when they took control of the Senate.

While poor showings are often blamed on lackluster turnout, the elections can often hinge on the current occupant of the Oval Office. When Democrats gained seats in 1998, it was the first time since 1934 that the president's party had gained ground during a midterm election. And who was president? Bill Clinton, whose popularity within the Democratic base had surged amid Republican impeachment proceedings in Congress. In 2006, George W. Bush was deeply unpopular and  Democrats won. Republicans also won big in 1994 and clobbered, to borrow a word, Democrats in 2010.

It's a time honored tactic for party leaders to try and goose their moneybags contributors by scaring them to death about being overwhelmed by the other partiy's resources. The reason it's used is because it usually works. I've been getting at least one email a day from the DNC or OFA warning me that all those hard won victories of the past 5 years are in jeopardy unless I immeditaely send them $10.

This time, of course, Obama may be right. But you have to think that the cold fish who contribute millions to the Democratic party were shaking their heads in disbelief when the president widly overstated the record.