First to feel the heat was Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK) who heads his party's U.S. House election efforts.

As Cole was leaving a morning meeting of GOP lawmakers, fellow Rep. Wally Herger threw his arm around him, patted him on the back, and said "My heart goes out to you."

In other words, the message was, "I'm glad I'm not the one in charge right now."

Cole calmly stood and took questions from reporters in the basement of the Capitol as fellow Republicans filed by, some of whom probably aren't pleased with his election work so far.

Especially since some of their seats may now be in jeopardy come November.

"I think people are concerned, legitimately so," said the Oklahoma Republican. "I mean, we lost three special elections in a row in areas where we would normally expect to win."

Upstairs in a news conference, House GOP Leader John Boehner wasn't mincing words.

"It was another wake up call," said Boehner, "we have to show Americans that we can fix the problems here in Washington and fix the problems that they deal with everyday."

So Republicans rolled out a new agenda focusing on the needs of families.

"There are a number of other issues we'll be talking about in the coming weeks to show Americans that we're serious about fixing Washington," Boehner added.

"Clearly we got problems that are deep and serious as to how we're going to do in the fall elections," added Cole.

The spin from Republicans was that the Democrats who have won these special elections have run as conservatives, so it's not the time to abandon ship and run for the hills.

"Six months ago, Rudy Giuliani was the frontrunner in the Republican contest for President and Barack Obama didn't have a chance," said House GOP Whip Roy Blount (R-Mo.)

"It's six months until the November elections," Blount volunteered.

Democrats were having none of that, as they were all smiles about their fortunes, saying this might be a "harbinger of things to come."

In other words, a big year for Democrats in Congress in November.

It certainly has the feel right now of a year that might be Advantage Democrats when it comes to the Congress.

That means any Republican who won two years ago with less than 60% of the vote - you are on notice - no matter what you do, you might get swept away unless the battlefield changes between now and November.

Republicans now have 199 seats in the Congress, their lowest number of seats in the House since after the 1992 election, when Democrats won the White House and had a 258-176 advantage.

Two years later, the Democrats had screwed up and Republicans took control under Speaker Newt Gingrich, gaining 54 seats for a 230-204 margin.

The GOP could lose another seat soon, as Rep. Vito Fossella (R-NY) deals with the fallout from his now public affair and love child. He's been urged to resign.

The trends remind me of 1994, when the Republicans were poised to take over Congress, except this time, Democrats can bolster their majorities even more.