USA Today also finds Abramoff and other scandals played key role in House losses

Another major newspaper outlines the role of scandals in the loss of the House by the GOP:
Many of the candidates in trouble were linked to Jack Abramoff, a lobbyist who pleaded guilty in January to felonies including bribing a member of Congress, or to former congressman Mark Foley, the Florida Republican who resigned in September after being confronted about sexually explicit computer messages and improper e-mails sent to teenage boys serving as Congressional pages.
Democrats took three seats vacated as a result of scandal: those of Foley; former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, who resigned his Texas seat in June after a fundraising scandal; and former Ohio Republican Rep. Bob Ney, who resigned last week after pleading guilty to corruption in the Abramoff scandal.
Voters held the Republican Party responsible for the ethical failings, said David Rohde, a political scientist at Duke University. "It's not just individuals who transgressed themselves, but it's the party that's in control that has failed on a whole bunch of grounds," he said.
In surveys of voters as they left polling places Tuesday, 41% said the issue of corruption in government was extremely important in deciding their vote — more than any other issue, including terrorism and the economy. Those voters favored Democrats by 60% to 38%.
The reach of scandal was reminiscent of 1994, when Democrats lost control of Congress after bouncing checks at the House bank, and 1974, when Republicans lost 48 House seats after Watergate.

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