From the New York Times, I'm Michael Barbaro.

This is the day.

Today, in this year's midterms,

dozens of Democrats were battling for house seats

in dozens of districts across the country.

How the party leaders came up with a winning strategy

that applied to all of them.

It's Friday, November 9.

Kate Zerke, what was the situation with this seat in Virginia

before the midterms?

This was kind of a famous district.

America is at a critical crossroads,

and the route we take will determine the kind of country we want to be.

It was held for a long time for about a decade by Eric Cantor,

who was the house majority leader when the Republicans controlled the house,

and Paul Ryan was speaker.

And Eric Cantor is one of what we're called the young guns.

They were young Republican leaders,

and their whole focus was fiscal conservatism.

Washington has a spending problem,

and both Democrats and Republicans bear some responsibility.

Government shouldn't be big,

...