Everywhere I went on Wednesday, there were more and more reminders of the major change that is about to occur in the House of Representatives. There seemed to be something around every corner.
Out of one elevator near the House floor came two Democrats, their arms around each other.
"How ya doing?" asked Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) in a concerned voice of Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-SD).
"I'm okay," said the obviously downbeat South Dakota Democrat, who went from winning her seat two years ago with 67% of the vote to losing earlier this month.
Connolly had almost lost his seat as well, barely surviving by less than 1,000 votes in the suburbs of Washington, D.C.
A few minutes later, one of many Republicans sporting huge smiles came around the corner to get on an elevator in the Capitol.
"I'm doing so damn good!" said a beaming Rep. John Mica (R-FL), who seems to be on his way to being the Chairman of the House Transportation Committee.
Five minutes after that, I'm interviewing a Republican just off the floor, when Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA) comes rushing up with news about the winner of the race for freshman class president.
"He won!" Broun said to Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA), speaking of newly elected Rep. Austin Scott of Georgia. "I helped count the votes!" Broun exclaimed.
Out on the House floor, it was already obvious who wasn't coming back, as several Lame Ducks were spotted not wearing ties, like Rep. Brian Baird (D-WA), who didn't run for re-election.
Some of the members were on the floor using their cell phones to take pictures of their friends and family, even though taking photos is strictly forbidden.
When some of the floor staffers nicely reminded members about that rule, it wasn't met with a smile.
"What are you going to do, have me kicked out?" one Lame Duck lawmaker asked sarcastically.
Meanwhile, over at a closed door meeting of Democrats, members of that party were trying their best to move on from their election shellacking, even as they decided to keep Nancy Pelosi as Minority Leader.
"When it was all said and done, Democrats pledged to leave that room united," said Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA), who didn't have to worry about a close race this year.
Johnson said he was confident that Pelosi was the right choice for the party, an assessment that Pelosi repeated to the microphones a few minutes later.
I kept running around the Cannon House Office Building looking for Democrats to comment about the leadership elections. Almost every interview I did had the feeling that the Dems were really hoping this was just a bad dream.
Finally, while Speaker Pelosi was speaking with reporters, one lone Democrat slipped out the side door and walked slowly down the hallway.
No one noticed him except me, and I quickly skipped down the hall trying to catch up, without him noticing.
It was a photograph that I had to have. A dark hallway, with a big window at the end of the hall, silouhetting the veteran Democrat, who walked with his head down, his shoulders slumped, letting out a couple of large sighs along the way.
When I was just about to snap the picture, he darted to the left and into the elevators. In he went and the doors closed. He looked very unhappy as I glanced through the glass at him.
Maybe you've heard of him. Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY). He'll be back before the House Ethics Committee later today.
Everywhere I went on Wednesday, there were more and more reminders of the major change that is about to occur in the House of Representatives. There seemed to be something around every corner. Out of one elevator near the House floor came two Democrats, their arms around each other."How ya ...
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