Democrats control the House! Pelosi first female Speaker in history

Yes! She seems like a real democrat too. See: Pelosi calls Iraq war a ?grotesque mistake?

Democrats are set to take control of the House of Representatives, according to projections by NBC News.

Two years after a decisive election victory for Bush and his Republicans, Democrats picked up the 15 seats they needed to recapture control of the 435-seat House for the first time since 1994, according to the network.

?I think it's critical Democrats focus not on payback, but on progress,? Sen. Barack Obama, a Democrat, told NBC News' Brian Williams as news of the Republican losses emerged through the night.

Sen. John McCain, meanwhile, told Williams the Iraq war was weighing heavily on voters' minds.

?Of course it's frustrating ... it's frustrating to all of us,? the Arizona Republican said.

Pelosi as leader?
Based on the projections, Nancy Pelosi will likely be the first female speaker in the House's 217-year history.

As speaker, she will be second in line to succeed the president. Earlier in the evening, the California Democrat predicted, ?We are on the brink of a great Democratic victory.?

Republican incumbents went down in nearly every region of the country. Three GOP congressmen lost in Indiana, two in New Hampshire, one in North Carolina, and a Democrat won an open seat in Arizona.

Ethics woes were clearly taking their toll on the GOP.

Republicans surrendered the Ohio seat once held by Bob Ney, who resigned after pleading guilty in a lobbying scandal, and the Florida seat of Mark Foley, who stepped down after the disclosure that he sent sexually explicit messages to male congressional pages.

In Pennsylvania, Democrats defeated Curt Weldon in the fallout from a federal corruption investigation and Don Sherwood who admitted to a long-term affair with a much younger woman who says he choked her.