This is Why You Hang On to Every Press Release

You never know when they might come in handy.

MSNBC's First Read looked into their archives some four years ago and noticed the spin you're hearing from both the RNC and the DNC appears to have switched locations when comparing the 2005 sweep of New Jersey and Virginia for the Democrats versus the 2009 sweep of New Jersey and Virginia for the Republicans.

Rahm Emanuel must have had a fun time today contradicting himself from circa 2005.

[L]ooking back at First Read’s coverage the day after the 2005 New Jersey and Virginia contests, we had forgotten that Rahm Emanuel — then chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and now White House chief of staff — had called us to argue the very point Republicans are now making: that the two gubernatorial contests say something about the upcoming midterms.

Here’s what we wrote then:

Democratic House campaign committee chair Rahm Emanuel, calling First Read immediately after Kaine’s and Corzine’s victories were announced, argued that it’s clear Democratic voters were already energized earlier in the year when Democrat Paul Hackett nearly won a traditionally GOP-leaning Ohio House district. “I think that’s even more true today.” He also pointed out that the mayors of Detroit, Cleveland, and St. Paul, MN were all losing. “A lot of incumbents are losing to change,” he said (although he neglected to mention that these three mayors are Democrats, though the one from St. Paul endorsed Bush last year).