Before leaving, Boehner said the big difference between now and 1994 — when a scandal-plagued Democratic majority was washed out of power by a Republican tidal wave — is that Democrats aren’t offering a specific legislative plan if voters give them control of Congress.

“They can’t tell you what they would do if they were in charge,” he said.

Democrats are offering nothing comparable to the Republicans “Contract with America” — the 1994 pledge to cut taxes, balance the budget, force Congress to abide by the same laws as average Americans, vote on imposing term limits and other reforms. They had a shared vision to offer voters, according to Gutknecht.

“The only thing that unifies Democrats, as far as we can see, is that they will raise taxes,” Gutknecht said.

Walz campaign spokeswoman Meredith Salsbery said voters need only to look at each candidates’ Web site to see that Walz is offering much more detailed proposals on a broad range of issues. And Salsbery said Democrats are offering a better approach than the Contract with America.

“That didn’t work out so well for them,” she said. “They didn’t keep a lot of their promises.”

In contrast, Democratic candidates will bring grass-roots-generated solutions to the nation’s problems, according to Salsbery.

“Newly elected members of Congress are going to go to Washington and say ‘This what the people want,’” she said.