Elizabeth Arnold is a freelance reporter for NPR. From 2000 - 2004, she was an NPR national correspondent, covering America's public lands with a focus on the environment, politics, economics, and culture.
The U.S. birth rate fell to its lowest level ever recorded, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The drop would have been greater, but women over age 30 are having more children.
Every other decade over the past hundred years has produced at least one midterm that made a big difference in Congress and in national politics more broadly.