As the political environment for Democrats has turned ugly, it
is widely assumed the party will sustain losses in next year's
midterm elections. The operative question is: How bad will
those losses be?
With a little over 13 months to go, that's impossible to know.
Democrats desperately hope the next year will provide them with
opportunities to reverse the tide and minimize losses, possibly
by picking up GOP-held House and Senate seats to offset losses
elsewhere. But they also fear the 13 months might give matters
a chance to snowball and get worse. If Democrats go 0-2 in this
year's gubernatorial elections in New Jersey and Virginia, that
will only dampen party morale more.
The post-World War II average for first-term presidents is a
midterm loss of 16 House seats. In the Senate, interestingly,
the norm is a wash.
But with Democrats having picked up 54 House seats from the GOP
in the last two elections -- elections with near-perfect
conditions for Democratic candidates in virtually every state
-- and holding 84 seats in districts carried by either former
President George W. Bush in 2004 or Sen.
John McCain, R-Ariz., last year -- including
48 won by both -- the number of seats at risk exceeds their
39-seat majority.
Cook emphasizes the election is 13 months off. But a lot of
Democrats have to be looking over their shoulders as they
consider the administration's and their leadership's expensive
big government proposals.
…Spectator philipaklein Philip Klein amspec American Spectator 110 Show more Shortened Links Linking to the spectator.org page http://bit.ly/MBV02 info 2 tweets Tweet The American Spectator : AmSpecBlog : Congressional Prospects for 2010 spectator.org/blog/2009/09/17/congressional-prospects-for-20 – view page – cached As the political environment for Democrats has turned ugly, it is widely…
Hoping Against Hope| 9.17.09 @ 8:33AM
Please, please, please, please, please, let Nancy Pelosi lose her
speakership. PLEASE!
Tim| 9.17.09 @ 10:28AM
What a great fantasy! Republicans take it all back and then Obama
goes down in 2012, YAY!
Maybe Jeb Bush can be President! It'll be 2000 all over again,
the dawn of a golden era of Republican domination.
Unless the GOP is going to actually deliver the goods it
shouldn't matter to anybody how many D's and R's are in DC.
Spicy Joker| 9.17.09 @ 11:44AM
The election is over a year away. The Repubics are deluding
themselves into thinking it's over for the Democraps. Let's see
the Repubics put their money where their mouths are for a change.
They can start by standing up for conservatives like Joe Wilson
instead of running for the hills whenever Obama and company play
the race card.
Amor de Cosmos| 9.17.09 @ 11:51AM
Fiscal conservatives will win in 2010. By election day the
Administration and Congress will have racked up more debt than
any other for less purpose than any other.
Pingback| 9.17.09 @ 5:29AM
Twitter Trackbacks for The American Spectator : AmSpecBlog : Congressional Prospects links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Hoping Against Hope| 9.17.09 @ 8:33AM
Please, please, please, please, please, let Nancy Pelosi lose her speakership. PLEASE!
Tim| 9.17.09 @ 10:28AM
What a great fantasy! Republicans take it all back and then Obama goes down in 2012, YAY!
Maybe Jeb Bush can be President! It'll be 2000 all over again, the dawn of a golden era of Republican domination.
Unless the GOP is going to actually deliver the goods it shouldn't matter to anybody how many D's and R's are in DC.
Spicy Joker| 9.17.09 @ 11:44AM
The election is over a year away. The Repubics are deluding themselves into thinking it's over for the Democraps. Let's see the Repubics put their money where their mouths are for a change. They can start by standing up for conservatives like Joe Wilson instead of running for the hills whenever Obama and company play the race card.
Amor de Cosmos| 9.17.09 @ 11:51AM
Fiscal conservatives will win in 2010. By election day the Administration and Congress will have racked up more debt than any other for less purpose than any other.