The Spectacle Blog
Dominic Montanaro of MSNBC has a roundup of nine House races that are still unresolved. To date, Republicans have won a net gain of 60 seats, and are leading in five districts that are still too close to call: Andy Vidak +648 votes in CA-20, Joe Walsh +365 votes in IL-8, Randy Altschuler +400 votes in NY-1, Ann Marie Buerkle +684 votes in NY-25, and Blake Farenhold +799 votes in TX-27.
Winning all five of those would eclipse the 62 seats the GOP gained in 1920, but not the 81-seat pickup in 1938.
For some reason, there has been a lot of Republican crying-over-spilled-milk in regard to their losses in Senate races — Delaware, Colorado, Nevada, California and Washington state — as if this truly massive GOP tsunami in the House were a negligible accomplishment.
Granted, protecting a House majority is more difficult than defending Senate seats (since representatives come up for re-election every two years, as compared to six years for senators), but with their gain of more than 600 seats in state legislatures, the GOP will have an edge in redistricting fights before the 2012 election. That, plus a margin of 20-25 seats over the bare mininum 218 House majority, will probably be enough to ensure that Republicans control the Speaker’s gavel through 2014 — even with an expected surge in Democratic turnout for Barack Obama’s re-election campaign.
As if that were not enough cause for conservatives to be of good cheer, try this mirthful news: “The Great Shellacking of 2010 will throw more than 2,000 Democratic congressional staffers out of their jobs.”
View all comments (10) | Leave a comment
Related Blog Posts
More Blog Posts by Robert Stacy McCain
http://spectator.org/blog/2010/11/08/gop-gain-in-house-may-be-65-se
Follow us:
ADVERTISEMENT
Current Issue
- The Vast and the Tiny
- The Great Train Robbery
- Ailes: A Voice for the Silent Majority
SPONSORED LINKS
FLASHBACK TO: 1995
-
Pope Culture
A man of faith in a godless age is hitting Americans where it hurts.
-
Why the GOP Does Not, Like, Totally Suck
Mr. and Mrs. American Spectator Reader, let P.J. O’Rourke talk sense to your kids.
-
Dames at Sea
-
In the Absence of Guns
In Britain, defending your property can get you life.
-
The Metaphysical Martini
-
Counting the Costs of Clintonism
The debacle of this president’s administration is both a cause and a symptom of the decline of American values. Unless Congress impeaches him, that decline will go on unchecked. An eminent jurist surveys the damage and assesses the chances for the recovery of our culture.
-
Chuck McHagel
It won’t take long for conservatives to scratch this presidential wannabe off their 2008 scorecard.
-
The Legacy of Old John and Mother Fresh-Roasted
-
It’s the Best Time of the Year
The American Christmas, like the songs that celebrate it, makes room for everybody under the rainbow. Is that why so many people seem to be hostile to it?
-
The Bush Crack-Up
Was the President done in by the economy, or by the politics of the economy?
Clip of the Day
H/T to National Review Online
ADVERTISEMENT
Occam's Tool| 11.8.10 @ 6:03PM
Including the GREAT TOOL, Jim Oberstar! Yes! Now, if Auburn loses the Iron Bowl and TCU goes to the National championship game, my joy will be complete!
Tim*| 11.8.10 @ 6:09PM
The New York Times identified five Tea Party Senate candidates and forty-one Tea Party House Candidates who won or are leading.
Senate
PA- Pat Toomey
KY- Rand Paul
FL- Marco Rubio
WI- Ron Johnson
UT- Mike Lee
House
AR-1 Rick Crawford
AR-2 Tim Griffin
AZ-1 Paul Gosar
AZ-5 David Schweikert
FL-2 Steve Southerland
FL-22 Allen West
FL-24 Sandra Adams
GA-9 Tom Graves
ID-1 Raul Labrador
IL-8 Joe Walsh
IL-10 Robert Dold
IL-11 Adam Kinzinger
IL-14 Randy Hultgren
IL-17 Bobby Schilling
IN-3 Marlin Stutzman
IN-9 Todd Young
LA-3 Jeff Landry
MI-1 Dan Benishek
MI-3 Justin Amash
MO-4 Vicky Hartzler
NC-2 Renee Ellmers
NH-1 Frank Guinta
NV-3 Joe Heck
NY-13 Michael Grimm
NY-20 Christopher Gibson
NY-25 Ann Marie Buerkle
OH-1 Steve Chabot
OH-6 Bill Johnson
OH-15 Steven Stivers
OH-16 Jim Renacci
SC-1 Tim Scott
SC-3 Jeff Duncan
SC-4 Trey Gowdy
SC-5 Mick Mulvaney
TN-4 Scott DesJarlais
TX-17 Bill Flores
TX-27 Blake Farenthold
VA-9 H. Morgan Griffith
WI-7 Sean Duffy
WI-8 Reid Ribble
WV-1 David McKinley
Derek Leaberry| 11.9.10 @ 1:04PM
You missed Andy Harris of Maryland's First District. However, with redistricting in the hands of the Democrats, he will most likely have to move to the Eastern Shore where two-thirds of the district's population lives.
Al Adab| 11.8.10 @ 6:12PM
Recount Nevada ala Minnesota. Keep counting until the result is as we wish. It worked for the Dems with Al Franken.
There are a couple other close house races too. Recount them.
Wayne| 11.8.10 @ 6:49PM
65 would be an awesome accomplishment and enough to stop Obama Nation in its tracks. In a way it is better that the Senate stay Democrat. It forces them to vote down the bills from the house rather than filibuster. That vote goes on record for the 2012 election. Manchin for example will have to go with the GOP on energy bills (even in the lame duck session). I think the House will hold firm, the Senate has always been the wild card, but even the Maine senators have to see how toxic it is to vote with Obama.
chemman| 11.8.10 @ 7:19PM
"The Great Shellacking of 2010 will throw more than 2,000 Democratic congressional staffers out of their jobs."
That is totally obscene. No wonder we are getting 2-3 thousand page bills. Limit in member of the house to one staffer in D.C. and one Staffer for their home state office. Then just maybe they'll be able to read and write bills.
Rick V.| 11.9.10 @ 5:40AM
chemman,
Point well taken. Few of us will cry over the loss of over 2,000 DEM Congressional staffers, but the greater crime will be if the Republicans hire the same number (or more) to replace them.
Sheila| 11.9.10 @ 12:11PM
Not to worry; the Republicans already have plans (see Red State re Cantor and Boehner) to gift some of their more "experienced" staffers to the Tea Party newcomers - to get them up to speed, of course. As for the Democrat staffers, they'll go to work as bureaucrats or find jobs with lobbyists or think tanks in the D.C. area, thus ensuring their combined expertise is not lost to all those national leaders.