Posted on 07/18/2010 6:34:03 PM PDT by Pan_Yan
WASHINGTON—Democrats for the first time are acknowledging that Republicans could retake the Senate this November if everything falls into place for the GOP, less than two years after Democrats held a daunting 60-seat majority.
Leaders of both parties have believed for months that Republicans could win the House, where every lawmaker faces re-election. But a change of party control in the Senate, where only a third of the members are running and Republicans must capture 10 seats, seemed out of the question.
That's no longer the case. The emergence of competitive Republican candidates in Wisconsin, Washington and California—Democratic-leaning states where polls now show tight races—bring the number of seats that Republicans could seize from the Democrats to 11.
Democrats now control the Senate 59-41—after the death of Democratic Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, who was replaced by Republican Sen. Scott Brown—including two independents who usually vote with them. That means Republicans need 10 seats to take a 51-49 advantage.
Republicans would have to win virtually every competitive race to retake the Senate, without losing any seats of their own—clearly an uphill climb. The trouble for Democrats is that many trends are against them. Surveys show that Republicans are more motivated than Democrats to go to the polls, and that voters are looking for new leadership in Congress.
"I think there is definitely a chance" of losing the Senate, said Democratic strategist Gary Nordlinger, a Washington-based media consultant. "I wouldn't call it a probability, but there is certainly a chance."
"Republicans still have to [win] all the competitive races in order to get to a majority, but at least there are enough seats on the table to pull it off," said Nathan Gonzales, political editor of the non-partisan Rothenberg Political Report.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Now let’s take everything downticket as well. : )
School board, state legislature. This is the year is you want it.
they better get busy
Without Leadership and a plan with the house, it will be worthless. Counting them chickens didnt help Reid and
Pelosi either.
Hammer on the narrative that they all voted to raise taxes with “health care reform;” what are they going to say, they didn’t know that it was all about? That they were lying about it to get it passed? http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2554765/posts
Don’t worry libs: Snowe, Collins and Brown will be there to help defeat any nasty cuts/repeals of the Obama agenda.
I think every GOP candidate should run against Pelosi and Reid the way every Dem, including Obama, ran against Bush eventhough he wasn’t on the ballot. Dems act like they have been innocent bystanders, but they have been running congress since Jan 2007.
Liquor control board, Pest control, Dogcatcher.
Even if the Republicans take a majority in the Senate, it would only be 51-49 (as stated in the article). Can you say Susan Collins, Olympia Snowe and Scott Brown? Not to mention McCain, Graham, etc. While Republicans would have a majority, conservatives would still be a decided minority.
Not bloody likely if the RNC (Really Not Competent) has anything to do with it.
has=have
having the chairmanships and subpoena power will be huge. Plus Obama will have a heckuva lot harder haul to get to 60.
You are correct, of course, and I have no faith in the Stupid Party which has an uncanny ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. However, they certainly can be more effective as the opposition to the democrat White House when combined with a GOP House of Reps.
Unless we get rid of the dinosaurs like Snowe, Grassley, McCain, McConnell, Cochran, Hatch, etc they will still prove to be useless when in power.
Agree. The way the GOP runs things, the chances of this are slim and none, but it’s nice to dream.
As long as they pick off half of them. Out here in California, I would run down the street naked if Babs Boxer got bounced. She is a complete lunatic.
Imagine if the GOP had a message.
Then dont give them prime committee assingments if they dont follow thru.
If Republicans can’t see the TEA leaves, then they will be surprised when they lose their next primaries. The Republican Party is completing its take-over of the representation of the middle class from the Democratic Party. The Pubbies were the upper class a century ago, but the Dems are obviously the fat-cat party now. The public has woken up to this self-appointed aristocracy and will not tolerate it.
My first thought on reading that was "That would make two of you." My second thought was "In California would anybody notice?"
No let her, if that isn't the greatest form of birth control on the planet I don't know what is...:-} !!!!
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