The Dems seem to be whipping up their base, but they are losing credibility with their middle by the day.
Clinton was very good at positioning himself to keep the loyalty of his followers.
Bush seems to be very good at inducing the left to self-destruct. The contempt and poisonous attitude toward Bush are palpable not only among public figures, but also among otherwise rational acquaintances of my own. The illogic spawned by their hatred is not serving them well
Could we have 60 Senate seats by 2006? 2004?
I have a theory which some of your observations support. Races are mostly decided by the middle. And in good times the middle wants no change. They talk about the 1920s when Calvin Cooledge was president and times were good. They said the public did not want anything done. It might screw up the economy. They said Cooledge was so popular becuase he did nothin better than anyone had ever done nothing.
Yet in less than 10 years the public was behind a make great changes president. Time were bad in the 30's and the public wanted the times fixed and FDR was poposing fixes. Lots and lots of fixes.
Republicans constantly trashed FDR but he won even though the economy was no better. He was trying to fix things and the Republicans were trying to stop him. They hated FDR. They saw FDR as a traiter to Teddy Roosevelt and his Republican roots. They let their hatred control their reactions to FDR.
I see a lot of that today. Democrats actually reverse long held positions if Bush adopts them too. They hate bush and it shows. I think in bad times the public wants things fixed. And they wil go with the party and the men trying to fix things. They may not support those that stand in the way of fixing things.
This thing in New Jersey and the races elsewhere are not looking as good as the Democrats thought they would.
This election will tell us a lot about the long term prospects of both parties. I would remind the Democrats that the Republicans thought that FDR was meat on the table in 1936. The economy, after 4 years of FDR, was not better at all. They re-elected FDR and gave him bigger majorities. In retrospect I think that was becuase FDR was proposing fixes and the Repubicans were proposing opposition to those fixes.
The Democrats can't expect to win on I hate bush. They have to have a plan to fix the economy and natioal security. They have no plan. And Bush has 63 percent approval rating. That means he has all the right and allmost all the center. That as they say in poker is a whip hand. We shall see in a few weeks if that be true.