Herb Kohl is retiring. http://www.wispolitics.com/index.iml?Article=236339 Looking at the numbers there are 23 Democrat seats and 10 Republican seats up for election, with the Democrats holding a 53-47 advantage (counting Lieberman and Sanders in the Democrat camp). According the Charlie Cook, only 15 of the 23 Democrat seats are lean, likely or solid Democrat, while 8 of the 10 Republican seats fit that description. With 10 tossups, the GOP has to only net four to take the Senate. It's likely that Ben Nelson of NE, Claire McCaskill of MO, Kent Conrad (he's retiring) of ND will all lose to the Republican challenger. Montana, West Virginia, Virginia could all easily switch. No matter if President Obama wins a second term, he's not going to be able to get much done if the political winds continue to blow in their current direction.
Seems premature. The republicans haven't done anything to win the American people's confidence or support. After the monstrosity of republican rule early this century, it seems like the American people are saying "The Dems sucked, so show us that you finally get us"... and they are failing... horribly.
Uh, did you miss the midterm elections? Republicans won in a landslide. Plus the governerships of 3 blue states have gone to Republicans since Obama's election.
If both the House & Senate end up with republican majorities, it'll be interesting to see how well Obama negotiates with them. When it was all democrats, his negotiating style was to dictate and punish. When the House went republican, he became more moderate and is making more of an effort to reach across the isle. If he loses both Houses I wonder if he will move more right or stay where he is at. He's a shrewd man and politician but I wonder...
When Democrats controlled the house and senate, Obama didn't lead. He went around making speeches promising things, while Reid and Pelosi bartered away hundreds of $billions in favors in exchange for votes. What would be interesting is a veto-proof house and senate, to see if the Republicans can keep enough votes together to pass what they want. And to see what they pass.
I prefer gridlock to most of what they want to do - like reckless overspending, handing out cash to their friends, and asking us to pay higher taxes to pay for it.
Stale news. The polls are already turning against the right again since they failed to offer any sane plan for cutting the budget significantly after campaigning solely on that issue. Democrats look likely to win the House in 2012.
