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Senate Seeing Red: Republicans Eye Mid-Term Elections
By JOE MURRAY, The Bulletin
Just over a year in office and change has arrived inside the Beltway, but it is a different kind of change Democrats had anticipated.
After enjoying solid majorities in both Houses of Congress, control of the White House and unprecedented public support, Congressional Democrats now find themselves with a Republican filling the seat of the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass. Washington is changing, but it is changing in favor of the Republicans.
“During the last year, the [Obama] administration’s focus has been on government spending, government control of the financial system, energy and health-care policies that mean more regulation, higher taxes and new mandates for employers, and a national security strategy that treats terrorists like common criminals,” said U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa.
“The president’s initiatives tripled the deficit, piled on the debt and created a hostile environment for small businesses, where more than 70 percent of new jobs are created.”
Sidetracked by an ambitious plan to socialize health care, the Democratic Congress has squandered their electoral capitol trying to pass a health-care plan that proved unable to unify their own party, let alone the nation. And, in trying to pass ObamaCare, the American people watched Senate Democrats entice lawmakers from Louisiana and Nebraska with public monies and made closed-door deals with labor unions.
The result? Scott Brown.
But what does the election of a Bay State Republican mean for a Democratic Congress struggling to unify members behind an unpopular legislative agenda? Are moderate Congressional Democrats in danger? Can California go Red? Or, as President Barack Obama explained in responding to Mr. Brown’s election, is Massachusetts the result of misplaced frustration?
“We’re likely to see a significant shift in the Senate,” Karl Rove, former advisor to George W. Bush, told Fox News this week.
The Democratic Congress, which now hold a 59-41 majority in the Senate, are facing a number of close races in 2010. Because the political climate has turned on many Congressional Democrats, it is possible they could suffer significant losses; even losing control of the Senate.
“That's a big shift, to go from 59-41 to maybe, you know, as little as 52-48, and with the two Independents giving the Democrats their 52, Lieberman and Sanders, Lieberman of Connecticut, Sanders of Vermont. And -- and -- and this assumes that the Republicans don't yet come up with strong candidates in Oregon, Washington, Wisconsin, Indiana and New York, where, you know, the races are just now starting to gel,” Mr. Rove added.
Democratic incumbents in Arkansas and Colorado are having trouble picking up steam. U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., who bolted from the GOP when it appeared certain he would lose his party’s primary, has now fallen behind his likely Republican opponent.
Beau Biden, son of Vice President Joe Biden and Attorney General for the State of Delaware, announced this week he would not run to fill the Delaware U.S. Senate Seat his father vacated.
California, a longtime blue state, also seems to be in play. Polls conducted by Rasmussen Reports show U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., with narrow leads when matched against her three likely GOP opponents. The liberal lawmaker was polling below 50 percent in all three match-ups, a sign of vulnerability.
“Any incumbent who polls below 50 percent at this point in the season is considered potentially vulnerable,” noted Scott Rasmussen, president of Rasmussen Reports.
Indiana, too, is looking like it could be trouble for Congressional Democrats. U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., a longtime moderate, has come under fire for backing a number of Mr. Obama’s left-leaning initiatives. This has caused speculation U.S. Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., might challenge Mr. Bayh and a Rasmussen poll already has Mr. Pence leading Mr. Bayh.
Even Senate Majority Reid Harry Reid, D-Nev., is standing on shaky ground. With three Republicans fighting in a primary, polls show Mr. Reid trailing each of his Republican counterparts in the general election.
While Congressional Democrats try to explain recent setbacks as indicative of ushering in change during uneasy time, Congressional Republicans claim the American people have rejected Mr. Obama’s call to liberalism and the push to resurrect the era of big government.
“The president seems to believe Washington can plan Americans’ lives better than they can themselves,” U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., said in responding to Mr. Obama’s State of the Union address.
“But Americans know that Washington isn’t the answer, it’s the problem. America is a great nation because for 200 years we limited the size of government and allowed people the freedom to succeed and innovate. Our current economic problems weren’t caused because Americans were too free; they were largely caused because Washington has grown too big.”
The evolving electoral landscape has shifted political alliances that were fragilely forged by Mr. Obama in 2008. By adopting policies that veered more to the left, it appears the president caused his electoral coalition to implode.
“The [Congressional] Democrats have a problem not with their politics but they have a problem with their policies,” Mr. Rove said.
“And the policies have turned the American people, particularly three vital groups that are going to play a disproportionate role in fall elections against him -- Independents, which voted for Obama in '08 and are now significantly in the Republican camp, college-educated voters, who again have flopped from being for Obama to being against Obama, and now seniors, who were mildly supportive of John McCain and skeptical of Obama, and because of the health-care battle are now strongly in the anti-Obama, anti-Democrat column.”
Congressional Democrats, though, counter the GOP has become the “party of no” and hope to cast the GOP as a party of division and bitterness.
Responding to Gov. Bob McDonnell’s, R-Va., rebuttal of Mr. Obama’s State of the Union, Democratic National Committee (DNC) Communications Director Brad Woodhouse charged, “Republicans are going to cling in 2010 to the strategy that in 2009 made them the most unpopular political brand in American history - a strategy of division, obstruction and of opposing whatever the president proposes.”
Republicans disagree and believe Democrats are sorely mistaken if they believe the American people are upset with the GOP.
“Republicans have offered common sense conservative solutions,” said Michael Steele, Chairman of the Republican National Committee.
“The people in Virginia, New Jersey and Massachusetts heard our better ideas and voted for them. If the president is serious, he will give Republicans a seat at the table. If not, then we know that this is just more spin, arrogance and a refusal to listen to the American people.”
Joe Murray can be reached at jmurray@thebulletin.us
After enjoying solid majorities in both Houses of Congress, control of the White House and unprecedented public support, Congressional Democrats now find themselves with a Republican filling the seat of the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass. Washington is changing, but it is changing in favor of the Republicans.
“During the last year, the [Obama] administration’s focus has been on government spending, government control of the financial system, energy and health-care policies that mean more regulation, higher taxes and new mandates for employers, and a national security strategy that treats terrorists like common criminals,” said U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa.
“The president’s initiatives tripled the deficit, piled on the debt and created a hostile environment for small businesses, where more than 70 percent of new jobs are created.”
Sidetracked by an ambitious plan to socialize health care, the Democratic Congress has squandered their electoral capitol trying to pass a health-care plan that proved unable to unify their own party, let alone the nation. And, in trying to pass ObamaCare, the American people watched Senate Democrats entice lawmakers from Louisiana and Nebraska with public monies and made closed-door deals with labor unions.
The result? Scott Brown.
But what does the election of a Bay State Republican mean for a Democratic Congress struggling to unify members behind an unpopular legislative agenda? Are moderate Congressional Democrats in danger? Can California go Red? Or, as President Barack Obama explained in responding to Mr. Brown’s election, is Massachusetts the result of misplaced frustration?
“We’re likely to see a significant shift in the Senate,” Karl Rove, former advisor to George W. Bush, told Fox News this week.
The Democratic Congress, which now hold a 59-41 majority in the Senate, are facing a number of close races in 2010. Because the political climate has turned on many Congressional Democrats, it is possible they could suffer significant losses; even losing control of the Senate.
“That's a big shift, to go from 59-41 to maybe, you know, as little as 52-48, and with the two Independents giving the Democrats their 52, Lieberman and Sanders, Lieberman of Connecticut, Sanders of Vermont. And -- and -- and this assumes that the Republicans don't yet come up with strong candidates in Oregon, Washington, Wisconsin, Indiana and New York, where, you know, the races are just now starting to gel,” Mr. Rove added.
Democratic incumbents in Arkansas and Colorado are having trouble picking up steam. U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., who bolted from the GOP when it appeared certain he would lose his party’s primary, has now fallen behind his likely Republican opponent.
Beau Biden, son of Vice President Joe Biden and Attorney General for the State of Delaware, announced this week he would not run to fill the Delaware U.S. Senate Seat his father vacated.
California, a longtime blue state, also seems to be in play. Polls conducted by Rasmussen Reports show U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., with narrow leads when matched against her three likely GOP opponents. The liberal lawmaker was polling below 50 percent in all three match-ups, a sign of vulnerability.
“Any incumbent who polls below 50 percent at this point in the season is considered potentially vulnerable,” noted Scott Rasmussen, president of Rasmussen Reports.
Indiana, too, is looking like it could be trouble for Congressional Democrats. U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., a longtime moderate, has come under fire for backing a number of Mr. Obama’s left-leaning initiatives. This has caused speculation U.S. Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., might challenge Mr. Bayh and a Rasmussen poll already has Mr. Pence leading Mr. Bayh.
Even Senate Majority Reid Harry Reid, D-Nev., is standing on shaky ground. With three Republicans fighting in a primary, polls show Mr. Reid trailing each of his Republican counterparts in the general election.
While Congressional Democrats try to explain recent setbacks as indicative of ushering in change during uneasy time, Congressional Republicans claim the American people have rejected Mr. Obama’s call to liberalism and the push to resurrect the era of big government.
“The president seems to believe Washington can plan Americans’ lives better than they can themselves,” U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., said in responding to Mr. Obama’s State of the Union address.
“But Americans know that Washington isn’t the answer, it’s the problem. America is a great nation because for 200 years we limited the size of government and allowed people the freedom to succeed and innovate. Our current economic problems weren’t caused because Americans were too free; they were largely caused because Washington has grown too big.”
The evolving electoral landscape has shifted political alliances that were fragilely forged by Mr. Obama in 2008. By adopting policies that veered more to the left, it appears the president caused his electoral coalition to implode.
“The [Congressional] Democrats have a problem not with their politics but they have a problem with their policies,” Mr. Rove said.
“And the policies have turned the American people, particularly three vital groups that are going to play a disproportionate role in fall elections against him -- Independents, which voted for Obama in '08 and are now significantly in the Republican camp, college-educated voters, who again have flopped from being for Obama to being against Obama, and now seniors, who were mildly supportive of John McCain and skeptical of Obama, and because of the health-care battle are now strongly in the anti-Obama, anti-Democrat column.”
Congressional Democrats, though, counter the GOP has become the “party of no” and hope to cast the GOP as a party of division and bitterness.
Responding to Gov. Bob McDonnell’s, R-Va., rebuttal of Mr. Obama’s State of the Union, Democratic National Committee (DNC) Communications Director Brad Woodhouse charged, “Republicans are going to cling in 2010 to the strategy that in 2009 made them the most unpopular political brand in American history - a strategy of division, obstruction and of opposing whatever the president proposes.”
Republicans disagree and believe Democrats are sorely mistaken if they believe the American people are upset with the GOP.
“Republicans have offered common sense conservative solutions,” said Michael Steele, Chairman of the Republican National Committee.
“The people in Virginia, New Jersey and Massachusetts heard our better ideas and voted for them. If the president is serious, he will give Republicans a seat at the table. If not, then we know that this is just more spin, arrogance and a refusal to listen to the American people.”
Joe Murray can be reached at jmurray@thebulletin.us
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