Winning, no sweat (This year's mid-term elections)

The National Post ^ | August 28, 2010 | Charles Lewis

[2ndDivisionVet]

It has the making of a stunning political turnaround that could change the course of the United States for the next 10 years.

The 2010 U.S. mid-term elections -- in which every seat of the House of Representatives, a third of the Senate and 36 governorships are up for grabs -- could see the start of the Republican Party's march back to power and propel a Republican into the White House, likely a relative unknown, two years later.

The possible about-turn comes as economic growth falters and unemployment rises, and amid growing frustration over unchecked illegal immigration.

"The 2010 elections are going to be a tsunami," said Richard Land, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, the policy arm of the Southern Baptist Convention, and a leading conservative thinker.

"I've been travelling all over the country and I've never seen anything like it. And the economy has caused it to reach critical mass -- but it's deeper than that."

Republicans obviously stand to gain from the mess, but not because they are in any way popular. Polls taken by the Pew Forum on the People & the Press show on many questions they are equally as unpopular or less popular than Democrats. What is more, a large number of people surveyed could not actually identify a GOP agenda.

"This election Republicans could go on vacation," says Michael Tanner, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank. "This is an election that is not about the Republicans, it's a referendum on [President Barack] Obama's performance. To the degree Republicans are out there, they can only screw it up."

The potential turnaround is all the more remarkable because it has only been four years since Democrats seized control of Congress...

[2ndDivisionVet]

"...could see the start of the Republican Party's march back to power and propel a Republican into the White House, likely a relative unknown, two years later."

Oh, I beg to differ, she's well-known, all right.

[Cowboy Bob]

What is more, a large number of people surveyed could not actually identify a GOP agenda.

What was the Democrat agenda in 2006 and 2008?

[Kozak]

It’s not a done deal. I have every faith in the GOP being able to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

[Quiller]

What was the Democrat agenda in 2006 and 2008?

In 2008, it was, "We aren't Bush." Not much else.

In 2006 (and somewhat in 2008) it was, "Conservatives want to take away everyone's money and give it to the rich, destroy Social Security, and be mean to everyone who's not white. Vote Democrat and we'll make those mean rich people give you their money."

[Quiller]

The potential turnaround is all the more remarkable because it has only been four years since Democrats seized control of Congress...

Complete B.$. Bush 41 never had a congress with him. Democrat party took over congress in in 95, after Clinton proved how dangerous for the U.S. it is for POTUS & congress to be from same party.

0 and gang have proved THAT lesson to the Xth power.

[canuck_conservative]

What was the Democrat agenda in 2006 and 2008?

1. Destroy from within
2. Spend, spend, spend
3. Act as much like incompetent boobs as possible

[Pearls Before Swine]

"...it's a referendum on [President Barack] Obama's performance. To the degree Republicans are out there, they can only screw it up."

There's no chance they could do that, is there?

[dvwjr]

Originally posted by Quiller:

"Democrat party took over congress in in 95, after Clinton proved how dangerous for the U.S. it is for POTUS & congress to be from same party."

While I think you meant "Republican party took over congress in 95", the history of the Federal government shows that the States and voters of the nation gave one party the control of the Presidency and both Branches of Congress, a 'trifecta' so to speak, over 60% of the time. Obama's first two years with both the House and Senate control only added to this trifecta...

The problem with the 'trifecta' is that the States no longer have their interests represented in the US Senate, so that the Senate just became a more exclusive, smaller version of the US House of Representatives - with the filibuster the only way for the minority to influence legislation. Bush (43) had a Republican Congress for about five out of his eight years - but the filibuster ability of the Democrats in the US Senate was able to frustrate many of his legislative proposals. Only the 41 Republican votes in the currently sitting US Senate will be able to prevent any lame-duck legislation if the Republicans win big in the House and Senate come November.

Party Control of Presidency, House and Senate
1789 to 2009

Congress	Years_Term	President	Presidential Party	House Majority Party	Senate Majority Party	The Big Tri-Fecta
1st	1789-1791	Washington	No Party	Administration	Administration	*
2nd	1791-1793	Washington	No Party	Administration	Administration	*
3rd	1793-1795	Washington	No Party	Opposition	Administration
4th	1795-1797	Washington	No Party	Opposition	Administration
5th	1797-1799	Adams(2)	Federalist	Dem-Reps	Federalist
6th	1799-1801	Adams(2)	Federalist	Federalist	Federalist	*
7th	1801-1803	Jefferson	Dem-Reps	Dem-Reps	Dem-Reps	*
8th	1803-1805	Jefferson	Dem-Reps	Dem-Reps	Dem-Reps	*
9th	1805-1807	Jefferson	Dem-Reps	Dem-Reps	Dem-Reps	*
10th	1807-1809	Jefferson	Dem-Reps	Dem-Reps	Dem-Reps	*
11th	1809-1811	Madison	Dem-Reps	Dem-Reps	Dem-Reps	*
12th	1811-1813	Madison	Dem-Reps	Dem-Reps	Dem-Reps	*
13th	1814-1815	Madison	Dem-Reps	Dem-Reps	Dem-Reps	*
14th	1815-1817	Madison	Dem-Reps	Dem-Reps	Dem-Reps	*
15th	1817-1819	Monroe	Dem-Reps	Dem-Reps	Dem-Reps	*
16th	1819-1821	Monroe	Dem-Reps	Dem-Reps	Dem-Reps	*
17th	1821-1823	Monroe	Dem-Reps	Dem-Reps	Dem-Reps	*
18th	1823-1825	Monroe	Dem-Reps	Dem-Reps	Dem-Reps	*
19th	1825-1827	Adams(6)	Dem-Reps	Dem-Reps	Dem-Reps	*
20th	1827-1829	Adams(6)	Dem-Reps	Dem-Reps	Dem-Reps	*
21st	1829-1831	Jackson	Democrat	Democrat	Democrat	*
22nd	1831-1833	Jackson	Democrat	Democrat	Democrat	*
23rd	1834-1835	Jackson	Democrat	Democrat	Whig
24th	1835-1837	Jackson	Democrat	Democrat	Democrat	*
25th	1837-1839	Van-Buren	Democrat	Democrat	Democrat	*
26th	1839-1841	Van-Buren	Democrat	Whig	Democrat
27th	1841-1843	Harrison(9)/Tyler	Whig	Whig	Whig	*
28th	1843-1845	Tyler	Whig	Democrat	Whig
29th	1845-1847	Polk	Democrat	Democrat	Democrat	*
30th	1847-1849	Polk	Democrat	Whig	Democrat
31st	1849-1851	Taylor/Filmore	Whig	Democrat	Democrat
32nd	1851-1853	Filmore	Whig	Democrat	Democrat
33rd	1853-1855	Pierce	Democrat	Democrat	Democrat	*
34th	1855-1857	Pierce	Democrat	Republican	Democrat
35th	1857-1859	Buchanan	Democrat	Democrat	Democrat	*
36th	1859-1861	Buchanan	Democrat	Republican	Democrat
37th	1861-1863	Lincoln	Republican	Republican	Republican	*
38th	1863-1865	Lincoln	Republican	Republican	Republican	*
39th	1865-1867	Lincoln/Johnson(17)	Republican*	Republican	Republican	*
40th	1867-1869	Johnson(17)	Republican*	Republican	Republican	*
41st	1869-1871	Grant	Republican	Republican	Republican	*
42nd	1871-1873	Grant	Republican	Republican	Republican	*
43rd	1873-1875	Grant	Republican	Republican	Republican	*
44th	1875-1877	Grant	Republican	Democrat	Republican
45th	1877-1879	Hayes	Republican	Democrat	Republican
46th	1879-1881	Hayes	Republican	Democrat	Republican
47th	1881-1883	Garfield/Arthur	Republican	Republican	Republican	*
48th	1883-1885	Arthur	Republican	Democrat	Republican
49th	1885-1887	Cleveland(22)	Democrat	Democrat	Republican
50th	1887-1889	Cleveland(22)	Democrat	Democrat	Republican
51st	1889-1891	Harrison(23)	Republican	Republican	Republican	*
52nd	1891-1893	Harrison(23)	Republican	Democrat	Republican
53rd	1893-1895	Cleveland(24)	Democrat	Democrat	Republican
54th	1895-1897	Cleveland(24)	Democrat	Republican	Republican
55th	1897-1899	McKinley	Republican	Republican	Republican	*
56th	1899-1901	McKinley	Republican	Republican	Republican	*
57th	1901-1903	McKinley/Roosevelt(26)	Republican	Republican	Republican	*
58th	1903-1905	Roosevelt(26)	Republican	Republican	Republican	*
59th	1905-1907	Roosevelt(26)	Republican	Republican	Republican	*
60th	1907-1909	Roosevelt(26)	Republican	Republican	Republican	*
61st	1909-1911	Taft	Republican	Republican	Republican	*
62nd	1911-1913	Taft	Republican	Democrat	Republican
63rd	1913-1915	Wilson	Democrat	Democrat	Republican
64th	1915-1917	Wilson	Democrat	Democrat	Democrat	*
65th	1917-1919	Wilson	Democrat	Republican	Democrat
66th	1919-1921	Wilson	Democrat	Republican	Republican
67th	1921-1923	Harding/Coolidge	Republican	Republican	Republican	*
68th	1923-1925	Coolidge	Republican	Republican	Republican	*
69th	1925-1927	Coolidge	Republican	Republican	Republican	*
70th	1927-1929	Coolidge	Republican	Republican	Republican	*
71st	1929-1931	Hoover	Republican	Republican	Republican	*
72nd	1931-1933	Hoover	Republican	Republican	Republican	*
73rd	1933-1935	Roosevelt(32)	Democrat	Democrat	Democrat	*
74th	1935-1937	Roosevelt(32)	Democrat	Democrat	Democrat	*
75th	1937-1939	Roosevelt(32)	Democrat	Democrat	Democrat	*
76th	1939-1941	Roosevelt(32)	Democrat	Democrat	Democrat	*
77th	1941-1943	Roosevelt(32)	Democrat	Democrat	Democrat	*
78th	1943-1945	Roosevelt(32)	Democrat	Democrat	Democrat	*
79th	1945-1947	Roosevelt(32)/Truman	Democrat	Democrat	Democrat	*
80th	1947-1949	Truman	Democrat	Republican	Democrat
81st	1949-1951	Truman	Democrat	Democrat	Democrat	*
82nd	1951-1953	Truman	Democrat	Democrat	Democrat	*
83rd	1953-1955	Eisenhower	Republican	Republican	Republican	*
84th	1955-1957	Eisenhower	Republican	Democrat	Democrat
85th	1957-1959	Eisenhower	Republican	Democrat	Democrat
86th	1959-1961	Eisenhower	Republican	Democrat	Democrat
87th	1961-1963	Kennedy	Democrat	Democrat	Democrat	*
88th	1963-1965	Kennedy/Johnson(36)	Democrat	Democrat	Democrat	*
89th	1965-1967	Johnson(36)	Democrat	Democrat	Democrat	*
90th	1967-1969	Johnson(36)	Democrat	Democrat	Democrat	*
91st	1969-1971	Nixon	Republican	Democrat	Democrat
92nd	1971-1973	Nixon	Republican	Democrat	Democrat
93rd	1973-1975	Nixon/Ford	Republican	Democrat	Democrat
94th	1975-1977	Ford	Republican	Democrat	Democrat
95th	1977-1979	Carter	Democrat	Democrat	Democrat	*
96th	1979-1981	Carter	Democrat	Democrat	Democrat	*
97th	1981-1983	Reagan	Republican	Democrat	Republican
98th	1983-1985	Reagan	Republican	Democrat	Republican
99th	1985-1987	Reagan	Republican	Democrat	Republican
100th	1987-1989	Reagan	Republican	Democrat	Democrat
101st	1989-1991	Bush(41)	Republican	Democrat	Democrat
102nd	1991-1993	Bush(41)	Republican	Democrat	Democrat
103rd	1993-1995	Clinton	Democrat	Democrat	Democrat	*
104th	1995-1997	Clinton	Democrat	Republican	Republican
105th	1997-1999	Clinton	Democrat	Republican	Republican
106th	1999-2001	Clinton	Democrat	Republican	Republican
107th	2001-2003	Bush(43)	Republican	Republican	Rep/Dem	*/no
108th	2003-2005	Bush(43)	Republican	Republican	Republican	*
107th	2005-2007	Bush(43)	Republican	Republican	Republican	*
109th	2007-2009	Bush(43)	Republican	Democrat	Democrat

dvwjr

[Quiller]

While I think you meant "Republican party took over congress in 95",

Yup, absolutely right-- thanks for the catch.

Must be that slysdexia kicking in again.