Republican Outlook For Midterms: Suddenly Dangerous

Rollcall ^ | July 18, 02 | Stuart Rothenberg

[Zack Nguyen]

The "calming" effect Robert Rubin had, I suspect, was to tell Wall Street preciely what they wanted to hear when they wanted to hear it. Wall St. opened their wallets come election time.

[RightWhale]

Blatent speculation posing as "news."

At the precinct meeting yesterday turnout was light. So light that if I wished I could be a Republican bigwig today. I'd say there is a lack of enthusiasm. Maybe it's the same with other parties excepting the Greens, because Greens are a fun party even if they don't remember their precinct meeting any better than they remember the 60s.

[churchillbuff]

Let me help you with some of this, and translate Rothenberg for you: The GOP's chances of taking control of the Senate has dropped from 45% to 25%; the GOP's chances of losing control of the House has increased from 20% to 40%. I hope that helps.

This is a level-headed translation of his analysis - - and it's a plausible analysis.

[Torie]

No, I didn't mean to suggest that. Sorry if I offended you.

[churchillbuff]

At the precinct meeting yesterday turnout was light. So light that if I wished I could be a Republican bigwig today. I'd say there is a lack of enthusiasm

Not a good sign.

[RightWhale]

Even though four candidates said they would come up to introduce themselves, only two showed. Another one sent a rep. Even three of the officers didn't make it. I might end up in charge of this mess by default if it gets much worse. The primary is not even a month away.

[TightSqueeze]

They will sell at the drop of a hat...

Most have suffered more than 33% drop in their portfolio, only a fool would hold on to a sinking ship. If you lose 50% you must gain 100% just to get even this probably won't occur in your grandchildren’s life.

[TightSqueeze]

Many people realize that a lot of these issues can be traced back to Clinton policies, and the Democrats.

The truth is that many people made a lot of money during the Clinton years. Today many of those same people are out of work and holding retirement portfolios that are worth half of what they were worth when Bush was sworn in. Only a blind fool would believe this won’t affect how people vote.

[TightSqueeze]

Actually, Bush's second term will be assured if he pulls of two critcally important feats: end Saddam's life and present us with Osama's head on a platter (or the media equivalent).

Only if he does it a week before the elections, do you think people really give a rats ass what happens in those hell holes, people only care about the issues that effect them directly, the rest is fluff.

[pankot]

This article is wishful (liberal) thinking.

[PeoplesRepublicOfWashington]

Just look at the stock charts--the current free fall is probably the last phase of the Clinton downturn that started in January 2000. Clearly, the corrupt corruption that is being revealed now was initiated well within the Toon's watch. Someone has got to start getting this message out.

[CyberAnt]

I think this is good - if the GOP gets too cocky about how they are going to take the election in a landslide, they could end up losing from lack of action.

This is good - keep them on the go - keep them beating the bushes for all the votes - keep them out there telling the American people the conservative way - this is a good thing.

[Hellwege]

Rothenberg is a moderate, I would guess he voted the Bush/Cheney ticket.

[leftiesareloonie]

We'd better hope that nonething comes of the SEC's investigation into Halliburton, or at least nonething connected to Cheney. IF (and I hope it's a big IF) something does come of it, the RATS are going to win back the house and maintain the Senate.

If they control both Houses, you can bet they will be into payback big time. The next Congress will investigage Bush and Cheney's previous financial dealings, every which way to Sunday. Plus they will use thier control to launch their independent probe of pre-9/11 fuck-ups.

Already, they are trying to force both Pitt and White to resign, and to turn Cheney into the poster boy of crony capitalism .

Unfortunately, neither Pitt, nor White, nor Cheney seems to have developed a reasonable strategy for dealing with dem attacks. Cheney's silence makes it look like he has something to hide. White was terrible in that hearing the other day. And Pitt seems to me to have all the charisma of a toad. The man has a tin ear for politics, quite frankly. I know being SEC chair isn't suppose to be a highly political post. But Pitt has been thrust into the political limelight and he seems to me to provide the dems more fodder every time he opens his fat mouth.

[DallasMike]

Most have suffered more than 33% drop in their portfolio, only a fool would hold on to a sinking ship.

You're absolutely correct. My co-workers lost 50%, 60%, or more in their 401(k)s. For many of them, it was the only savings they had. I love Bush, but if the Democrats can portray themselves as the party of fiscal responsibility, they've got it made in the shade come election time. People don't remember that the NASDAQ was at 5,000 in March of 2000 but had dropped to below 2,300 by January of 2001 -- while Bill Clinton was still in office!

[Doctor Stochastic]

Rothenberg is too optmistic towards the GOP. Absent some good economic news, the Democrats stand to make far bigger gains than even they hope for. The problem isn't whether the people like the Dems or the GOP, it's just that when things go bad, the public wants a change.