The Republican wave heads for Washington
Republicans poured new resources into House and Senate races the Democrats once considered safe; Democrats engaged in political triage and channeled their energies into campaigns they still have a chance to win.
What happened
Riding a wave of voter discontent, Republicans this week poured new resources into House and Senate races the Democrats once considered safe, as Democrats engaged in political triage and channeled their funding and manpower into campaigns they still have a chance to win. Republicans, benefiting from a highly motivated conservative base and more than $100 million in spending by allied groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, hoped to reshape the electoral map and forge a new congressional majority. In a last-ditch effort to close the “enthusiasm gap,” President Obama campaigned in states he won in 2008, seeking to motivate the Democratic base—youth, women, and African-Americans—to vote Nov. 2. “We can’t let this country fall backwards because the rest of us didn’t care to fight,” Obama said in a radio ad released this week. But the party had to send out former President Bill Clinton to campaign in more conservative states, where Obama is very unpopular.
Most pollsters anticipate a shift to Republican control of the House of Representatives similar in scale to 1994, when Republicans picked up 54 House seats and eight in the Senate, taking control of Congress during President Bill Clinton’s first term. Despite a fierce Democratic counteroffensive in recent weeks, said Republican pollster Bill McInturff, polls show that “the dynamics haven’t changed.” Historically, control of the Senate has shifted with changes in the House, but with Tea Party–backed GOP Senate candidates struggling in several states, the hurdle to a GOP Senate majority appears high.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
What the editorials said
Voters are understandably angry about the bad economy, but they “can’t afford to be deluded by promises of easy fixes,” said Newsday. Some Republicans are offering “simplistic, ideological bromides,” promising that more tax cuts and less regulation “will magically create jobs.” But such magical thinking is precisely what produced the Great Recession. Complex problems cry out for realistic solutions: “Rants just won’t do.”
In other words, beware the “ignorant mass of angry, misinformed troglodytes,” said The Washington Times. According to liberals, anyone outraged by the Democrats’ “failed experiment in governance” must be a deluded half-wit. “If there’s one thing that progressives can never admit to themselves, it’s their own unpopularity.”
What the columnists said
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
The Senate is within the GOP’s grasp, said Steve Kornacki in Salon.com. “But that’s before you consider the Tea Party effect.” In Kentucky, Alaska, Colorado, Nevada, and Delaware, the GOP has “ticking time bomb candidates” such as Rand Paul, Christine O’Donnell, Joe Miller, and Sharron Angle, whose “odd backgrounds, extreme views, and penchant for polarizing rhetoric” have transformed electoral cakewalks into fierce competitions. If Democrats hold the Senate, it’ll be because swing voters couldn’t stomach the tea.
This election is a referendum on Washington, not the Tea Party, said Rich Lowry in National Review. And since Democrats have “the White House, 59 Senate seats, and 255 House seats,” they are Washington. That’s what makes Obama’s “closing argument” to voters so offensive, said Michael Gerson in The Washington Post. He recently told a group of Democratic donors that one reason “facts and science and argument [do] not seem to be winning the day all the time is because we’re hard-wired not to always think clearly when we’re scared.” Translation: Americans’ “fears of massive debt and intrusive government are irrational.” It’s precisely this arrogant dismissal of the public’s intelligence—and, yes, their fears—that has isolated Obama from the people, making “Michael Dukakis, Al Gore, and John Kerry look like prairie populists by comparison.”
But once they’re elected, what will Republicans actually do? said David M. Herszenhorn in The New York Times. In virtual unison, GOP candidates bemoan “runaway federal spending.” But they are equally united in avoiding mention of specific spending cuts. When they were last in power, Republicans racked up deficits that far exceed “the combined costs of the bailout, the stimulus, and the health-care law” under Obama. This time, they insist, they will be different. They’re just not willing to say how.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
The debate about Biden's age and mental fitness
In Depth Some critics argue Biden is too old to run again. Does the argument have merit?
By Grayson Quay Published
-
How would a second Trump presidency affect Britain?
Today's Big Question Re-election of Republican frontrunner could threaten UK security, warns former head of secret service
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
'Rwanda plan is less a deterrent and more a bluff'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By The Week UK Published
-
Henry Kissinger dies aged 100: a complicated legacy?
Talking Point Top US diplomat and Nobel Peace Prize winner remembered as both foreign policy genius and war criminal
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Last updated
-
Trump’s rhetoric: a shift to 'straight-up Nazi talk'
Why everyone's talking about Would-be president's sinister language is backed by an incendiary policy agenda, say commentators
By The Week UK Published
-
More covfefe: is the world ready for a second Donald Trump presidency?
Today's Big Question Republican's re-election would be a 'nightmare' scenario for Europe, Ukraine and the West
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
Xi-Biden meeting: what's in it for both leaders?
Today's Big Question Two superpowers seek to stabilise relations amid global turmoil but core issues of security, trade and Taiwan remain
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Will North Korea take advantage of Israel-Hamas conflict?
Today's Big Question Pyongyang's ties with Russia are 'growing and dangerous' amid reports it sent weapons to Gaza
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published