I’m not optimistic about the midterms, but I do think there’s a good chance that they will be less catastrophic than we fear. I have two basic reasons for feeling a bit of optimism. The first is that I believe that Democrats will show more and more interest in voting as election day approaches. It’s only natural for the minority to be more fired up and outraged, but election day is when people really focus on politics. Most of the polling data is premised on a huge disparity in voter turnout. I suspect that disparity will be less than expected. The second reason is that I can go down the list of Senate races and not find a single instance where I think the Republicans have the stronger candidate or the stronger campaigner. We have some real mismatches, too.
Obviously, Chris Coons completely outclasses Christine O’Donnell. But O’Donnell isn’t the only candidate who is hiding from the media. Rand Paul, Sharron Angle, and Carly Fiorina are hiding, too. I think Roy Blunt, and the whole Blunt family, are exactly the opposite of what the Tea Party wants, and I don’t see him getting out the vote. Rob Miller, Ron Johnson, and Ken Buck are basically nuts. I think Kelly Ayotte is totally out of her league. Mark Kirk is a serial liar. Linda McMahon is a freak-show. Mario Rubio has legal and ethical problems. Dan Coats is a retread. David Vitter likes to pay women to dress him in a diaper. We’re definitely going to lose the seats in North Dakota and Arkansas, but after that, nothing is certain.
I think Pat Toomey and Rob Portman are formidable candidates. But they both have ties to the economic collapse. Portman was practically the architect of the collapse.
And the Democrats running against this band of crooks, cranks, and kooks are pretty solid individuals. Their biggest liability is probably the ‘D’s after their name. But they’re not going to lose debates. They won’t run from the press.
Maybe things will be dicier in the House, but I feel kind of good about the Senate. What has me worried is that the Republican candidates are so incredibly bad that they’ll fuck this country up royally if any of them are elected.
