Even though the Nov. 4, 2014, mid-term election is more than a year away, liberals are already doing some wishful thinking regarding the prospects of Democrats winning back control of the U.S. House of Representatives, which is currently under Republican leadership.
During an interview on MSNBC's The Cycle program on Monday, NBC News chief White House correspondent Chuck Todd stated that such “a wave” is entirely possible as a result of the government shutdown, which a poll commissioned by the liberal website MoveOn.org said “appears to be taking an electorally deadly toll on House Republicans.”
Todd's speculation was the result of a question from program co-host Touré Neblett, who asked: “Do you think that out of [the government showdown], the House will end up turning blue?”
“It's hard to figure out how it happens, but I wouldn't rule it out,” the correspondent replied hopefully.
We know the map is a mess as far as how it's gerrymandered and how self, sort of, insulated some of these are, but it isn't, it wouldn't take much, right? They only need, you know, they don't need 35 seats, 40 seats. I think they only need about 15 or 16 when all is said and done.
"Could you see that scenario?” the White House correspondent asked before answering his own question. “I think you could if, if things really went off the cliff, and the economy went down, and the Republicans are bearing the brunt.”
Todd then described other facets of the “wave” the Democrats would need to emerge victorious.
Look, I think there are more swing voters than we sometimes give voters credit for, so it would mean the Democrats would have to win the quote, unquote generic ballot by 8, 9, 10 points, but that happens in waves, in wave elections.
“So it’s more possible than I think some people give it credit for,” the guest concluded.
The NBC News correspondent isn't the only liberal looking into a crystal ball and seeing a happy outcome in next year's election.
A series of 24 surveys conducted in Republican districts across the country by Public Policy Polling that was commissioned and paid for by the liberal MoveOn.org Political Action organization indicates that “the government shutdown appears to be taking an electorally deadly toll on House Republicans,” according to Tommy Christopher on the Mediaite.com website.
If the 2014 elections were held today, Republicans would be in grave danger of losing control of the House of Representatives.
Christopher exposed some of his liberal bias by stating that the surveys were conducted “by a Democratic-leaning but dead-on accurate” organization.
In a letter from Jim Williams of the polling organization, he asserted that “these surveys challenge the conventional wisdom that gerrymandering has put the House out of reach for Democrats.”
“The surveys … show Republican incumbents behind among registered voters in head-to-head contests with generic Democratic challengers in 17 districts,” Williams noted. “In four other districts, the incumbent Republican falls behind a generic Democratic candidate after respondents are told that the Republican incumbent supported the government shutdown.
In only three districts do Republican incumbents best generic Democratic challengers after voters are told the incumbent supported the government shutdown. Democrats must pick up 17 seats to win control of the House.
Obviously, there are holes in both Todd's comments and the MoveOn.org surveys big enough to drive a truck through.
Both the NBC News correspondent and MoveOn polls never question if the Democrats will lose any seats in the upcoming election. Just imagine the backlash if someone from Fox News asserted something like that and then admitted: “It's hard to figure out how it happens.”
Perhaps the liberals will get around to discussing Democratic attrition before next year's election, though that apparently doesn't fit their theme of the GOP losing ground due to the shutdown.
Speaking of that, it's interesting that the pollsters played their shutdown “trump card” to bring down numbers for Republicans. Again, it would be interesting to see how Democrats respond to a similar question.
And the concept of Republican candidates being in serious trouble after losing to “a generic Democratic challenger” is bogus since each liberal opponent brings his or her own baggage to the mix during a political campaign.
Thompson concluded by noting:
A year is an eternity in politics, especially in today’s microscopic news cycle, which means either that Republicans have a long time to undo the political damage that this fight has inflicted on them or gives Democrats that much more time to capitalize on it.
If only life was that simple. By the way, the election is not being held today, and for all we know, something could happen tomorrow that would change the dynamics of any campaign in 2014. Still, if these concepts comfort the liberals during president Barack Obama's tumultuous second term, it might be worth all the money spent desperately looking for flaws of GOP officials without giving Democrats the same treatment.
