Do the Republicans have cause for optimism? Maybe...we should listen... [View all]

[CaliforniaPeggy]

By Doyle McManus

Full story at link:

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/commentary/la-oe-mcmanus-column-midterm-elections-20140316,0,6376422.column#axzz2w9gkelKM



March 16, 2014

This year was always going to be a difficult one for Democrats, as they battle to keep their five-seat majority in the Senate. But in recent months, the political landscape has grown bleaker.

Let's start with the basics: Democrats have more seats at risk this year than Republicans do. Of the 36 Senate seats up for election (including three midterm vacancies), 21 are held by Democrats. And seven of those Democratic seats are in Republican-leaning "red states" that Mitt Romney won in 2012: Alaska, Arkansas, Louisiana, Montana, North Carolina, South Dakota and West Virginia.

The stakes are enormous. If Republicans take control of the Senate and keep the House of Representatives, they'll be able to pass parts of their conservative agenda that have been blocked until now. President Obama will still have veto power, but he'll have to spend his last two years in office stuck on defense.

Since the presidential election of 2012, the country's mood has remained sour. The sluggish economic recovery has convinced most Americans that we're still stuck in a recession, no matter what the economists say. Obama's job approval has slumped to record lows, thanks largely to the disastrous launch of his healthcare plan. That makes 2014 a bad year to be an incumbent — especially a Democratic incumbent.

Compounding Democrats' worries, Republicans are having a good year recruiting top-tier Senate candidates in both blue and red states. In Colorado, GOP Rep. Cory Gardner has turned Democratic Sen. Mark Udall's once-expected reelection into a race to watch. In New Hampshire, former Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) moved north last week and announced his desire to become Sen. Scott Brown (R-N.H.).

Charlie Cook, dean of Washington's congressional election forecasters, pronounced the Democrats' challenges "grisly."