The Neocons are coming! The Neocons are coming! The election is next week and it doesn't look good for the democrats. Next week voters across the nation will choose 36 governors and 36 senators, but it's the senate races that are garnering the most attention.
Most pollsters agree that the GOP will pick up seats in Congress and likely take over the senate. What will this mean for policy or legislation? Maybe nothing, given the current gridlock and lack of definition between the two parties. One big change would be the realization of Mitch McConnell's lifetime dream of becoming the majority leader in the senate.
That is, if he defeats his democratic opponent and current Secretary of State of Kentucky Alison Lundergan Grimes. And the race is close. A survey USA poll shows him with merely a one-point lead, which might be why he has
loaned his own campaign $1.8 million from his own pocket this week. But assuming he pulls off another miracle (he's won by fractions of percentage points before), he'll finally ascend to the top and will likely preside over a Republican majority, albeit a narrow one.
So what is the worst-case scenario for an all-GOP Congress, a first since 2006? If polls hold, the senate Republicans might number 52 or 53 after the elections. This is a majority, but not the super-majority needed to stop a filibuster or override a presidential veto, so it's doubtful The Affordable Care Act will be overturned, or a Constitutional amendment proposed to overturn Roe v. Wade.
But there is the Keystone XL pipeline, minimum wage, immigration, EPA funding, tax reform, gun-control, and future Obama nominees. Pretty much every issue the obstructionists have successfully ignored for years.
On a brighter note, a GOP majority would mean they only have themselves to blame if the partisan gridlock continues and the "party of no" label becomes permanently affixed. They alone will be held accountable if Congress continues its current dysfunctional pattern.
But, if the White House is nervous about next week, nobody is letting on.
"So far, there hasn't been much in the way of big White House strategy sessions about what to do in a Republican Senate. But the conversations have begun, though Obama staffers -- superstitious as always, and with enough in poll numbers they see to keep them from giving up hope -- would not openly delve into what's being discussed.
"Many Hill insiders laugh at all of this.
"Republicans in control in the Senate, they say, would mean two years of obstruction, subpoenas and brutal confirmation fights. Instead of 2016 creating pressure to get things done, it will set up yet another cycle of running the clock, with the majority up for grabs again in two years.
"Asked last week if the White House had considered what life would be like with a Republican Senate, press secretary Josh Earnest said only, 'Not really.'
"Regarding potential areas for deals, Earnest's deputy Eric Schultz declined to speculate. 'The president is committed to helping Democrats maintain control of the Senate in November, and we are confident they will do so,' Schultz said."
What might be scarier than an all-Republican Congress? How about "President Bush the Third?" Yes, there are indications that
Jeb might run for the Oval Office in 2016.
Happy Halloween.
