Reply #19: DCBob, your link has a headline ---

[breadandwine]

"Little Chance of GOP Takeover, but Dem Position Remains Precarious." It's that second half of the sentence that might be notable. As in "Dem Position Remains Precarious." Your link actually underscores exactly the concern expressed in the Times article of the opening post here.

Those who remember Newt Gingrich's takeover of Capitol Hill in the 1994 midterm elections are seeing the writing on the wall and history repeating itself. Gingrich, in fact, took over ALSO because of the healthcare issue.

And one of the key factors in all this is that in this kind of political climate polls typically underreport the importance of fanaticism. Despite all the usual measures of asking people if they are really going to vote, normal people who SAY they are going to vote don't mean it as much as fanatics do when THEY say it. This country has a minority of raving maniacs who are going to go to the polls and vote Republican if they have to shoot their way in to the polling place. Less than half of NORMAL people vote in midterm elections. But enraged right wing lunatics will go to the polls in droves if they have to crawl there.



Incidentally, when forecasters say "The economy is basically sound," it has been said that that is really code language for "Last chance to get your shotgun and a year's supply of canned goods. . ."