Is there any chance of winning back the Senate in 2006?

[PROGRESSIVE1]

At least, can we get 50 seats?

[Benhurst]

1. No. Unless, of course, there is an honest count of the vote. NT

[Vincardog]

2. Yes IF we have a FAIR Vote Count FIX the elections get rid of the

crooked evoting machines

[earthside]

3. You cannot win a rigged game. n/t

[demwing]

10. Yes You Can, IF you know it's rigged

and if you're willing to get dirty in the process.

[OneBlueSky]

4. not with the current voting system . . .

by 2006, every precinct in every state will be voting on touchscreen machines . . . and the votes will be counted by Republican corporations with no accountability to anyone . . . gonna be a few more Max Clelands next time around, imo . . .

[okieinpain]

5. there are some possibilities. check this link

http://interactive.zogby.com/fuse/messageview.cfm?catid=16&threadid=3202

[PROGRESSIVE1]

Thanks. Herb Kohl is safe for Wisconsin and Mr. Fingerhut should...

NOT run again in Ohio. He lost badly and we need someone who can connect with the people. Maybe Tim Ryan or Dennis Kucinich.

[okieinpain]

6. by the way, you guy's need to quit being so glum. if brad henry

can get elected in oklahoma, anything is possible. rigged election or not.

[Stand and Fight]

9. Whatever.

They also elected that frickin moron Tom Coburn here. That says a lot for Oklahoma. Not to mention the fact that Democrats in Oklahoma -- like Brad Carson -- are not even like the majority of Democrats nation-wide. Coburn accused Carson of being liberal, and Carson is anything but liberal. Oklahoma is all fudged up.

[okieinpain]

22. yeah, but you have to admit that carson wasn't a pretty candidate

either. I still think that if henry can pull it off in oklahoma, and especially against a pretty boy repug like largent. there is something to be learned there.

[cire4]

7. With hard work, we can take back three seats in '06..maybe more

Santorum and Talent can be defeated and the open seat in Tennesse can swing our way.

If Mark Warner runs in Virginia, George Allen could very well be defeated.

We should have a candidate ready in Texas and Arizona if Kay Bailey Hutchinson and/or Jon Kyl retires.

We should be prepared to throw our support behind conservative challengers in the Maine and Rhode Island GOP primaries.

Finally, we can't neglect our own seats. The GOP will go after Nelson, Stabenowe, and Dayton really hard and it should be a #1 priortiy to protect their seats.

[Ediacara]

19. Burns in MT is very vulnerable

Our new governor, Brian Schweitzer, ran against him in 2000, and barely lost. Schweitzer was a no-name mint farmer who came out of nowhere and scared the pants off the RSCC who dumped a truck-load of last minute cash into Burns' campaign (a lot like Mongiardo vs Bunning this cycle). Montana Dems have also made HUGE gains since 2000, re-electing Max Baucus by a huge margin (though not a favorite of many DUers, a good guy nonetheless). In 2004, we elected Schweitzer as governor, took the state house and senate, and took almost every statewide office.

Burns is also a senile old twit. He has said he didn't like living in Washington DC because he didn't know there were so many blacks there. At a state dinner, he aparently started whittling! And most recently, he sponsered a rider that allowed for the slaughter of the only wild horses in the US for use in French cuisine and dog food! I've actually had out of state freinds yell at me because of Conrad Burns!

Anyway, back to the point.... Mike McGrath, state attorney general looks to be the best candidate to unseat Burns, he's smart, rather young, likeable and professional. If McGrath runs against Burns, McGrath will win.

The thing is, Conrad Burns is about 10000 years old, so I suspect he may retire this cycle. If he retires, look for our big phoney of a US Rep Denny Rehberg to jump into the senate race. Rehberg vs McGrath is about 50/50 IMHO, and the outcome depends, to a large extent, on the effectiveness of Schweitzer and the legislative Dems.

[Selatius]

8. Not in one election cycle

You're basically asking if we can win 6 seats to retake the Senate in one blow. Does anyone here wanna break down the odds of that? At this point, it seems uncertain at best, especially given the performance of Democrats in the 2002 and 2004 Senate election cycles.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

13. Why not? The GOP took back both houses in one cycle (1994).

[Selatius]

14. There are several reasons why they won in 1994 like they did

The Republicans were more disciplined with staying on task with the message that was repeated over and over. They've been rebuilding their party for two decades prior to 1994, and they had a solid, established network of think tanks, institutes, and foundations in order to fine-tune a consistent message as well as set up an echo chamber in the news media that would be favorable to their side, and they had tremendous financial backing from a wealthy, powerful business community with ties to the news media.

[Poiuyt]

16. Good analysis

and a good formula for the Dems winning back control. It's just that it would take a long time. Do we have the patience?

[DaedelusNemo]

23. It can be done quicker nowadays with internet /nt

[quaoar]

11. There are some chances at picking up GOP seats

if some Republican incumbents decide to retire, even including Trent Lott in Mississippi, Craig Thomas in Wyoming and Orrin Hatch in Utah. There are Democratic candidates in both states who have a chance running for an open seat.

[Imajika]

12. Yes there is a chance...

Not a great chance, but some chance nontheless. It will be 6 year itch time. Even if most Americans don't consider Bush to be the utter failure we do, people tend to look for change periodically if there exists a viable alternative.

Democrats should have a national strategy. Not some newfangled contract on America, but something highlighting what all Democrats generally agree needs to be done to correct many of the errors and mistakes of the previous 6 years of the Bush Administration. Second term Presidencies are often rife with scandal and stagnation, and Bush might find his job approval in the low 40's for much of the time.

We could catch a breeze, or even a strong tide that pushes our candidates to victories in surprising places. It won't mean that the nation hates Bush necessarily, but it might be Americans way of putting him on notice or punishing the Republican party for it's failures. Remember, in off year elections the opposition should typically do better anyway.

I am optimistic about 2006.

Imajika

[The Zanti Regent]

15. No

all states will have touchscreens in 2006. As Mike Malloy has said, the GOP will get to 60 senators then, all they have to do is fix the machines.

[catgirl]

17. Mark Dayton will be safe

they'll put up a vicious and sleazy fight but Minnesota dems are fighters. I'm already rubbing my hands together with excitment!

[theboss]

18. 2006 is a tough sell

We can make some progress, but I think the best strategy is to plan to make a huge drive in 2008.

[tsuki]

20. Not unless the Dems turn up the heat.

[BrklynLiberal]

21. Not unless we protest this election loudly and get rid of the electronic

voitng and make absolutely sure there are paper trails, no voter supression or intimidation in the next election...otherwise, you can just bend over and kiss your ass goodbye!!!