The expectations game

[scheming daemons]

The media, especially the conservative media, has created a set up expectations about this election that boil down to this:

If the GOP gains 38 house seats and 8 senate seats, <b>it will be considered a failure</b>. Anything short of taking over at least one chamber will be considered a collosal GOP failure, it will result in Michael Steele being fired, recriminations against the Tea Party for costing the GOP some races, and GOP soul searching among their leaders.


All the Democrats need to do is hold their losses under 39 and 9 respectively.


The expectation that the GOP will take over the House is already embedded in everyone's minds. If that doesn't happen, it will be seen as a major upset "victory" for the Democratic Party.

[Imajika]

1. Yup, I agree...

On the other hand, there is some value for the right wing if they end up being 1 or 2 votes short of a majority in each chamber.

So long as they don't have to actually govern, they can continue being nothing but obstructionists and bomb throwers.

Also, if we only hold the House and Senate by a vote or two in each chamber, we may end up with unmanageable majorities. Considering the number of conservadems and blue dogs we have, Democrats may end up having to run the chambers with the GOP actually having working majorities.

No matter what happens, it isn't going to be pretty.

But yeah, they basically lose the media spin if they don't capture at least the House of Representatives.