Say Anything Blog

After the 2006 elections, and after the 2008 elections, I pointed out that a lot of the reason why Republicans slipped from the majority was the failure to reconcile their actions in Congress with the words that came out of their mouths.  A lot of these Republicans paid lip service to things like fiscal conservatism and open, ethical leadership only to get to Washington and immediately mire themselves in scandal and that town’s big government mentality.

The Democrats who replaced these Democrats, I pointed out, won by default.  Not because they were the preferred candidates, but because they were the only alternative to failed Republicans.

Now those chickens are coming home to roost, it would appear, as Democrats face what appears (at this early stage) to be an uphill battle to retain the House in 2010.

House Democrats are warning the party faithful of a difficult election cycle ahead, with as many as 70 party-held seats in danger.

“We have a daunting challenge ahead in the 2010 midterm elections,” Democratic House campaign chief Chris Van Hollen says in a year-end Web video thanking supporters. “Many of our new members are from conservative areas with long histories of Republican representation. We are looking at potentially 70 – 70 – threatened Democrats who will need our support.”

While House race watchers are predicting a difficult cycle for Democrats, Van Hollen’s 70 figure may be on the high end.

The Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan handicapping guide, places 48 Democrats in prospectively competitive races. And Democrats are expected to have targets of their own in 2010, with Cook placing 34 Republicans on its watch list.

It’s way too early to say anything with certainty, but let’s remember that over the last two years the Democrat-controlled Congress has been setting records for low approval ratings.  The Democrats should not, by any stretch of the imagination, be feeling comfortable right now.