GOP isn't on verge of 'wave,' Plouffe contends

Republicans aren't on the verge of the kind of wins that would hand them a "wave" election, President Obama's political guru maintained Wednesday.

David Plouffe, the manager of Obama's 2008 presidential campaign, rejected Republicans' optimism that the GOP is on the verge of a "wave" that would hand them major victories.

Plouffe pointed to voter contacts and early voting figures as evidence.

"While they don't rival 2008, they certainly don't suggest that Republicans are on the precipice of some big electoral wave," Plouffe said in a video message to Democrats on Wednesday.

Plouffe and the Democratic Party establishment are working to motivate supporters to make their way to the polls on or before Nov. 2. The party needs to prevent Republicans from winning a net 39 seats in the House and 10 seats in the Senate if Democrats are to retain their majorities in both chambers.

Plouffe's optimism would seem to deny, though, what many polls and political observers have suggested is looming: massive losses for Democrats in the House, and key victories for the GOP in the Senate (though likely not enough to achieve a majority).

But Democrats have been warning about the fate of their majorities in increasingly stark terms, in an effort to motivate their supporters to make it to the polls on Tuesday. Plouffe said that "dozens" of races on Nov. 2 could be decided by just a few votes.

"At a time when Republicans thought they'd be pulling away, when the election essentially would be called, we're seeing races all across the country getting closer and closer," he said. "There are, right now, a record number of tight races. And there's a real chance that, come Election Day, dozens of these races will be decided by just a few thousand votes — possibly less. It really could down to a vote or two votes per precinct."