Nearly half of you expect House Democrats to win big in the next congressional election and return to Capitol Hill with a majority of 50 seats or more. Our latest Quick Poll! question asked: What will the Dem or GOP majority be in the House in 111th Congress? There were a few anomalies, but the clear tendency among respondents was to expect another round of pain inflicted on Republicans.

Here are the results:

* Dem 50 seats or more — 49%
* Dem 30-40 seats — 20%
* Dem 20-30 seats — 7%
* GOP 10-20 seats — 5%
* Dem 10-20 seats — 4%
* GOP 0-10 seats — 4%
* Dem 0-10 seats — 3%
* GOP 50 seats or more — 3%
* Dem 40-50 seats — 2%
* GOP 20-30 seats — 1%
* GOP 30-40 seats — 1%
* GOP 40-50 seats — 0%

To readers of my blog on The Hill's Pundits Blog:

This piece, published on July 19 by USA Today, co-authored by me, a critic of the Iraq war, and Michael Medved, a supporter of the war, is intended to focus everyone, whether anti-Iraq war or pro-Iraq war or somewhere in between, on one moral imperative: If we Americans have placed Iraqis in mortal danger by asking them to work for us, translate for us, be associated with our armed forces, et cetera, we owe it to them to allow them to come to America if they can show their lives are in danger because of us.

It's that simple.  Read more...

"Homicide without malice aforethought."

Isn't that the classic definition of manslaughter?

Or this: "A person recklessly causes the death of another, or acting under extreme emotional disturbance, causes the death of another, or acting under circumstances when a person reasonably believes the circumstances provide a legal justification or excuse for his conduct constitutes manslaughter."  Read more...

In light of recent comments from Elizabeth Edwards saying Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) isn't attentive enough to women's issues, Karen Hanretty says in this video that politicians in 2008 need to "inflict pain" rather than feel others' pain.

10. Do Democratic primary voters really want candidates like John Edwards and Barack Obama who speak fondly of the Great Society? In a word: yes.

9. Why do we demand from government absolute security against terrorism but are so tolerant about other government negligence that can also result in random harm, such as the broken steam pipe that resulted in injury and death in New York City? Mayor Bloomberg pays no price for failing to maintain an aging and dangerous infrastructure, but would be heavily criticized if the damage were done by terrorists.

8. Isn’t it a risky strategy for a candidate’s wife, Elizabeth Edwards, to attack another candidate, Hillary Rodham Clinton? Can’t John Edwards do his own attacking?   Read more...

John Feehery, with all due respect, has it all wrong.

I keep reading the hard-right conservatives telling us that the Democrats’ strategy in the Senate and House is politically disastrous. Too many votes, too much attention to withdrawal, too much opposition to the war. Every plan and proposal is nuanced and picked apart by the pro-Bush side and, of course, the Democrats can’t muster the 60 votes they need to crack the filibuster in the Senate.

But at the end of the day voters will not remember whether you supported the Levin amendment or the Warner amendment or the dozen or so other amendments that have been put on the table. They will remember whether you opposed Bush or supported him on this war. Read more...

Have you read about the Fredheads Sam Youngman reported on in The Hill today? They are wondering why their candidate, Fred Thompson, hasn't just jumped in if he is so set on running for president. You may have also noticed that Sam just reported Tuesday — yes, the day before yesterday — that Thompson's biggest champion in the House of Representatives, Rep. Zach Wamp (R-Tenn.), told The Hill Thompson was close to making an announcement. "My view is that he'll enter the race at some point just in the coming days," said Wamp.

Where is Wamp getting his information? Thompson is not set to announce this week; according to the campaign, he'll make it official in September. Remember the Fourth of July idea? That's gone. And Fredheads are getting antsy. Read more...

Watching candidates Edwards on his magical mystery poverty tour and Obama contending he was for poor people before it was cool, causes me to start thinking ... about photo-ops, of course.

I mean, what self-respecting politician would even think of presenting a media event without props ... human props.

In order to accommodate the television news imperatives, they come up with living, breathing “real people.” “Quick, find me some poor folks. I need to show compassion for them,” the candidate might say. Or, “Find me the baby a mother decided not to abort,” shouts the right-to-lifer. It goes on and on.

How many times will presidents and aspiring presidents use displaced Katrina victims as extras? If all that time, money and ingenuity had been redirected to their plight they would have stopped being displaced long ago. Read more...

In the spring of 2003, President Bush dismissed any questions about Osama bin Laden. “I don’t know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and don’t care. It is not important, and it is not our priority.” He added: “I am not truly concerned about him.”

He should have been. In a stunning admission of failure, the Bush administration admitted this week that the war on terror is a total bust. “FUBAR,” as we used to say in college. Read more...