|
By The Hill Editors
|
|
Posted: 07/10/07 07:05 PM [ET] |
Most Democrats who decided to retire after the 1994 Republican sweep waited until they returned from the August recess before announcing their intentions. They chose to bide their time until the fall at least partly to avoid giving the GOP a heads-up. They didn’t fancy life in the minority, but nor did they want to make things any easier for their political opponents.
It is not difficult to imagine similar thoughts now among Republicans scanning the congressional electoral landscape for signs of hope. After their debacle last November, in which the majorities in both chambers were wrested from their grip, some aging Republicans doubtless needed to see the possibility of a swift return to majority status rather than a long, bleak sojourn with their noses pressed up against the window of power.
If Democrats made a mess of their newfound control, it could be reasoned, then perhaps Republicans might hope for an early escape from the wilderness. Perhaps voters would slap their foreheads, cry with one voice, “What have we done?” and return swiftly to the status quo ante.
Such hopes now look dim indeed. The mood of the country has apparently soured still further, with opposition to the Iraq war intensifying, and darkening forebodings about America’s credibility, power and direction.
In these circumstances, it would be surprising if several Republicans did not come back from a contemplative summer recess having decided it was time to leave Capitol Hill. Sen. John Warner (R-Va.) is surely one of the most likely to be thinking this way; he has served five terms in the upper chamber and turned 80 years old this February.
More importantly, no one expects a return to GOP control. Talk instead is of whether the Democrats will make a significant leap toward a filibuster-proof 60 seats in the Senate, with a pick-up of five seats or more. Online polls are not scientific, but nevertheless, 78 percent of respondents in the Quick Poll! on The Hill’s Pundits Blog predict that Democrats will pick up four or more Senate seats.
The Washington Post reported Saturday that independents in Warner’s home state, once reliably Republican in its sympathies, now favor a generic Democratic president over a generic Republican, 40-33 percent. Congressional Republicans are distancing themselves pell-mell from President Bush, knowing that his unpopularity and that of his Iraq policy have the potential to drag the party down to an ’08 disaster.
If a week is a long time in politics, as it is said to be, then 15 months must be accounted an eon. Still, the next election is hurtling toward Republicans, and it would be surprising if several did not choose to get out of the way.
|
