YES, GOP COULD TAKE THE SENATE
POLITICO’s Ben White on CNBC .com: “High profile prognosticator Nate Silver caused great consternation among Democrats with his recent forecast that the party is more likely than not to lose six seats and control of the Senate to Republicans in the 2014 midterm elections. Democrats, and the public, should not have been surprised by the prediction . Others of us have been saying for months that the Senate would be at high-risk for Democrats who face major obstacles including an unpopular president, an unpopular health-care law and a sluggish economy .
“There is also the tough historical trend in which the party controlling the White House generally loses seats in the sixth year of an incumbent president's term. Since 1910, only Bill Clinton in 1998 bucked the sixth-year curse. The incumbent party's average loss of Senate seats since World War II? Six seats. Or exactly what the GOP needs.
On top of that, Democrats face a very difficult set of Senate races with far more vulnerable seats than Republicans”
http://cnb.cx/1jElw5K
***
YES, DEMS ARE WORRIED
NYT’s Jeremy W. Peters and Michael D. Shear:
“The White House and congressional Democrats are preparing to step up attacks on Republicans over pocketbook issues like the minimum wage in the most aggressive and coordinated move yet to try to reverse the Republican momentum that threatens their control of the Senate …
“The effort is set to begin within the next two weeks in the Senate when Democrats will call a vote on their proposal to increase the minimum wage to $10.10, and it will continue through spring and summer with additional legislation to eliminate the pay gap between men and women, lower interest rates on college loans and close tax loopholes that benefit corporations with business overseas”
http://nyti.ms/1j16BnH
POLITICO’s Ben White on CNBC .com: “High profile prognosticator Nate Silver caused great consternation among Democrats with his recent forecast that the party is more likely than not to lose six seats and control of the Senate to Republicans in the 2014 midterm elections. Democrats, and the public, should not have been surprised by the prediction . Others of us have been saying for months that the Senate would be at high-risk for Democrats who face major obstacles including an unpopular president, an unpopular health-care law and a sluggish economy .
“There is also the tough historical trend in which the party controlling the White House generally loses seats in the sixth year of an incumbent president's term. Since 1910, only Bill Clinton in 1998 bucked the sixth-year curse. The incumbent party's average loss of Senate seats since World War II? Six seats. Or exactly what the GOP needs.
On top of that, Democrats face a very difficult set of Senate races with far more vulnerable seats than Republicans”
http://cnb.cx/1jElw5K
***
YES, DEMS ARE WORRIED
NYT’s Jeremy W. Peters and Michael D. Shear:
“The White House and congressional Democrats are preparing to step up attacks on Republicans over pocketbook issues like the minimum wage in the most aggressive and coordinated move yet to try to reverse the Republican momentum that threatens their control of the Senate …
“The effort is set to begin within the next two weeks in the Senate when Democrats will call a vote on their proposal to increase the minimum wage to $10.10, and it will continue through spring and summer with additional legislation to eliminate the pay gap between men and women, lower interest rates on college loans and close tax loopholes that benefit corporations with business overseas”
http://nyti.ms/1j16BnH
