Will the Republicans win both houses of Congress next year?

[Pryderi]

Now that Ben Nelson has retired.

[rocktivity]

1. Will there be a special election

and is there a REAL Democrat we can replace him with?


rocktivity

[Pryderi]

2. There are no "REAL" democrats in Nebraska. n/t

[elleng]

4. But 'real' not necessary;

just a 'face,' for purpose of the MAJORITY, which gives us MAJORITY LEADER, as well as a lot of percs of majority.

[cherokeeprogressive]

22. WOW I bet Bob Kerrey would be real surprised to hear that...

The former Democratic Senator and Medal of Honor winner needs to be told he's not a REAL Democrat.

No "REAL" (small d on purpose?) democrats in Nebraska?

Way to smear almost TWO MILLION people who elected him Governor, then Senator.

[Pryderi]

28. Bob Kerrey is in NY. nt

[cherokeeprogressive]

31. Oh. So he IS the only "real" democrat from Nebraska; I get it.

Hillary moved to New York to become Senator. Kerrey would move BACK to Nebraska to re-take his Senate seat.

You're being disingenuous.

[Pryderi]

33. I'm sure there are "Real Democrats" in Nebraska. I just don't think one could win a Senate seat n/t

[newfie11]

34. agreed!

[99Forever]

36. Thanks for insulting almost my entire family.

I'm fairly certain my Mother (rest her soul) was a REAL Democrat (note the capitalization of the proper name of a party member) long before you were even born.

The freakin' nerve of some people.

[elleng]

3. No need for special election, I think; his term's up in '12.

Lawrence promoting Kerrey tonight; otherwise, probably nobody.

[TheWraith]

7. No. Senate vacancies are filled by gubernatorial appointment.

However that won't be the case here: he's retiring at the end of his term, not resigning, so his seat will be filled by the regular election.

In any event, it's likely to be won by a Republican. Even if we did manage to win it, it's not likely that any other candidate viable statewide in Nebraska is going to be that much better than Nelson.

[abelenkpe]

5. Are you trying to give me nightmares?

[still_one]

6. When the Democrats "won" Congress in 2008, they didn't really win. It is because there are enough

of what is referred to as blue dog democrats, that align themselves more with republican values than Democratic ones

Until that changes, we can expect very little

[TheWraith]

8. Wrong.

"blue dog democrats, that align themselves more with republican values than Democratic ones"

Actually, the worst Blue Dogs still vote 75% with the Democrats. Most Blue Dogs vote 85 or 90% with the Democrats.

[still_one]

35. Not wrong, looking at it from a realistic perspective. Take HCR. The blue dogs would never vote

for a public option, and in fact it was effectively whittled down because of them. In addition, it was written by the Health Care industry because the blue dogs insisted

Time and again when when good legislation was presented, in order to get the blue dogs to support they had to water it down to make them happy, and that watering down 9 times out of 10 was to make corporate or conservative interests happy

and yes, that is why nothing is really going to change until that does

[unionworks]

9. Don't forget

The"Citizens. United" money that will be flowing into repub coffers. That is what brought down Kathy Dahlkemper and Joe Sestak in Pa. To the degree that "copporations are people", democracy is. Dead. The real course of the future will now be decided in the streets with the Occupy movement.

[still_one]

37. I wish you were right, but I believe the OWS movement has been marginalized by media. At least the

coverage I saw mostly presented them in an ineffective light. Unfortunately, the corporate media for the most part presented the tea baggers in a more "positive" light, which only goes to highlight how much we are up against with the corporate media

[treestar]

10. Why would Ben Nelson retiring mean we would lose the House?

[Pryderi]

29. Well, with all the voter suppression laws and redistricting we may not take back the House. n/t

[BeaufortPenguin]

11. Republiclowns Winning Both Houses Of Congress

Equals the end of our nation as we know it. Women will be forced into becoming childbearing winches, African-Americans will be re-enslaved and forced to pick cotton for their masters, asians will be put into forced labor camps building railroads, Native Americans will be forced back into the "nations", Latinos will be overloaded onto ferry boats bound for Haiti, Jews will be put in charge of all things monetary, Lawyers will be jailed and sent to Gittmo, and bounties will be placed upon the head of anyone who dares to defy Jesus or fails to read the bible every day.

[BOHICA12]

13. Did you forget the sarcasm icon?

A bit over the top, don't you think?

[cherokeeprogressive]

23. Is this a joke? I have a winch on the front of my truck, and I doubt it will ever bear a child...

no matter WHO controls congress.

PLANT

[BOHICA12]

12. Yes ... they will nt

[Skip Intro]

14. The Senate is likely going to the repubs next year.

The house will likely remain in repub control.

And I doubt Obama has support to win either.

I think we may be looking at one party rule after the coming elections.

Of course, that won't last for long...

[nevergiveup]

15. My prediction

We hold the presidency, win back the House but lose the Senate. As much as I personally dislike Ben Nelson, for the sake of holding Senate Chairmanships and governing, I wish he would not retire.

[MjolnirTime]

16. Nope

[cthulu2016]

17. If I had to bet money, quite possibly.

It seems more than 50-50 at this point in time.

If the pugs manage to pull a card other than Romney then it would swing back to our advantage.

But it's a long time. We won't know the real shape of the national partisan flow until summer.

[msongs]

18. isnt joe lieberman up for reelection and likely to be tossed? nt

[julian09]

24. Joe is retireing, not running nt

[Tx4obama]

30. List of U.S. Senators that have 'announced' that they are NOT running for the Senate in 2012

Democrats/Independents retiring (7 seats)

Daniel Akaka of Hawaii
Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico
Kent Conrad of North Dakota
Jim Webb of Virginia
Herb Kohl of Wisconsin
Joe Lieberman of Connecticut (Independent)
Ben Nelson of Nebraska (announced 12/27/11)

Republicans retiring (2 seats)

Jon Kyl of Arizona
Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate_elections,_2012#Overview_of_races_.2833_seats.29

[Initech]

19. If they do, I will look at relocating to a new country.

I just.... it sucks that the American people want change, yet we keep voting for the same party that keeps fucking us over and throwing us under the bus. We really are the insane country if we follow the text book definition. Just keep voting for the Limbaughs, the Bachmanns, the Perrys, the Cains, the Koch affiliates, the teabaggers, the Fox News crowd... just keep putting them in charge and watch our country continue to go down the toilet. That would be it for me.

[freshwest]

20. It's lucky that you can do that.

[Initech]

26. Not at first... establishing credit in another country can be really tricky to do.

[freshwest]

27. It's still doable for you. Not me or a lot of other people I know.

Some left then Bush got his second term in office. If I'd known that the regressives would get away with this and then even get worse, I'd have moved away in my twenties. Despite trying to keep on top of these things and work for the best, it's too late for me to second guess.

I was watching some videos by Carl Sagan this evening and he could be spinning in his grave watching what is going on now. The future he believed would happen is being reversed, going backward, from his vision at 6:22 on in this video:

So those of us that are here are in a tight spot.

[kiranon]

21. No, n/t

[quinnox]

25. I'm more concerned about them winning the presidency

I doubt they will win back the senate, or make much gains in the house. Everyone and their mother hates this Congress in America today, they aren't going to reward the republicans.

[Tx4obama]

32. I believe we will keep The Senate, and if enough folks get out and vote we'll win The House! :)

I've heard lately about a lot of Republicans that are saying they are NOT voting for their republican candidates.

If the republicans stay home or come out to vote for democrats then 2012 could be a very good year indeed

[MineralMan]

38. Not if I can do anything about it.

We can all work to prevent that from happening, if only we will.