Most of the professional political prognosticators believe the Democrats are going to get shellacked in the mid-term elections, quite possibly losing the House and maybe even the Senate (see, for example, today's WSJ front page). I've been slower than most to come around to this viewpoint mainly because a) the Democrats have accomplished a lot of what they promised to (health care, Wall Street reform, etc.) and b) I don't detect a compelling Republican alternative. Let me hasten to add: I don't pore over poll numbers in the manner of a Charlie Cook and therefore my viewpoint is entirely impressionistic; if I were putting money on the outcome, I'd bet on Charlie and not on me.
That said, one reason for my reluctance to fully embrace the Armageddon-for-Democrats scenario has to do with the rhythms of how the media cover the two parties, and how I expected them, at some point, to change. When a single party holds power, that party appropriately tends to be the focus of attention. But when the possibility that the other party might take over becomes real--and we're certainly at that point--the attention starts to shift. This always struck me as a potential problem. I don't really imagine that Republicans plan to repeal health care or the new financial regulations (although, who knows?). But they haven't offered up much in the way of a compelling alternative agenda.
