We have to take the House or the Senate (or both) in 06

[ncteechur]

That is the only way impeachment will ever happen.

[its a sham]

1. how many

how many seats are up for grabs in 06??

[ncteechur]

3. All house seats are up for grabs in 06. Not sure in Senate

[3waygeek]

14. Should be 1/3 of the Senate

so either 33 or 34 seats.

[Imagevision]

44. DSM could play a big roll in dumping some Pepublican seats

especially with Bush's ratings doing nothing but going down-down-down!

[FLPolitico]

4. Not enough in the House and

we're defending at least two open seats...one in MD and the other in MN. I'm not sure if Robert Byrd is going to run for reelection since he doesn't look well and he'll be 88 next year. :-(

[laugle]

18. Wasn't Strom Thurmond 100, I think they had

to wake him up to vote!!

[Hippo_Tron]

24. They had to prop his hand up if he was voting YEA...

Or make a thumbs down symbol with his hand if he was voting NAY.

[laugle]

37. LOL, if people don't start waking up an

just voting for the same old democrats, instead of voting for democratic
candidates who will do the job of the people, I'm afraid 20 years from now we will have a bunch of Strom Thurmonds, which I call the "lifers". They keep getting re-elected over and over even
though they are doing a lousy job. I can name a few of those right now!

[Hippo_Tron]

25. Byrd has given every indication that he's running again

[Tiggeroshii]

2. As these memos are slowly breaking in the MSM,

and with Bush's approval rating already as low as it is(and believe me, it CAN get lower), it's very possible this is totally setting us up for some major victories in 06!

[Conker]

6. Hopefully we will win several major victories.

:kick:

[Tiggeroshii]

7. I'm becoming more and more confident as the days go by that we will! n/t

[corbett]

13. Agreed But We Need VIVA

Without meaningful election reform with teeth which takes effect in the next few months, we might regain the Senate but definitely not the House.

http://www.commoncause.org/VIVA2005

[laugle]

19. It makes me laugh that now the pubs are

calling for an end to the war in October of 2006! Yea right, one month before the election. They are soooooo transparent!

[ZappaForPrez]

5. Yep...We do fo sho

[The2ndWheel]

8. Tough to do

Seats don't change that drastically.

[ISUGRADIA]

22. Uh...they can...see 1994 when the Repubs

gained like 8 senate and 55 house seats.

[Hippo_Tron]

26. That was before computerized gerrymandering

But I agree that we could regain control of the Senate with the sort of national referendum that the GOP used in 1994.

[ncteechur]

9. Six seats are necessary in the Senate I don't know in the House

[Yupster]

10. There are some good tries in the senate

though probably not six.

Tennesseee will be an open seat. That's got good chances.

Missouri is a possibility. Is Montana another?

Santorum in Pennsylvania is probably an underdog.

Kay Bailey Hutchison just announced she's running for reelection so that possibility is probably gone.

Chafee in Rhode Island can probably be beaten by a good candidate.

On the other side Republicans probably have shots in Minnesota and maybe against one of the Nelsons.

I'm sure I'm in the minority, but I think Byrd will either retire or lose his seat.

Overall, I'd guess a 1-2 seat pick-up, and more if things continue to go really bad for Bush.

[napi21]

11. I disagree with you on Byrd. Unless his health prevents it,

he'll run again and win!

I lived in SC from 1987 to 1992, and I kept asking people WHY they kept re-electing Strom. Hell, back in 1987 they guy couldn't finish an understandable sentence. Their response was "He's done so much for SC. If he wants to keep that seat, we're backing him!

I think Byrd is in that same position, although he's much more understandable than old Strom ever was!

[Yupster]

12. The question is

Is the better analogy Strom Thurmond or Bill Roth?

Roth was a wel known, prety well respected senator from Delaware for a long time.

However, he was beaten when he was too old, had Parkinson's and ran against a srong opponent.

Is Capito running against Byrd? I think she's the strong opponent who could take out the old guy with Parkinson's.

On the other hand, what do I know? I'm just guessing.

[formernaderite]

16. West Virginnie's been trending repub for a while....

though I don't know if Byrd is beatable...yet. Of course if he retires, I think we can kiss that seat goodbye.

[Hippo_Tron]

27. Byrd has given every indication that he's running again

Tennesee, Missouri, and Montana will be serious races, but we don't know to what extent yet. Ohio could also be a serious race, but the Democrats are in serious need of a good candidate.

The GOP HAD a shot against Ben Nelson, but all three of the possible good challengers have opted out. Bill Nelson's challenger is going to be Katherine Harris who he is beating by a comfortable 7 point lead at the moment. Bill Nelson will win if he runs a good campaign and isn't afraid to fight back.

The GOP candidate running in Minnesota is Representative Kennedy, who although he may be a strong candidate, is supposed to be a serious wingnut and Minnesota is still a blue state. The problem is that Democrats need a good candidate and we need one soon, in this formerly very liberal state that hasn't been very good to Democrats lately.

Washington is now safe since Dino Rossi opted out of the Senate race. Maryland is an interesting potential problem, but I'm hoping that anti Bush sentiment will keep any Republican from picking up this seat.

Santorum is looking like he's toast, but Bob Casey needs to campaign hard, because Santorum certainly will.

Chaffee's biggest problem is a GOP challenge from mayor Laffey who you know will have big money support from the Club for Growth. Chaffee faces a two edged sword in that if Bush and Cheney come to campaign for him (which they might not even do, considering the fact that he openly stated that he didn't vote for Bush), he may win the primary but he will be stuck with the image of being a Bush supporter during the general election, which might be enough to put a second tier candidate like Sheldon Whitehouse over the top. If Laffey wins the primary then the Democrat wins the general election almost automatically unless Chaffee runs as an independent (if RI election law even allows him to do this) in which case it is doubtful that he would continue to caucus with the party that has pretty much kicked him out.

Also, look for possible retirements in Maine and Mississippi. If Snowe retires, this is an automatically Democratic leaning state. If Lott retires this is, believe it or not, a possible Dem pickup. If Mike Moore runs he will go into the race with a significant edge over Chip Pickering. If Mike Moore decides to run for Governor and stay out of the Senate race, Gene Taylor (DINO on everything but some trade and labor issues) will be competative against Chip Pickering. Taylor has consistantly been safe in the congressional district that Trent Lott represented. But Taylor might not be able to overcome the big GOP money that Pickering will get, we will see.

[election_2004]

30. Minnesota....

The nominee will be either Patty Wetterling or Amy Klobuchar. Either of them would be strong against Mark Kennedy.

[Hippo_Tron]

32. I've heard meh reviews about both of them

But we'll see.

[election_2004]

35. Patty seems to generate more enthusiasm among DUers....

Although apparently Klobuchar would be quite formidable, as well.

[ISUGRADIA]

23. 202 Dems and 1 Voting Dem Ind. now so 15 needed for 218 in 06

[indie_voter]

15. We have to take as many seats as possible BUT

I also hope, if the tide of evidence against the Bushies is too huge to ignore, the republicans will have no choice but to impeach.

I am starting to believe the only way this will happen is if Blair goes down, he will bring Bush down with him.

The Brits might just save us all.

[Independent_Liberal]

17. I was thinking the same thing...

If Blair goes down, he could take Bush with him.

[laugle]

21. I hope the British people jump on the DSM

just like us!

[The Jacobin]

20. Yes.

All that matters is numbers.

Remember that.

So I don't want to hear any bullshit about how Lieberman is a DINO and needs to be taken down. We need his seat.

I don't want to hear any bullshit about how Snowe or Chaffee are really nice people. They need to be defeated in a massive landslide. Any repug -- no matter how moderate -- keeps assholes like Frist in power.

[Hippo_Tron]

28. I think everybody is pretty serious about beating Chaffee

But Snowe isn't beatable. However, health problems may force her to retire which would be a great opportunity for a dem pickup.

[election_2004]

29. PA, MT, and MO

Don't forget Bob Casey taking out Little Ricky in Pennsylvania.

The Democrats should really be targeting Montana and Missouri. Conrad Burns is a do-nothing senator, and Jim Talent needs to be nipped in the bud before he becomes an entrenched incumbent.

[Hippo_Tron]

33. Dems are doing their best in MT and MO

In Missouri, there are several good Democrats ready to run against Talent, who has a 35% job approval rating at the moment. Also, the Secretary of State is a Democrat and she may be running, so no election stealing in this race. In Montana, the Dem Attorney General is considering a run for Burns' seat, who also has a shitty job approval rating. I think it would be pretty incredible to see dark red Montana with a Dem Governor, two Dem Senators, and a Dem legislature.

[election_2004]

34. in MT and MO....

I really hope Robin Carnahan goes for it. I think she'd have the best chance of unseating Talent, and even if she loses she'll still have her current political office (unlike McCaskill, if McCaskill runs against Talent).

I've heard that Mike McGrath (the MT Attorney General) and Jon Tester are both running. I don't know much about either, so not sure who would be stronger against Burns.

[Blue_In_AK]

31. Maybe Ted Stevens will pass into the great beyond

before 2006. He's getting mighty damn old. I do think the right Democrat could win in Alaska if they were running against anybody but Ted (the pork provider). Tony Knowles came very close to beating Lisa Murkowski last year. If Ted's out of the picture, we may be able to send a Dem down there.

A question about impeachment. Even assuming that we could get the numbers now, wouldn't it be a bad idea to impeach while the Republicans are all in line for succession? My dream is to see the whole administration go down (they're all guilty of complicity in this plot, after all) and then have the Democratic speaker of the house (whoever it might be after we take the majority in 2006) step in to finish out the term. I wouldn't want to see a President Cheney, President Rice or President Hastert, although they would probably be fairly ineffectual after the drubbing the Republican party would take following an impeachment.

Do I have the line of succession right?

Anyway, the news is all good this weekend, and I'm feeling very optimistic.

[Wizard777]

36. I think America is going to clean all three houses in future elections.

America is angry and is getting angrier with each new report. The house and the Senate is not taking out America's frustrations on the White House. So America will take their frustration out on the House and the Senate. They will break up the new old boys club and then they will deal with Bush in spades. It would not surprize me one bit to see an independant canidate win the White House in 08. That is if the independants can find someone mainstream that won't be running on a platform of making Luke Skywalkers Birthday a national holiday. I think America may finially be tired of the Republicans and Democrats keeping them choosing between the lesser of two evils. They may go for that unpresented third option. Independants. In the other GW's days. That's George Washington. They used to gather at the taverns and joke about entering a greased pig in elections. Face facts the shaved Chimp won! If we cozy up to the Republicans before '06. We are history and possibly even the Republicans too. I still think this is part of Roves' Machavellian plan. We are the Constitutions last defensw ands we somewhat suck at defending it. They figured that out when Reagan commited treason and nobody blinked. They are going for the whole deck. If they get it. They will declared the Constitution a dead letter and replace it with a contract with America or a patriot act. Maybe declare GW King?

[Skidmore]

38. We aren't going to win anything by sitting around debating whether

or not Hillary will be the candidate on 08 or anyone else for that matter.

[cleveramerican]

39. house seats turn on local issues

No one will win a house seat by running against W. House seats are won and lost on LOCAL issues.

[mcd1982]

40. not quite true...

the fact is, most house seats are over before they even begin. There are only 30 or so truly competitive seats left in congress...

[rockymountaindem]

41. Well, too bad.

No way that's going to happen for at least a few cycles.

[election_2004]

42. Wow....

Full of self-fulfilling prophecies, are we?

[brindis_desala]

43. If the democrats have any brains they will talk about checks and balances

to stem the breathtaking corruption by the republicans. But judging from the discussions on this board the cult of personality trumps issues in the USA of celebrity-worshiping boob tube addicts.

[ewagner]

45. Chance to pick up at least

one House seat in Wisconsin with Cong. Mark Green running for Governor against Doyle....

and...an outside chance to knock off Senselessbrenner if we coordinate the attack....it's a long shot but we might be able to do it...