President Obama has given up on this election and is planning his re-election campaign

     An interesting look at the overall election picture from Reuters.  The most likely election results are a Republican House and a Senate with a reduced Democratic majority.  Nate Silver with the New York Times gives 5 Reasons Republicans Could Do Even Better Than Expected. Meanwhile, at Reuters, James Pethokoukis goes so far as to list 20 reasons Democrats are the walking dead.
Toby Harnden lists actual Democratic quotes at It's the (fill in blank), stupid! Top 10 Democratic excuses for losing the mid-terms

     This looks to me like a recipe for two years of political trench warfare. (Or as ABC News puts it, Gridlock with a Chance of Shutdown.)  President Obama won't be able to advance his agenda but neither will the Republicans be able to roll back most of what he's already passed.  And get used to hearing the words "Senate" and "filibuster" together. Republicans will slow up every extreme nominee Obama throws forward. And seeing as most of his nominees are extreme ... I want a concession to set a windmill up by DC to generate electricity from all the wind that will be blowing.

     Two years of political attrition will lead to ferocious Presidential campaign in 2012.  If you're tired of political ads now, you ain't seen nothin' yet.  Obama has already written off this year's campaigns and is working on his re-election.  That's why he's not out campaigning on the day before and the day of the election:

After a weekend of campaigning in four states President Obama will spend Election eve behind-closed-doors at the White House today.
In the morning, the President will receive the Presidential Daily Briefing and meet with senior advisors in the Oval Office, his regular daily briefings.
Mr. Obama will spend the rest of the day in private meetings at the White House. [emphasis added]

The President is staying home to review polls and to plan how to use the Democratic disaster to his personal advantage.  And with poll results like these and these, he's should be worried.


One issue of paramount importance to political survival  Is Obama's Legacy Blacks Joining GOP?   If these candidates signal the end of the monolithic black voting bloc, it will make Barack Obama a one-term president and realign American politics. 

Hillary Clinton, too, seems to have given up on these elections. She will be several thousand miles away from American shores on election day in a move some are interpreting as a deliberate way of literally distancing herself from the result. Many see former President Bill Clinton's campaigning as a 'retribution tour' against Barack Obama.  Byron York even questions whether the Clinton's aren't hoping for a Democratic disaster. Bill Clinton has campaigned for those who supported Hillary against Obama in 2008. So, his action fit into a plan to preserve Hillary's base while the Democrats in general panic.  This makes set her up to step forward as a savior for the party in 2012.