Predictions?

I guess I should step out and state what I think.

My conservative opinion is a ten seat Republican Party majority in the US House of Representatives and a diminished Democratic Party majority in the US Senate.  This is my 60% view.

My 30% view is that the Republicans will have a strong presence in the US House of Representatives and with the help of Joe Liebermann, a majority in the US Senate.

However, my 10% view is that if Christine O'Donnell, of Delaware, wins, then it will be an extinction event.♠

However, let us be honest with ourselves.  The real questions come in January of 2011.  The Republicans will have to decide (1) who put them in office and (2) how they should deal with President Barack Obama.

I am not convinced that the Senate Republican leadership understands the power and wrath of the Tea Parties around the nation and those who are tea Party fellow travelers.  I think that Representatives John Boehner and Eric Cantor, over in the House of Representatives, do get it.

Then there is dealing with the Executive Branch.  There is a difference between gridlock and shut-down.  It is one thing to resist initiatives from the Administration and the Democrats in Congress.  It is another to stop the funding of all Government agencies or even the majority of them.  It is one thing to decide the Department of Education should go away and another to stop funding the Department of State or Defense or the payment of authorized entitlements.  I urge my fellow Republicans to be strong in their convictions, but to be flexible in making sure the government functions.

So, I will be on the road as the polls close, enroute to a proposal writing effort in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania.  I am hoping to celebrate Republican victories across the fruited plain.  But, then it will quickly be time to figure out how to govern. For the RepublicansPoliticians on Capital Hill, the people to be watching are those associated with the Tea Parties, because, if the Republicans do very well on Tuesday it will be because of the sentiments captured in the ideas of the Tea Parties.

UPDATE:  What to look for tomorrow night.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  But, due to the wisdom of the Founding Fathers, only one-third of the US Senate will turn over in any given general election.  The Class III Senators who are up for (re)election tomorrow turn over on 3 January 2011.  As of today, in Senatorial Class III 18 are Republicans and 16 are Democrats.  The odds of the Republicans keeping all 18 of their seats and picking up all the Democratic seats are between slim and none.  Thus, no veto-proof majority.