I don’t want to read too much into this, but when Paul Ryan goes behind closed doors on the Hill to tell his fellow House Republicans that this is a choice election — between two very different visions for the future of the country, rather than a referendum on President Obama — I think the battlefield has tilted sharply in favor of the Democrats.
TPM Reader JL pipes up …
Doubtless you and I agree on the big policy question hanging over this election cycle: Is there any hope of breaking GOP intransgence? If the answer is no, then yeah, we want Obama to win, but more out of fear than out of hope. We’ll all be better off, but happy and optimistic? Not so much.
I know there was some discussion of this on TPM a few weeks back, triggered by hopeful (but perhaps hopelessly naïve) comments from Obama and a retort from Nancy Pelosi. The problem with that discussion was this: the dynamic going forward depends totally on precisely what happens November 6th, not just on who the next President is. Of course the operating assumption, and looking like a damned good one right now, is that Obama wins and does so with a reasonably comfortable EV margin. Further it looks like the Dems hold onto the Senate, if only by a seat or two. (And this is especially true if Obama wins, since a four-seat pickup in the Senate looks like quite a hill for the GOP to climb given recent polling.)
Chuck Schumer says mainstream Republicans plan to retake party if Romney loses.
Not that I think they didn’t tell him that or even that they didn’t mean it. But c’mon.
TPM Reader MS tells me to step back from the Snark Canon and not assume I know the GOP would react if the Dems have a strong cycle …
Yogi Berra said it best: “It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future.” With respect, nobody knows what the future holds. If Romney loses, it’s impossible to tell what ramifications this will have among the party elite.
The winners of the Royal Observatory Greenwich’s Astronomy Photographer of the Year contest. Take a look.
Harry Reid just canceled Senate votes for the rest of the day, claiming that Scott Brown was using pending Senate business as an excuse to dodge tonight’s debate with Elizabeth Warren.
Tommy Thompson explains his rapid fall in the polls in part on having to run with Mitt Romney at the top of the ticket. Read More
An old spoof photo of Obama with a pirate becomes fodder for right wing media.
Kyle Leighton looks at the state of the electoral map, after the conventions:
Not quite sure what to make of this. And I’d take that question above as highly rhetorical. But I just noticed this from Lynn Sweet in the Sun Times …
I’ve learned that Mayor Rahm Emanuel met Thursday with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak–who is delivering a message from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu–that he is not attempting to interfere in the U.S. elections on behalf of Mitt Romney.