OK, he wouldn’t say he was pessimistic. Nevertheless, there are ample reason for Republicans to look forward to the election this year. The first is the significant fundraising advantage of the RNC over the Democratic National Committee:

While this doesn’t completely erase the advantage of the Democratic congressional campaign committees, it dramatically reduces it. Duncan also donwplays the significance of the fact that many more voters are participating in the Democratic primaries than in the Republican ones; he notes that that was true in 1980 and 1988 as well. Lastly, it’s not as if the Democratic candidate will be bulletproof. Rather, the fall campaign will feature a policy debate that may well favor the Republican candidate: