Recriminations among Republicans began even before most votes were cast on Tuesday as the GOP braced for a Democratic takeover of the House while hoping to retain the Senate.
At the conservative Club for Growth, there was already talk of “rebuilding” the Republican Party. Early Tuesday morning, the club’s members were trying to deny any culpability in expected GOP losses.
“We’re hearing some of the blame is already being pointed their way by moderates,” said Trent Duffy, a spokesman for club officials. “The ridiculous charge is that the Club for Growth is active in primaries, but not in the generals.”
At the White House, President Bush kept a low profile as he watched election returns in the residence with First Lady Laura Bush and senior political strategist Karl Rove. Bush has no events on his public schedule today, although he could hold a press conference to address the election results.
As of 10:30 p.m. Eastern time, Democrats had picked up three of the six seats they would need to take control of the Senate, with ballots in the other races still being counted. They had also picked up 10 of the 15 seats they would need to take control of the House.
If Democrats take one or both chambers of Congress, the president would be expected to offer an olive branch in an effort to forge bipartisan cooperation on the final two years of his agenda. But such cooperation might be hard to come by, as Democrats have made clear they would spend any newfound political capital trying to take the country in a markedly different direction.
A Democratic takeover of the House might vault House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., into the House Speaker position, putting the liberal San Franciscan just two heartbeats away from the presidency. Other Democrats would take over House committees and have indicated they would spend at least some of their time investigating the Bush administration‚s push for war in Iraq.
Sen. Charles Schumer, D-NY, told MSNBC that Democrats would try to enact “not only a change in direction in Iraq and a more multilateral foreign policy, but a focus on the meat-and-potato issues that affect average Americans.”
These include making it easier to pay for college, improving the prescription drug benefit, and pension reform.
On the other hand, most observers did not expect fundamental shifts in U.S. foreign or domestic policy, regardless of which party controls Congress. For the last two years, Bush has had trouble getting a Republican Congress to enact key elements of his agenda, including Social Security reform and a guest worker program for immigrants.
Such legislative gridlock might continue even if Congress is controlled by Democrats, although they might be able to enact relatively minor legislative initiatives, including a hike in the minimum wage.
Part of the Washington DC Examiner’s 2006 election coverage.
