Senate And House Battles

Americans are enthralled with the Presidency. There is good reason for this. After all, the President is the face of the most powerful nation in the world and has more authority than practically any other person while in office. This year is no different; the public is very interested in seeing who will be our Commander in Chief for 2012.

However, a battle of equal, if not greater, value is also gearing up for 2012. The Legislative Branch of government has more power than the Presidency and the stakes are extremely high for both chambers.

The House of Representatives is currently controlled by 241 Republicans compared to 194 Democrats—so it is relatively sure that it will stay in Republican control through the election. An aggregate of polls predicts 214 Republicans for 2012 and 172 Democrats with 49 seats too close to call right now. Thus, even if Democrats won 75% of those toss-up contests they would still be down 30 seats.

The real fight is in the Senate. Right now it is led by Democrats by a 53 o 47 margin (Sen. Lieberman of Connecticut and Sen. Sanders of Vermont are Independents but caucus with Democrats). However, aggregate predictions put 45 seats to the Democrats and 47 to the Republicans with 8 toss-ups, so it really is wide-open at this point.

Republicans, who are generally unsatisfied with both Obama and the current candidates likely to face him in November, are starting to disregard the Presidential race completely and focus solely on the Senate. This way, even if their nominee loses they will at least have control over Congress.

If this holds true, Republicans would be able to prevent much of what is surely to be a more partisan second term for President Obama—as this is usually the case with Presidents.

Meanwhile, the Senate race is just as important for Democrats. They realize Obama is not a certain victory for November and need to prevent total Republican control.

Additionally, holding onto the majority of the Senate appears to be more important than ever as an increasing amount of Republicans—more prevalent on the House side than the Senate side, albeit—refuse to collaborate on any issue that goes against their principles. If Democrats lose a majority, reaching realistic compromises would seem nearly impossible.

This upcoming election hold lots of interesting races, and while the entire country focuses on the Presidential battle, remember that the Senate and House are just as influential and hold the key to real progress.

- Kit

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February 3rd, 2012 | Dan | Comments Off |