Rove Projects Big GOP Gains
Speaking at a Heritage Foundation event Thursday, Karl Rove predicted that the GOP could gain as many as 55 seats in the House and 8 in the Senate this November.
Karl Rove argued that Republicans would either take back the House or make the Democratic margin very small today at a Heritage Foundation event.
Rove told the assembled crowd that he projected a Republican gain of between 35 and 55 seats in the House and 7 to 8 seats in the Senate this November. This cycle would be “weirder than [the 1994 midterms], it’s going to be wilder than that,” he said. 39 and 10 seats are required to take back the House and Senate, respectively.
Of urgent importance in the next Congress, if Republicans do win the House, is the immediate repeal of the Democrats’ health care program, said the former White House Deputy Chief of Staff. “They got to move to [repeal] it, because the American people want it… this health care bill scares the heck out of me. What it would do to our country is horrific,” said Rove.
On the other hand, Rove did somewhat acknowledge the political difficulties such an effort would entail. “It’s not going to be easy to do, because you pass the bill in the house, and it will have an uphill fight in the Senate… pass the Senate and it will have an uphill fight with this President… [but] if we don’t [try and pass repeal], then we’ll have no one to blame but ourselves when the chickens come home to roost,” he said.
Although Rove noted that the post-WWII first midterm House swing average was 27, he pointed out that voters have been immensely dissatisfied by the “orgy of spending that has driven the size of the government up… by one quarter in ten months.”
In Rove’s opinion, 109 Republican and Democratic incumbents are vulnerable – the vast majority of which are Democrats. President Bush’s ‘architect’ pointed to an NPR poll that showed a generic Republican beating a generic Democrat by nine points in a study of 70 swing districts.
Although Rove predicted a large Republican swing, he argued that Republicans still face several obstacles. “The Democrats won’t be caught off guard, unlike 1994; they will be well funded; and they will run tough, aggressive campaigns,” said Rove.
The likely Democratic avenue of attack? Three points, argued Rove: “Blame Bush, say [the economy] could have been worse, and everything is ‘hunky-dory’.”
The majority of Rove’s remarks were supplemented by gleeful commentary and slides pointing out key Democratic weaknesses and President Obama’s poor approval ratings.
“This is not a country that agrees with the redistribution of wealth [or] says ‘we love socialism’,” said Rove, pointing to GALLUP poll that showed support for free enterprise at 86% and opposition to socialism at 58%.
Asked in the Q&A session what can be done about liberal media bias, Rove had a couple quick ideas. “Watch FOX, and read the Wall Street Journal,” he said.
