Morning Jay: Gallup's Bouncing Ball, "Wasted" GOP Votes, Jindal, Daniels, and more ...

[Valin]

Weekly Standard:

Jay Cost
September 8, 2010 6:30 AM

1. C'mon, you knew this would happen, right?

Gallup finds a 10-point shift in party preferences toward the Democrats in the last week, which nobody else found:

Republicans and Democrats are tied at 46% among registered voters in Gallup's weekly tracking of congressional voting preferences, marking a shift after five consecutive weeks in which the Republicans held the advantage.

Do we have whiplash yet? Even TPMDC has trouble getting excited over this "shift."

(Snip)

[Valin]

More....

3. Is 218 enough?

 

Woe betide the party that "wins" a House "majority" of 218 votes, just enough to control the lower chamber. If the best thing in the world is power without responsibility, the worst thing is responsibility without power. That's exactly what a 218-217 majority is. Responsibility without power. And yet the Democrats say that is "all that matters." From Roll Call:

 

“At the end of the day, all that matters is whether we control the majority ... that’s the only thing that matters, and we have to set up an environment where our ultimate objective — maintaining the majority — is met,” said a Democratic leadership aide, who acknowledged that the party faces a “very, very tough — in many cases brutal — election.”

 

This is either spin or insanity. A Democratic majority of one vote would surely make a representative like Gene Taylor, Walt Minnick, or Bobby Bright the pivotal member. These three conservative Democrats have consistently voted against the Pelosi agenda. Imagine how peculiar a 218-217 Democratic majority would be: liberal committee chairmen like Henry Waxman would have to draft bills that could win over conservatives like Gene Taylor. Easier said than done! If the Democrats have a 218-217 majority, the chamber will effectively be deadlocked, yet Democrats would still take all the responsibility, as they would be "in charge."

 

I would add the reverse is also true. A narrow margin is really no margin at all