(01-03-2018 04:47 PM)shere khan Wrote: (01-03-2018 04:39 PM)Kaplony Wrote: (01-03-2018 03:17 PM)miko33 Wrote: (01-03-2018 10:10 AM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote: Doug Jones and Tina Smith get sworn in today. Bye bye Roy Moore and Al Franken (well Moore was never in DC to begin with I suppose but it's more fun to pick on him than Luther Strange).
51-49 Republican vs Democrats in the Senate. It's still going to be tough for Democrats to get the majority based on the elections coming up in 2018 but it's not impossible either. All we need is a couple more juicy nuggets of info to use against certain candidates.
Now excuse me while I check into Mitt Romney's doings in the 1970's.....
Luther Strange would have beaten Doug Jones. Only a highly controversial candidate who should have never been a viable option from the get go torpedoed the GOP in Alabama.
Meh.
I'll take a short time dim in the long game. Once he starts marching in lockstep with Schumer & Co he'll ensure that it'll be decades before a dim wins a Senate race in Bama again.
50 years. Mark it down. There won't be another dem. History will call this the stolen Senate seat.
Stolen by whom? Certainly not the Democrats.
That being said, I can see a situation developing where the Dems might actually be competitive in two races in Alabama. One is the Alabama governors race (there's a lot of rather nasty infighting ahead on the GOP side - and I think there are going to be some animosity about that - BTW I think the tables are turned in that one...if the establishment candidate (Ivey) wins, that could seriously depress turnout), and in the 2nd Congressional District where Roy Moore's chief apologist is running against Roby in the GOP primary. Roby loses, and that seat is winnable for the Dems. Roby got under 50% last time (there was a revolt by a tea partier as a write in)....
Alabama's country club/educated Republicans are getting fed up with the social wing of the party. Sure, there's a danger of overstating the split, but the split and animosity are real. The only question is will Alabama's GOP melt down again.
Neither of these are likely, but they're certainly not highly unlikely.
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And what if Moore jumps in another race?
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Jones has some real luck with this seat too. He is likely to lose it in 2020, but remember, if Trump ends up running again for President and has a further fall in popularity, plus Jones is looking like the adult in the room....he could hang on. Remember, the business conservatives and the social conservatives still hate each other. If he were up in 2022, he'd be in a much worse position IMHO.