Do the Democrats have a chance of gaining control of one or both houses of Congress?
JEFFREY GOLDBERG: I think the Democrats have a reasonable chance of regaining the House. The Senate is a little tougher, partly because only a third of the Senate seats are being contested in any year. The House is hard, though—because of gerrymandering and the general powers of incumbency, it’s difficult to shake loose some of these seats. That said, the Democrats have the wind at their backs right now. Bush’s poll numbers are almost inconceivably low; he’s heading into Truman territory. Combine that with a general disgust for Congress, due in part—but only in part—to the Abramoff scandal, and you have an atmosphere which might translate into a “throw the bums out” moment. But that’s all about negatives—the President’s negatives, the congressional Republicans’ negatives. Can the Democrats win on the negatives alone, or do they need to have a positive program to offer? The Democrats can probably win on the negatives for the 2006 elections, but those who think they can go negative and w
