John Gizzi is back to reflect on very accurate midterm election predictions on the fight for the House of Representatives but several incorrect calls on the Senate side. Why did the GOP do so well on the House? What prevented a very good night from being an incredible night on the Senate side? And does Gizzi think President Obama understands the message delivered by voters on Tuesday?
Republicans were bounced from power in 2006 due in large part to a lack of spending restraint. On Tuesday, House Democrats were fired for the same reason. So how can the new Congress start to deal with our massive debt and unmanageable entitlement programs? How will meaningful spending cuts happen when every proposed reduction will meet with great resistance? How can lawmakers get the budget process off of an auto-pilot system that leads to higher deficits? And what meaningful changes could realistically be made to shore up Medicare, Social Security and the entire health care system? We ask David Walker, former Comptroller General of the United States and founder of the Comeback America Initiative.
President Obama will now be dealing with a Republican majority in the House of Representatives and a much smaller majority in the U.S. Senate. So does today’s press conference show the president has learned a lesson and will adjust course? Is he ready to move towards the center or stand firm on a more liberal course? We ask former longtime USA TODAY White House Correspondent Richard Benedetto.
Republicans amassed historic gains in Tuesday’s midterm election – picking up over 60 House seats and at least six Senate seats. Is President Obama right that this is just voter frustration with the economy or is it voter rejection of Obama policies? How will a divided Congress work with Obama? We ask Michael Lewan, a longtime Democratic strategist and former chief of staff for Sen. Joe Lieberman.
The health care issue was a big loser for incumbent Democrats on Tuesday, particularly for self-proclaimed pro-life Democrats who backed the bill despite components that would require taxpayer funding of abortion. So who did the Susan B. Anthony List target? How many of their targeted incumbents went down to defeat? Did the group support any Democrats? We discuss all these questions with Marilyn Musgrave, director of the SBA List’s Votes Have Consequences project.
For weeks we heard about the ‘enthusiasm gap’ that favors Republicans in the midterm elections. Democrats claim that gap has closed in the final weeks of the campaign. But has it? Why does Gallup see Republican intensity at a higher point than anytime in the past few decades? How is enthusiasm measured? And does GOP enthusiasm reflect great support for the Republicans or tremendous dissatisfaction with Democrats? We ask Frank Newport, editor-in-chief at Gallup.
The Tea Party movement has been growing for almost two years, but where will its focus be once the midterms are over? What does it want to see from lawmakers it helped to get elected? How much can be expected while Obama is president? And why will the Tea Party be targeting corporations much more in the months ahead? We ask Tom Borelli, director of the Free Enterprise Project at the National Center for Public Policy Research.
Former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton says the United States is paying a huge share of the United Nations’ budget only to watch that money be spent in ways that run contrary to U.S. interests. How would voluntary funding work? How would it drastically change the way the U.N. does business? Can we do such a thing unilaterally? We ask Bolton, who also rips the lack of any meaningful national security debate in this election season and why he believes President Obama is emboldening our enemies on a regular basis.
Islamic terrorists are responsible for the massacre of more than 50 Christians at a Catholic church in Baghdad Sunday night. So why did the radicals target the Christians? How brutal has the persecution of Christians been during the course of the current war? How does the new Iraqi constitution foreshadow ongoing persecution? Would Christians find more safety if Iraq had a government in place? We ask Dr. Carl Moeller, president of Open Doors USA.
As voters head to the polls on Tuesday, how much is the ongoing health care debate playing into voter intentions. Will the implementation of some popular new provisions help Democrats? What do voters in the closest races think about the new health laws? If given the majority, should Republicans try to repeal the laws one piece at a time or all at once? We ask Grace-Marie Turner, president of the Galen Institute.
