Dem hopes of taking back House dim - The Roger Hedgecock Show - Talk Radio

Dem hopes of taking back House dim

Democratic hopes of recapturing the House are dimming as a series of race-by-race setbacks and economic uncertainty suggest that the 25 seats they need to net might be out of reach.

The Hill projects that Democrats will net somewhere between 10 and 15 seats, assuming the presidential election remains a close contest.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has given her party a better than 50-50 chance of wresting control of the lower chamber — but missed opportunities in specific races and increasing economic worries have put that prediction in doubt.

"The environment certainly isn't as good as it was six months ago for Democrats," a senior Democratic strategist who works on House races told The Hill, speaking on the condition of anonymity in order to comment candidly.

"Democrats are way off track of where they need to be to regain the majority," said David Wasserman, the House race editor of the nonpartisan Cook Political Report.

The situation for the left is slightly better in the Senate, where strong recruitment and the surprise retirement of Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) has increased Democrats' odds of holding the upper chamber.

House Democrats lost a prime pickup opportunity in California earlier this month when they failed to get a top recruit through the state's new "top two" primary system. Instead, two Republicans will face off for control of a seat that would have given President Obama 56 percent of its vote in 2008 — a result that Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Steve Israel (N.Y.) admitted to The Hill was a "setback."

They also suffered blows recently in Arkansas and South Carolina, where the party's preferred recruits failed to win their primaries in three GOP-leaning districts. 

While the Arkansas and South Carolina seats were going to be difficult for Democrats to win even with their favored candidates, in a year in which they need everything to break their way, the results further limited the number of seats they have a chance at.

Predictions for who will control the House in the 113th Congress have predictably fallen along party lines.

Israel argues it is possible for Democrats to win control, while avoiding making any guarantees. House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said in late April that there was a "1 in 3" chance his party could lose the chamber, while National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) Chairman Pete Sessions (Texas) predicted in early May that the GOP would expand its majority.

Republicans argue the Democrats' recent struggles are the latest sign the GOP would hold onto the House.

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