The November Race

Chris Cilizza has another compelling edition of The Line posted. he features ten tight races for the Senate, but the lines between houses and even branches right now are clearly blurry if they exist at all in the popular mind: the Foley Fantasy of Fondling Funboys Fiasco is Fungible -- it is not a House concern or even a Congressional concern. Right now it is a Republican concern. If things were otherwise going well for the Grand Old Party, this might be controllable, but I cannot help but think that the Republicans are tainted with too many crises on all sides.

At the same time, it is only October 6. A decade or more ago, it would have been more difficult to turn the tide, but the pace of communications today accelerates the news cycle. An October Surprise in a volatile political environment had better be a Halloween Surprise, and truth be told, probably an early November Surprise. look out for old reliable -- I will place a bet right now that we get a cryptic announcement about terrorism -- the capture of an al Qaeda operative, perhaps, or intelligence reports of an imminent attack -- followed by a raising of the alert level right around the first of November. president Bush is pavlov. It remains to be seen if that old dog will still drool. The Republicans are counting on it.