Flashback early 2017: The Resistance was underway. Women took the city streets with hats appearing to be cat ears or female anatomy. Outrage at town halls. People came from miles away to express their frustrations at people like Bradley Byrne.
Would it last? Could it be sustained? Later that year, Doug Jones pulled off a monumental upset and won on the Democratic ticket in a statewide election in Alabama.
Heck, if a Democrat is winning in Alabama, there’s trouble.
Then came the retirements of Sens. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) and a handful of House members.
Add to that the Robert Mueller probe and the historical precedent of the party in power suffering losses in the midterm elections after a presidential election — it was shaping up to be a big year for Democrats.
A so-called “blue wave” was coming and Alabama wasn’t going to be immune if we were to believe what the local media was telling us at the qualifying deadline.
“Democrats filled all the spots on the ballot! Holy cow! It must be serious.”
Then somewhere along the way, the wave subsided.
As of November 1, 2018, things aren’t as bad for Republicans as they were supposed to be. There’s almost no chance Democrats can gain control of the U.S. Senate. In fact, some Senate Republicans might even expand their roster.
The House – everyone assumed this was a no-brainer. Heck, we were told that even everyone’s favorite member of the House to call vulnerable Rep. Martha Roby (R-Montgomery) better watch out. But, no – it is no longer a sure thing that the Democrats take the House.
Instead of what it should be, which is like Alabama being a 22-point favorite over Ole Miss on the road, it is more Auburn being a five-point favorite at home against Ole Miss.
With Alabama, you know it is a pretty safe bet they’ll notch the “w,” but with Auburn, you’re not that sure. You think the Tigers will probably win, but you’re not to the point you’re going to bet the rent money on it.
That’s where the Democratic Party is right now. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is Auburn Head Coach Gus Malzahn. Pelosi, like Malzahn, has had a lot of success in the past. She’s even pulled off a miracle or two as the House Democratic caucus’ leader.
But, she has underperformed as of late. She’s been unable to score what should have been easy victories, like the Jon Ossoff-Karen Handel race in last year’s Georgia’s sixth district special election. And much like Coach Malzahn, she is playing for her job in the leadership in next week’s midterm elections.
If you take the temperature, it doesn’t feel like the pending doom for Republicans.
Consider all the prior midterm elections. The so-called 1994 Republican revolution snuck up on a lot of people, but Newt Gingrich’s “Contract with America” proved to be a cleaver election gimmick.
With the 2006 midterms, you could sense the writing on the wall. It began with the George W. Bush failed Social Security reform bid, continued with the bungling of the Hurricane Katrina response and was complimented with anti-war sentiment.
With the 2010 midterms, it all started with CNBC’s Rick Santelli’s call for a tea party from the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange over the possibility of a housing bailout in 2009. A never-before-seen populist revolt took place on the right, and the aftermath of the 2010 midterms pretty much ended any hope of Barack Obama building off his Affordable Care Act victory earlier that year.
If you could point to the signature element of the 2018 midterm election for Democrats, what might it be? A Russia investigation that half the electorate thinks is phony and ginned up? Is it a Donald Trump tweet?
None of those measure up to disruptions in people’s health care, images of flag-draped coffins at Dover AFB or chaos in the streets of a major American city after a hurricane.
The hand Democrats did have – the Russia investigation, low-approval numbers, and an internal West Wing discipline problem – was overplayed. Did the grassroots activist wing of the Democratic Party really think banging the drum of anti-Trump dissatisfaction for two-straight years wouldn’t wear out the average voter?
Then the hearings and the scrutiny Brett Kavanaugh faced during his confirmation hearings woke up an otherwise sleeping element within the GOP.
Call it an unforced error or a free shot on goal.
After national Democrats had a four-touchdown lead, they’re now only up by a field goal at the two-minute warning.
The wind is still blowing in the Democratic Party’s direction. They are still a slight favorite to win control of the U.S. House of Representatives. But it is hardly a “blue wave” that would send the country down the path of socialism.
@Jeff_Poor is a graduate of Auburn University and is the editor of Breitbart TV.
