According to The Hill newspaper, Rep. Tom Davis (R-11) said yesterday that "we could lose the House" and that "[i]t could be very, very bad." According to the article:
[Davis]listed immigration and the war in Iraq as key issues to voters in 2006.Davis agreed with National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Tom Reynolds (R-N.Y.) that, while many voters are upset with Congress as a whole, they generally like their representative. However, he cautioned that incumbents whom Democrats have not identified in their target lists should not get too comfortable.
+óGé¼+ôThere are a lot of members who have done no polling,+óGé¼-¥ Davis said, which could leave them out of touch with their districts and out of a job in November.
In other words, according to Tom Davis, if you're a Republican up for election this fall, you need to be afraid. VERY afraid.
P.S. By the way, it was just a few weeks ago that Davis' wife, VA State Senator Jeannemarie Devolites-Davis said, "I think that Senator Allen, if Jim Webb is his opponent, is going to have a very challenging year, particularly here in Northern VA."
UPDATE: I found more on Tom Davis' remarks, after the "jump."
According to the Christian Science Monitor, here's what Davis had to say yesterday:
On Republican chances in the 2006 election:
If we do the same old, same old, and stay on cruise control, we are that plane flying into the mountain. But we also have some authority, having the presidency ... and having the Congress to change some things, to change that dynamic.On which members of Congress are most vulnerable to defeat:
The members who are most likely to lose may not be the guys who are targeted.... [I]t is the guy who has been voting with the party for years and who hasn't paid that much attention to what is going on back home ... and all of a sudden the electorate changes and these are the guys who get surprised.On whether the House and Senate can reach a deal on immigration legislation:
"We all recognize ... that no deal doesn't work - the border remains porous, people keep pouring in, and you make no progress.... I certainly don't think it helps the Republican Congress to come out with no deal. We are perceived as controlling things.... I think this will be a test for voters in terms of: Are the Republicans capable of governing here and putting something together?"
The funny part of this is that he has not applied his caveat to himself. Davis has voted consistently with the Republican party bosses and Bush, all the while pretending to his constituents that he is a so-called moderate... saying one thing and doing another out of sight on Capitol Hill. Will this be the year that catches up with him? I've known (and basically liked) Tom since his days on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, and I have to say he looks, well, tired. I think he himself doesn't like the way his Republican Administration has turned out, but he's boxed himself in, is actually part of the Big Problem, and in his heart knows he's stale, used up--- it's time for a change.
What really irks me is the fact that the Fairfax Chronicle reserves a spot for Tom Davis to post an article every time it comes out. Of course he tells us about all the good things he is doing. Get this, now he is interested in reforming government! Can you imagine!
Isn't it about time The Chroncile gave the opposition a voice?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Method for verifying human identity during electronic sale transactions
Abstract
A method is presented for facilitating sales transactions by electronic media. A bar code or a design is tattooed on an individual. Before the sales transaction can be consummated, the tattoo is scanned with a scanner. Characteristics about the scanned tattoo are compared to characteristics about other tattoos stored on a computer database in order to verify the identity of the buyer. Once verified, the seller may be authorized to debit the buyer's electronic bank account in order to consummate the transaction. The seller's electronic bank account may be similarly updated.
or, http://patft1.uspto.gov/netahtml/PTO/srchnum.htm (and type in the number)
People may not know what to do, but they can vote to re-balance the legislature so that a functional opposition party is established.
To paraphase The Decider - everything changed after the Iraq disaster. And Katrina proved that no one is safe from the incompetence.
I urge everyone to get out and talk to their neighbors, even the folks that voted for GW. The solution is two-party rule. We don't have that, we need that.
He has his eyes set on the Senate. He also knows that the 11th District has become a blue district even though it was redistricted by the General Assembly in 2000 to be 53-47 Republican. Last year, Kaine, Byrne, and Deeds all won the district handily.
Teddy was right when she said that Davis has been a strong Bush supporter and has towed the line for Tom DeLay. However, he paints himself as a moderate and almost a Democrat when he visits his constituents in Virginia.
One also wonders whether the Abramoff Scandal will taint him, as it now has tainted House Speaker Dennis Hastert, because of the unbelievable sums of money that Davis extorted from all types of cretans when he was the chair of the National Republican Campaign Committee.
It will be interesting to see how Not Larry Sabato plays this story since Ben has always been close to Davis.
A rare moment of GOP honesty? I seriously doubt it.
I'm beginning to think something's fishy with this. Are they talking it up to scare the conservatives into voting? Are they trying to lull Dems into a false sense of security? Are they setting up the country - so anything but a Dem sweep would be considered a Repub victory?
Sure, things are bad for them. They can't deny it. But something doesn't seem right about this new found honesty.
Keep two eyes in the front, one in the back.
First, it allows them to rally their base by telling their own supporters that the GOP will need them this fall. Telling your constituents that you feel confident doesn't exactly inspire them to come out and vote. Telling them that you are in a dogfight, that you predict your party will lose seats, encourages your own district to come out like heck, to show they still support you.
Second, like you said, should things not go as badly as some expect, or should they not lose the House or Senate, it gives the GOP an opportunity to claim victory. If the GOP goes around and says, we are worried, we need your support, and they don't lose control of Congress, they can claim it as another mandate from the American people. Even though it's a mandate largely based on redistricting that created very few competitive seats.
Never doubt these guys and their ability to be smart and sneaky...
This award serves as a reminder of Representative Davis' acceptance of $109,286 from 1993 to 1998 the computer industry and in turn, using his position in the U.S. House of Representatives to promote special favors for his "cash constituents" at the expense of his real constituents back home, and the American people.
As chairman of the National Republican Campaign Committee (NRCC), Davis announced the formation of a "High-Technology Roundtable."
His plan: to ask 100 computer executives to join by contributing $10,000 each. If he succeeds in amassing this $1 million, the NRCC will collect more than five times from the industry in one election cycle than it did during the previous three..
Just two years after Congress passed a law severely restricting immigration, the computer industry successfully lobbied for a new law easing immigration rules for skilled workers. In September 1998, Davis voted to raise the cap on visas for such workers...
The high-tech industry insists that it must hire these workers because they have trouble finding Americans to fill the jobs. But opponents, including some engineering groups, argued that the industry wants foreign workers because they are willing to accept lower salaries. "Congress and the American people have been taken in by these companies," Billy E. Reed, president of the American Engineering Association, told a trade publication after the new law passed.19In August 1999, Rep. David Dreier (R-Calif.) introduced new legislation that would nearly double the number of skilled workers allowed into the U.S., from 115,000 to 200,000.20 Davis is one of three co-sponsors of the bill.
http://www.publicampaign.org/publications/studies/goldenleashes/index.htm
http://www.publicampaign.org/publications/studies/goldenleashes/davis.htm