GOP Leaders: Majority Is "Steep Climb"
House Min. Leader John Boehner and Senate Min. Leader Mitch McConnell both say their party faces big hurdles before they reclaim control of their respective chambers, though they see Dem overreaching as helping them on their way.
"Getting to a majority is a steep climb. But we have more candidates than we have ever had, and we have better candidates than we have ever had. The [national] mood has attracted a lot of really quality people into these races," Boehner said in an interview with National Journal.
But though he is pleased with progress the NRCC and its "Young Guns" program has made in picking up strong candidates, he acknowledged his party is still far behind in the race for financial resources.
"I am concerned that we will have candidates who could win but for the fact that we may not be able to help them [financially]. Obviously, being in the majority makes a difference," Boehner said. "But I think that you will see our members step up this year to close that gap significantly."
Meanwhile, McConnell said his party is likely to pick up a number of Dem-held seats, though reaching the majority when Dems already hold 59 seats will be a stretch.
"If the election were today, we would either be competitive, which doesn't necessarily mean you win, or ahead in the following places: California, Nevada, Colorado, Illinois, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Arkansas, and North Dakota," McConnell said in his own interview with National Journal. Some GOPers hope to contend in NY and CT too, but McConnell left them off the list.
Still, he said, boosting his own numbers at all will help the GOP gain more of a foothold in the upper chamber.
"[Y]ou don't have to have a majority in the Senate to be effective. The Senate institutionally forces things to the political center. Whether we get center-right or center-left solutions, the balance of the president's first, and I hope only, term will probably be determined by what happens this fall," he said.
The leaders' moods are less optimistic than some others in GOP leadership. House Min. Whip Eric Cantor and House GOP Conference Chair Mike Pence have both said they believe their party will retake the majority, while top officials at the RNC also believe the party will take over the lower chamber.
Both McConnell and Boehner priased each other, calling theirs the strongest working partnership between leaders during their tenure in Congress. But while House GOPers work to build something akin to the Contract with America, McConnell wouldn't discuss whether the Senate would join House efforts to promote any such document.
"I would not rule it in or rule it out that we will decide to do something similar in September. It's something we haven't discussed yet in the Senate," McConnell said. "Everyone remembers the Contract With America in 1994. There are big debates among pollsters about whether it had any impact on the election, but it clearly had an impact on what to do after the election; it gave the House Republicans an agenda."
In '94, Newt Gingrich and House GOPers advanced their Contract with America in a 2-page ad in TV Guide in Sept., just weeks before the election that swept them into power. GOP SEN candidates did not join in promoting the Contract that year.
To read the full interviews, click here for Alexis Simendinger's sit-down with McConnell, and click here for Richard E. Cohen's chat with Boehner.
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