Gallup is out (www.gallup.com) with a generic poll in the mid-terms showing Republicans with a 51-41% lead on the generic ballot, the largest in Gallup's polling since 1942. Some in the blogosphere want to speak no evil, hear no evil and even see no evil but thier heads appear to be dropping a little deeper every day into the sand, soil or muck of wherever they live. November looks bad and some venerable names like Feingold & Boxer are in real trouble. November won't bring bad news just for Blue Dogs. My guess is that if present trends continue the House will shift and there is a strong chance that the Senate could go Republican too unless Dems get lucky in places like Kentucky and Nevada. It could go down as the worst mid-term defeat for any party in modern times, eclipsing the Dems in 1994 and the GOP defeat in 1974.
I don't think it does any good at all to underestimate the tide that is forming. In fact, I think it's usually best to slightly overestimate the opposition and then claim victory when the worst fails to materialize. This is a "send them a message" election if I've ever seen one and some of the messangers are bound to be loud and extreme.
My question is, however, what can be done to change course before the election. Is a total massacre inevitable?
We know the economy is not going to save Democratic congressional jobs. If anything, economic figures will be modestly weaker from now till November. What can we, as grassroots activists do besides donate money we don't really have and make lots of phone calls? What can the frightened congress critters do? What can the White House do? What can the blogosphere do? Is there any issue we can push that favors progressives? Is conflict with the White House good or bad? We can see the political tsumani building, is there any way to whittle it down to, say, a category 2 hurricane?