Senate Prospects in 2014

The Democrats picked up 6 seats in 2006, 8 seats in 2008, and 2 seats in 2012. Republicans picked up 6 seats in the Tea Party wave of 2010, but after the two Democratic wave elections of 2006 and 2008, the Democrats retained a majority. The Democratic gains in 2012, made during the re-election of President Obama, were all the more remarkable considering the favorable climate in 2000 and 2006 for Senate Democrats. By consolidating the gains made in 2000 and 2006, the 2012 elections secured a large block of seats for Senate Democrats through 2018. Though the prognosticators are focused on the 2014 midterm elections, where Republicans are again favored to gain seats in the Senate if not an outright majority, in 2016 the Republicans will be exposed during a presidential election year. In 2004 and 2010, Senate Republicans fared very well during the re-election of President George W. Bush and the aforementioned Tea Party wave election in 2010. In 2016, Republicans will be defending more seats than Democrats during a presidential election year. The danger for Republicans is the shifting demographics in America, especially during presidential election years when large numbers of minorities vote. Democrats have won the popular vote in five out of the last six presidential elections, and if the same pattern holds true then Senate Republicans may be very exposed in 2016. Unfortunately for Democrats, 2010 was a U.S. Census year. Despite the fact that the Census was carried out by the administration of Democratic President Barack Obama, the Republican Tea Party wave election in the 2010 midterms swept Republicans to power in the U.S. House of Representatives and the majority of state legislatures and governorships. At the state level, the once-a-decade redistricting called for in the U.S. Constitution was done by Republican-controlled legislatures and passed into law by Republican governors in states such as Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Florida - all of which voted for President Obama in 2008 and 2012. As a result of the Republican-led redistricting efforts, all five of the aforementioned states now have a majority of Republican U.S. Representatives in the House.

Album of the Decade

Depending on how you're keeping track, 2011 was the first year of the new decade. With the '00s behind us, my choice for best album of the decade is...(drumroll please)...American Idiot by Green Day. The album reinvigorated the tired rock genre, produced a new generation of fans for Green Day, and served as a powerful lyrical counterweight to the Bush-Cheney-Fox News political machine that our culture desperately needed. My favorite track is the 9-minute-long Jesus of Suburbia.

Elizabeth Warren: Consumer Advocate

Democrats have an uphill battle to maintain control of the Senate in 2012, when they will be defending two-thirds of the seats up for re-election. Only 10 Republican seats are up, a result of Democratic pickups in 2000 and 2006. One notable pickup opportunity is in Massachusetts, where Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) faces a tough challenge from Harvard professor and consumer advocate Elizabeth Warren. She has served as chairperson of the Congressional Oversight Panel which looked into the distribution of money from the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP), and then served as an advisor to President Obama and Treasury Secretary Geithner in setting up the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

"Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Becomes History

Dan Choi, the openly gay Army lieutenant who was discharged under the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, is planning to join once again now that the discriminatory policy has officially ended. The end of the policy is considered a promise fulfilled by the Obama White House to gays and lesbians that backed the Democrat in 2008. Choi has been an outspoken opponent of the policy which prevented gay and lesbian servicemembers from serving openly in the U.S. military. I, for one, am happy to see the policy go - unlike most Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Democratic Prospects in 2012

In 2012, Democrats have a good chance of picking up the U.S. Senate seat in Massachusetts currently held by Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA). In Nevada, Sen. John Ensign's (R-NV) ethics battles are far from over and if he is not primaried he will make a weak general election opponent. Let's not forget Connecticut, where Sen. Joe Lieberman (ID-CT) has a tough road to hoe with his approval ratings under 50 percent among Republicans, Democrats, and independents, which is a difficult trifecta to overcome. Count on a more reliable Democrat to win that race. In Virginia, Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) or former Gov. Tim Kaine (D-VA), the current Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, would probably win in a match with former Sen. George Allen (R-VA). If Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) is primaried by a Tea Party candidate that wins, she will likely have her seat filled by a Democrat in January 2013. Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) will have a good chance at winning re-election, especially riding on President Obama's coattails. Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Ben Cardin (D-MD), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and others in blue states will likely cruise to re-election.

Finally

Three days ago, I was a bitter and spent individual. I was trying to keep my hopes high, in the midst of the Great Recession, but I had been out of work since September 2009. I had applied to over 50 companies; I applied for more than one position at many of them. Of all of the possible employers out there, only one called me back this entire time. I went in for an interview, and was told I would hear back from them the next day for their decision. I waited...and waited. The weekend passed, and I called again to inquire about the position. The person that answered the phone told me that they hadn't made their decision yet, but that it should be made soon. One week passed. Two weeks. I called again, asking for the hiring manager. I was told that she wasn't in, and I should try again next week. Another three weeks passed, and I had applied at many, many more places without luck. And I still had heard nothing from the one interview I had done. I was angry. I felt conned. I thought that I should have at least been given the courtesy of a call. And then, it came. The hiring manager called and asked if I would like to come in for a second interview. I went in, and she told me that I would hear back from her the next day. "I've heard that before," I thought. And the next day, she called: she offered me the job. I was floored. I said "Yes!" excitedly, and I was at work the next morning. What a good feeling it is to have a job, to contribute to the economy and to earn money. I'd almost forgotten what it feels like. My confidence has been restored, and many of the problems I have had in the past six months will now fade away because I have a paying job. Now I know what it feels like, just a little, to really struggle. And it has made me a stronger man.

Comments on the Political Parties

Republicans are trying to say "divided government works better". The problem I have with the Republican approach is what if they win Congress? Will they approve President Obama's Executive Branch appointees without blackmailing him into approving their pork barrel projects? And will our government shut down like it did with President Clinton and the Republican Congress in the 1990s? And how would that effect our nation in the midst of a rocky recovery to the Great Recession? Republicans have often labeled Democrats as "tax-and-spend liberals", but the Democratic Party under President Obama has imposed "pay-as-you-go" rules in Congress, rules which were done away with by the Republican Party when they were in the majority. Under President Bush, Republicans might as well have been called "borrow-and-spend conservatives", what with the huge tax cuts in 2001 and 2003 to the wealthiest Americans and the Medicare prescription drug program, all of which were unfunded liabilities. Combined with the steep drop in tax revenues due to the Great Recession, plus the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the budget surplus President Clinton handed to Bush turned into the record deficits we see today. If John McCain were elected President, he would have seen the same record deficits in 2009 that President Obama faced. The Recovery Act, aka the stimulus, has saved millions of jobs from being lost - teachers, firefighters, and police officers are working today because of it. And construction crews across the country are breaking ground on infrastructure projects that are improving roads and bridges and building high-speed rail. I must also confess that I believe moderates have their opinions heard much more in the Democratic Party than in the Republican Party. The power of moderate Democrats has never been greater; they were decisive in crafting a health insurance reform bill in the Senate without a public insurance option that will save over 150 billion dollars over the next ten years, with projected savings over one trillion dollars in the decade thereafter. And that bill would cover ninety-five percent of Americans and lower health care costs for small businesses; I honestly don't think that such a bill could have emerged without the influence of moderates in the Democratic Party.