Strangely, MIttens amazing prognostication skills were of absolutely no help whatsover when it came to predicting the outcome of the 2012 election.

That the Republicans, in their current configuration, are even in the running speaks volumes about the American electorate . Where else would a party that is obstructionist, anti-intellectual , anti-women, anti-gay, big money, predominantly white by design, climate change deniers, to name but a few of their qualities, not be the laughing stock of every thinking person?

Panic, or don't panic, but either way get your asses (and those of everyone you know) out to vote in the mid-term elections. Lazy/inattentive Dems already lost the Florida 13th Congressional District special election a couple of weeks ago.

We do nothing better than snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

Unfortunately, we can count on the national Democratic Party to keep silent about why the country is better off when Democrats are in charge.

Better to keep quiet and just be a conduit for channeling big bucks to chosen candidates -- just like they did in the last off year election, in 2010. That strategy worked so well then….

@3:

It's the "thinking person" part of your question that is the key here.

"Slight favorites" =/= a prediction of a GOP win.

I really hate when Democrats run from a president. It shows a lack of conviction and discourages people from voting.

Someone once told Adlai Stevenson he had the support of every thinking person in America.

His reply? "That's no good - I need a majority!"

@ 4 Not really true just a turnout that favored the GOP and even if take back the Senate this year could lose it in 2016 lots of Tea Party guys up for reelection in a year that not 2010.

Where were Mitt's skills as a clairvoyant in the weeks leading up to 9/11?

What difference does it make if we panic or not? How can we not panic? Have you imagined both the Senate and the House in GOP hands?

@12 - "How can we not panic?" - That's what I thought, exactly. The possibility of the House and Senate in GOP hands is a nightmare for this country, and for Hillary should she win the White House.

We can't let this happen. While we are very lucky in our little liberal bubble called Seattle, we can't get lazy.

Yes, I'm nervous about the midterms - and I hate being nervous. It's going to be a shit show of misinformation, preying upon the vulnerabilities of GOP redistricted areas.

I'm so absolutely, deeply sick to death of the GOP and their backwards, regressive positions...and their relentless anger towards everyone but white rednecks and white business-people. We can't let them win, so how are we to stop this impending loss?

It's difficult to motivate progressive voters on the basis of policy accomplishments like austerity and war mongering. May be another mid-term loss will force the Dem base to pull their heads out of their asses about their leadership but I am not holding my breath as it didn't in the past. How many Obama apologists can explain how we went from a surge of progressive sentiment and the GOP being on the edge of destruction in 2008 to the present when conservative loonies are poised to take congress and the electorate is depressed and unmotivated?

On the contrary, there are a whole lot of people who should be panicking (and no small number of people who are paid pretty well to panic about this sort of news). That 2016 looks worse for the Republicans than this year does for the Democrats is small solace if they manage to fuck things up in the intervening two years.

@14 The simpler explanation is that's what happening is the plan. The Democrats jettisoned their base years ago and hasn't looked back.

Hopefully enough voters with memories will remember how the republicans mismanaged our Govt. during the (shudder) bush years. This prelude to the mid terms is way too optimistic a prediction to have any credence. The republican party is a disorganized mess of racists, homophobic neanderthals and downright stupid people, I hope that the mid terms and the 2016 elections kick them right to the curb where they belong.

The republican electorate is almost entirely over 50 and most is over 65. Cold comfort this November, but sooner or later these people will fucking die off. After Hillary's eight years of probable Obama centrism (which is still better than the Republicans), Antonin Scalia will be 88, Anthony Kennedy will be 88, Roger Ailes will be 84, Rupert Murdoch will be 93, David Koch will be 83, Charles Koch will be 88, Rush Limbaugh will be 73, Bill O'Reilly will be 74, the average age of Fox News viewers will be 78, and the average age of hate radio listeners will be 71.

Let's hope all those years eating Chik-Fil-A hardened some arteries.

Wait, I was wrong, the average hate radio listener in 2024 will be 81.

@18 and @19. I'm an old boofer myself and I just hope that the younger voters realize the folly of the republicans and change things for the better. Racism and homophobia are the big items on the American conscience. Health care and immigration are sore points for republicans because they are #1 racist, and #2 a lot of wealthy republicans are heavily invested in the health care companies and they see Obamacare as a challenge to their monthly dividend. Fact.