A DEMOCRATIC WAVE? – AT 10:24 A.M. ET:  The predictions are starting, and some of them picture a grim 2018 for Republicans.  Unless the GOP wakes up, I'm inclined to think that the prognosticators are right.  From The Hill:

Cook Political Report, a top nonpartisan election handicapper, is predicting a wave of Democratic victories in the 2018 midterm elections.

In a new analysis, Cook editor Amy Walter says she feels a similarity to a wave of Democratic Congressional victories in 2006, in which the party took control of the House, the Senate and a majority of governorships during former President George W. Bush's second term.

“[B]ack in 2006 ... I argued that unlike the last wave election of 1994, the party holding the White House was much better prepared. Republicans in 2006 had significant financial advantages,” Walter writes. “They had structural advantages. And, Democrats couldn’t sneak up on Republicans as Republicans had to Democrats in 1994. Obviously, my theory was wrong.”

Walter argues that the “political mood” surrounding the 2018 race could shift elections in favor of Democrats.

“Do not ignore what’s right in front of us,” Walter writes. “A wave is building. If I were a Republican running for Congress, I’d be taking that more seriously than ever.”

COMMENT:  A lot of logic there.  And history.  The first midterm in a new president's administration usually brings defeat for the party who holds the White House.  Even in 1942, less than a year after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the commander-in-chief's party lost 45 seats in the House, and 8 in the Senate.

If the Democrats win the House, there will be a major push to impeach President Trump.  It may succeed, unless wiser heads prevail.  But how many wise heads are there in the Democratic Party?

Republicans must present a compelling case to continue holding power in Congress.  That case has not yet been made.

November 17, 2017