ELECTION FORECAST: A Perfect Shitstorm

MOTHER JONES: The day before the election, pollsters are predicting that the Democratic wipeout could be even bigger than expected. There’s no question that the GOP will take the House, but Gallup suggests that Republican net gains could give their party a bigger House majority than any party has achieved before. […] The GOP needs to win just 39 Democratic seats to take the House, but projections are now up to 60 seats or more, with over 100 seats in play. And if Republicans end up on with an overwhelmingly majority, they will feel even more emboldened to find every conceivable way to block the Democratic agenda, arguing that voters gave them the mandate to do so. They’ll probably even try to find legislative means to roll back legislation, like health care, that’s already been passed. Moreover, if the GOP succeeds in the top-of-the-ballot congressional races, that’s likely to have an effect on state legislative and gubernatorial races because some voters will go for a straight-party ticket. As my colleague Nick Baumann points out, the outcomes of those races will decide who’s in charge of redrawing the Congressional map in 2011—a process that could cement GOP House victories for the next decade. MORE

LOS ANGELES TIMES: If the GOP wins control of the House next week, senior congressional Republicans plan to launch a blistering attack on the Obama administration’s environmental policies, as well as on scientists who link air pollution to climate change. The GOP’s fire will be concentrated especially on the administration’s efforts to use the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority over air pollution to tighten emissions controls on coal, oil and other carbon fuels that scientists say contribute to global warming.The attack, according to senior Republicans, will seek to portray the EPA as abusing its authority and damaging the economy with needless government regulations. MORE

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