United Liberty

House Democrats rejected Barack Obama’s tax deal with Republicans yesterday in a caucus meeting where members express anger and resentment towards Obama, including one member that reportedly said, “f—k the president.”

In a closed-door caucus meeting on Thursday morning, House Democrats voted to reject the tax cut deal between the White House and Congressional Republicans “as currently written.”

The House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, in a statement after the vote, said changes would need to be made before she would allow the bill to come to the floor for a vote.

“In the caucus today, House Democrats supported a resolution to reject the Senate Republican tax provisions as currently written,” Ms. Pelosi said. “We will continue discussions with the president and our Democratic and Republican colleagues in the days ahead to improve the proposal before it comes to the House floor for a vote.”

Fifty-three members of the Democratic caucus are on record opposing the deal, though Rep. Peter Defazio (D-OR) claims the vote was “nearly unanimous.” Despite this, Senate Democrats may add the language to another bill in an attempt to “jam” Pelosi, according to CNN’s Ed Henry (via Hot Air).

The latest picture of what to expect on November 2nd in the House of Representatives appears to be a worst-case scenario for Democrats as Gallup’s latest polling shows a huge lead for Republicans among likely voters, though there was a slight gain for the majority party. And to make matters worse for Democrats, it’s supposed to rain on election day in 20 states.

Before we dive into what the analysts are saying, Politico offers us 35 House races to keep our eyes on as returns come in.

The latest forecast from Nate Silver over at FiveThirtyEight estimates a net gain of 52 seats for Republicans. This would put the make-up of the House at 231 Republicans and 204 Democrats.

Here is what Charlie Cook says about the mid-term:

In addition to Peter DeFazio (D-OR), Jim Marshall (D-GA) and others, a two more Democrats may be abandoning Speaker Nancy Pelosi:

Joining a small but vocal group, Reps. Mike McIntyre of North Carolina and Mike McMahon of New York have both hedged in recent interviews about whether they would vote for Pelosi again as speaker if Democrats hold on to the House.

McIntyre, who has represented the south tip of the Tar Heel State since 1997, told WWAY in Wilmington, N.C., that he would “look forward” to supporting Pelosi’s opposition - the most space any member of Congress has put between themselves and Pelosi. McIntyre added that Pelosi probably won’t even run for speaker again.

“From what we’re hearing, she’s probably not going to run for speaker again,” McIntyre said, according to WWAY. “And if she does, I’m confident she’s going to have opposition, and I look forward to supporting that opposition. We want to have a more moderate type of alternative for leadership, and I’m confident we’re gonna have that alternative. You know, when she had opposition before, I voted for her opposition, not for her. And we’re expecting her to have opposition this time.”
[…]
McMahon, somewhat less forcefully, told the Staten Island Advance’s editorial board that he would decide who to vote for based on what’s right for the district.

“It’s hard to answer a hypothetical question when you don’t know who the candidates are, you don’t know if she’s running again,” McMahon said, according to the newspaper’s website.

In case you’re wondering, Pelosi’s office, which is losing a top aide, did confirm that she is running for Speaker again next year.

In 1998 mid-term election, Republicans lost five seats in the House of Representatives. The end result of this was Newt Gingrich, who was facing a revolt inside his caucus that would have likely resulted in him being replaced as Speaker, decided not to be sat with the Congress.

Some House Democrats are beginning to find themselves in a tough situation. Even if they don’t lose control of the House, though nearly every analyst is predicting that they will, the losses they face in November will be substantial. If you’re a Democrat, what do you do, force out Speaker Nancy Pelosi or do the same thing over again, expecting a different result? Not suprisingly, Some Democrats up for re-election are already making their thoughts on the subject known.

Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR), who has been tied to Pelosi by his Republican opponent, Art Robinson, says she has to go:

Robinson criticizes DeFazio for going along too much with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. He said DeFazio votes with Pelosi 86 percent of the time.

DeFazio, who says he favors replacing Pelosi as speaker if Democrats retain their majority, finds that laughable. DeFazio said he has voted with Pelosi on labor and social issues, as well as National Grandmother’s Day. But he doesn’t follow her lead just because they’re both Democrats.

Others are also on record, such as Rep. Bobby Bright (D-AL), who is running this ad in his district as he fights off a tough challenge from Martha Roby: