Bauer Less Than Optimistic About GOP's Post-November Majority Status
by Chad Groening
October 10, 2006
(AgapePress) - - Pro-family activist Gary Bauer says it's a real "dicey" situation right now as to whether Republicans will be able to maintain their majority status in Congress this fall. In the ongoing wake of the scandal surrounding former Republican Congressman Mark Foley, political pundits continue to speculate about the potential effect it could have upon conservatives heading to the polls next month -- if indeed they decide to vote at all. Pro-Democratic analysts predict their party will benefit from a backlash of voters who now question whether the GOP is as "values"-oriented as it claims, while pro-Republican observers are willing to concede their party may lose a few congressional seats because of the Foley matter but not enough to lose their majority status.
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Gary Bauer |
Bauer, who himself is a former GOP presidential candidate, admits he is not confident about the Republican Party's chances right now with many tight races throughout the country. "I think it's very dicey right now," he shares. "There are many, many races in both the House and the Senate in which only one or two points are separating the candidates; so it could be a very long election night."
Bauer offers a possible scenario in the U.S. Senate that he believes could have serious consequences.
"If the Senate goes to the other party [the Democrats], we're going to see people like Senator [Patrick] Leahy [as] head of the Judiciary Committee, which means we're going to get no one on the Supreme Court who hasn't been approved by the American Civil Liberties Union," Bauer states.
"And you've got people like Senator [Carl] Levin of Michigan who will run [the Senate Committee on] Armed Services," he adds. "He has opposed a missile defense system for several decades."
Simply put, says the American Values president, "there will be real-life implications, no matter how unhappy some people may be with the Republican Party, if the Senate and the House switch to the liberal side."
Republicans currently hold a 55-44 advantage in the Senate, with one Independent. In the House, the GOP has a 232-202 majority (one Independent). Both houses of Congress reconvene after the fall elections, in which all 435 House seats and one-third of the Senate seats are up for grabs.
Chad Groening, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
