What Party(ies) will control the House and Senate after the November Elections ?

I don't think it is a very interesting election at all. It will be a pretty typical mid-term election; most Americans simply don't care. The Americans who do care are either core partisan faithful, or people who are riled up by something.

Informed people are not swing voters.

This election will have very little to do with issues like the Middle East or Nuclear disarmament or NASA. Most of the people voting don't know or care a whit about any of this... and those of us who do already know who we support.

The only mildly interesting feature of this election is the depth of anger of the tea-partiers. Mid term elections are about which side can get their base out... the tea-party silliness cuts both ways.

But, anger drives voter turnout better then contentment, which is why in mid-term elections, the party in power is at a big disadvantage. There is nothing new about that. This will be a rather normal midterm election. I predict that the Democrats will lose 30-35 house seats and 4 or 5 Senate seats. They will remain in power in both houses.

I still believe that the Democrats will control the Senate with 54 or more seats. As for the House, I predict that Pelosi will still hold a very narrow majority after the elections.

None of this should be especially surprising - the Dems have expanded mightily in the last 2 cycles and have a huge number of seats to defend, in an environment which typically favors the opposition party - 1st-term midterm elections.

Cycloptichorn

2010 elections will focus on local politics/issues and very low voter turnout.

Dems will hold the Senate. 54 seats as mentioned earlier seems about right. I think they will lose the House though. It will be by a very narrow margin, but I think there is and will be enough anger out there to see them lose the House.

Well, it's still early in the election season, so all predictions now are subject to significant uncertainty. It is evident from the Democrat fund raising efforts that they and their union supporters are gearing up for some hard fought election contests. A lot depends on the quality of candidates, evolving leaderswhip in the Republican party and the subsequent actrions of the Administration.

However, I predict an unusually high turnout for midterm elections, with significant setbacks for the Democrats in both houses of the Congress. I believe they will retain control of the Senate, but with a signifcantly reduced margin, and will lose control of the house by a narrow margin ... more or less as coastal rat just put it..

I'm also persuaded that an emboldened President will likely add new fuel to the political fires burning against him.

November 10 is a loooong way off. If the economy returns to sub-7% unemployment the Democrats would likely maintain control of both Houses of Congress. If unemployment does not decrease below 8%, the GOP will control the House. If the unemployment rate hovers between 7% and 8%, the affect at the ballot box will be blurred by the particulars of each election/candidates where the inertia of the system, viz., incumbents win will be the driving force of the election.

but again........November 10 is a loooong way off.

i think the government will control the house and the senate

the ones that get the most votes will be in control, but win or lose the government will still be in charge, it would be nice if someone could defeat the government, but for now i don't see that happening

DJ, sometimes you are silly... or scary.... or silly scary.

Do you even know what the heck you are talking about?

ummm, it's pretty simple, no matter who you vote for the government always wins

and in the end most folks are disappointed, so it's obvious to me it's not the parties, its the government, maybe new parties would change this for a while, but not for long, as with most things, familiarity breeds contempt

government needs a major overhaul, get rid of the lobbyists to start with, make politicians work for the people not con ed and philip morris

What you are saying doesn't mean anything... I mean I get the "government is bad" schtick, but what the heck are you proposing for a practical alternative.

The fact is that elections matter in our country. People have the ability to vote, and the politician with the most votes wins. Don't you agree that people should vote for the people who run the country? Would you change this?

Of course, we would probably agree that people, being mostly uninformed and easily swayed by soundbites, are far too influenced by advertising to the place where their votes can be swayed by million dollar ads without substance?

I think voters are allowed to be idiots... and idiots should be allowed to vote... and I think things are less worse then you think anyway.

Of course whining is always fun, and it has the added benefit of dodging any responsibility for the democracy you are a part of.

But how, practically (and practically means concrete steps, not vague bromides about bad corporations), would you change the system?

i vote in every election (in fact i vote as soon as i can to avoid clogging up the polls), i vote for who i see to be the best candidate (this means i might vote for a different party federally than provincially)

i just think the system is broken, and likely can't be fixed without a total collapse, as successive parties try to appease all voters, they become this homogeneous blend of, well for a better word government, i think this is happening slightly less in canada because we have three major parties and a few minor parties

in the states i think you really need a third party for a start, shake up the system a we bit

i have no solutions, i was only offering my opinions, the thread asks who's gonna control the house, and i think my first answer, as obtuse and absurd as it may be, will end up being the correct answer like it or not

I do think Democrats will lose seats, but they will still have a majority in both the senate and house. The result of the most recent "special election" indicates the backlash against health reform may not be as worrisome as some have thought:

I think total collapse is a bad thing.

I also think that the claim that the US parties are "homogeneous" is ridiculous.

what can i say, that's the way i see it, i think most politicians go to washington (or ottawa) with the best of intentions, and quickly get ground down by the bureaucracy of the place and become a faceless government drone, hoping for a nice consulting job or a spot on a board of directors if they play the game

probably always been that way

as for me, i'm gonna pay my taxes, vote for the what or who i see as being the lesser of all evils and just live my life

Your right brown is wrong. When your voteing choice is the candidate who is the lessor of two evils the system is broke. And expecting the politicians dem or repub to fix the problem is is engaging in dreams.

Lincoln was "Gauaranteed to lose" the 1864 elections and the Copperheads were a shoo-in to pick up major seats.
As it turned out, several major battles and surrenders of cities happened just a montn or so before the election and Lincoln not only won but the Republicans picked up 50 seats. If, as kuvasz said, the unemployment issue is still looming, the Dems will be hurting badly and several key Senate seats will be reversed. I dont even think the House will be a debate.

But, as the man said, we are only at the first quarter pole.

No rabel, You ARE the system. If it is broke, it is your fault. If you don't like the choices you are presented-- what are you doing to recruit better choices?

Well farmerman, it's now four months later and the November elections are only about 10 weeks away. The unemployment issue still looms: total employment is in fact declining slowly, while the unemployment rate (the % of workers out of a job and still looking for one) remains stuck (conveniently for the Democrats) just below 10%. The stock market is declining; the U.S. trade deficit increasing; and businesses everywhere avoiding risk and conserving cash in anticipation of steep rises in health care premiums, increased taxation, and increased government regulatory intrusion into their operations that they can neither forecast or influence. These same conditions keep entrepreneurs, who might otherwise be starting new businesses with new products and services, on the sidelines, awaiting more favorable conditions for their risky ventures.

We have adopted social welfare programs (healthcare and extended unemployment benefits) that make the affordable assimilation of large numbers of immigrants far more difficult. However, the administration has chosen to evade that fact and politicize our current immigration system - one which is unable to deal with either the number of immigrants who wish to come here legally; police our borders; or even deal effectively with illegal residents who commit crimes - merely to enhance its appeal to legal and illegal hispanic voters. At the same time it is cracking down on residency permits for badly needed foreign workers, posessing skills needed for U.S. businesses. The inevitable result will be the flight of those businesses to more favorable climes - just as happened to the U.S. textile and manufacturing businesses. This. of course, will reduce U.S. employment, further exacerbate our trade deficit, and hasten the collapse of the dollar.

The president, who strangely remains more popular than his party, is increasingly given to scolding the public even on issues that don't really call for his attention, and don't really involve any fundamental rights. The issue of the Mosque in lower Manhattan is an example. He appears to take even reasonable criticism badly, and shows more than the usual propensity of politicians to blame the issues before him on others, now long out of power. This leads me to believe that his popularity, now down by a large margin from the early days, will continue to erode.

My bet is the Republicans will win a (slim) majority in the House of Representatives and will pick up at least five seats in the Senate, but remain the minority party there.

I understand what you are saying. If only McCain had won the election, the country would be cruising on easy street.